International Economics Commons^™

Are Us Economic Variables Useful For Chinese Stock Market Forecasts?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

How does the US economy affect China’s? While much had been written about the decoupling between developed and the emerging economies, one scholar has put forward a contrarian view.

Political Globalization And Civil War In Former British Colonies, Luke O. Feltz

Student Publications

The purpose of this paper to determine why civil war onset reduces political globalization in former British colonies. I set out by testing the relationship between being a former British colony and civil war presence, demonstrating a positive, though not statistically significant, relationship. I also examine the history of British colonialism. Through setting up specific system of indirect rule, British colonizers created conditions that contributed to intra-state conflict. Furthermore, through constructing a unique institutional system and maintaining ties to its former colonies, the British have created an atmosphere conducive to international political engagement after the onset of civil war. Yet, …

The Country-Specific Nature Of Apparel Elasticities And Impacts Of The Multi-Fibre Arrangement, Lauren A. Martinez

Economics Honors Projects

Beginning with Krugman and Helpman’s theory of demand for differentiated products, this paper estimates 104 direct price elasticities of demand for apparel in the United States. While the literature has established that apparel elasticities vary by category and across countries, I examine how price elasticities of demand for apparel vary by country, regions, product characteristics, and after the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement. Results suggest that the country has the greatest single explanatory power in predicting price elasticities, and additionally, the “race to the bottom” hypothesis in the apparel industry is supported through increasing elasticity of 3.4% from the mean …

The Cupboard Is Full: Public Finances For Public Services In The Global South, Sarah T. Romano, Ronnie Lipschutz

All Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Fifa 2014 World Cup: Brazil’S Unending Headache: An Economic Investment That Challenges The Country’S Future, Bruna Almeida Lopes Barreto

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Brazil is soccer. The game is so deeply ingrained in daily life - in Brazilian identity and self-esteem- that they define each other. Soccer is so profoundly intertwined with Brazilian culture that familiarity with the sport begins early, producing a bottomless pool of talent. Year after year, soccer stars seem to roll out of Brazil like cars off a factory assembly line; it’s a natural talent that grows in almost every Brazilian child. Soccer means passion to Brazilians; it is the symbol of their nationality, as they have proven to be very the best at it.

Now, Brazil finally has …

The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment On Sovereign Debt Sustainability In Latin America, Oriana I. Fuentes

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Sovereign debt has been a central political issue in Latin American nations for many years, especially considering the region’s long history of defaults and restructurings. Finding ways to grow sustainably at manageable levels of indebtedness has certainly been a challenge, especially with the large number of factors that play into how a nation finances itself and its growth. One of these factors, foreign direct investment (FDI), has attracted significant attention after countries became more politically stable and protective of investor interests in the early 1990s. As a result, inflows of FDI have grown at record levels reaching over $112 billion …

Can One Size Fit All? An Application Of Management Theory On The European Sovereign Debt Crisis, Amanda Grayson

Honors College Theses

The European Union is a combination of twenty-seven different and unique cultures under one common government. Can culture help explain the continued problems emanating from the European debt crisis?

In undergraduate management courses around the world, from Harvard University to Beijing International, eager young minds are taught the same fundamental management theories. Among others, one of the most popular would inevitably be Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions.

Geert Hofstede, while working for the IBM research department, undertook a detailed survey and analysis of the various cultures of the world. He defined four dimensions of culture, now expanded to six, that can be …

The Effect Of Weighting Development Indicators On Countries Eligibility For International Development Funding: The Case Of The Millennium Challenge Corporation (Mcc), Idrissa Noma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S. government agency whose purpose is to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in low and low middle-income countries. It uses indicators to endorse countries eligibilities for international development funding. These indicators are related to economic growth and are developed by independent third parties (e.g., United Nations, World Bank), to evaluate a country's policy performance in three specific areas: (1) Ruling Justly, (2) Investing in People, and (3) Encouraging Economic Freedom (MCC, 2011). The MCC weighs indicators equally regardless of their myopic in-country relevancy to economic development. The goal of this study is …

The Greek Financial Crisis: An Overview Of The Crisis In Entirety And Proposed Measures: Recommended Solutions And Results, Androniki Podaras

Honors College Theses

This paper examines the Greek financial crisis from 2009 in entirety and analyzes the best option for economic growth from this point forth. The history and culture of Greece is discussed, along with a background of the economy and several economic policies that led to the increased debt levels and the poor economic health of the country. The Gross Domestic Product of Greece and the inflation levels are analyzed to show the changes and signs of poor economic health, and one that was affected by the entry into the Eurozone in 2000.

Then, I discuss how this led to the …

Off The Cliff And Back? Credit Conditions And International Trade During The Global Financial Crisis, Davin Chor, Manova Kalina

Research Collection School Of Economics

We examine the collapse of international trade flows during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis using detailed data on the evolution of monthly U.S. imports over the November 2006 - April 2009 period. We show that credit constraints and the reduction in the availability of external capital were an important channel through which the crisis affected trade volumes. We identify the effects of credit tightening by exploiting the variation in the cost of capital across countries and over time, as well as the variation in financial dependence across sectors. We find that countries with higher interbank interest rates and thus tighter …

Organizing The Global Value Chain, Pol Antras, Davin Chor

Research Collection School Of Economics

We develop a property-rights model of the firm in which production entails a continuum of uniquely sequenced stages. In each stage, a final-good producer contracts with a distinct supplier for the procurement of a customized stage-specific component. Our model yields a sharp characterization for the optimal allocation of ownership rights along the value chain. We show that the incentive to integrate suppliers varies systematically with the relative position (upstream versus downstream) at which the supplier enters the production line. Furthermore, the nature of the relationship between integration and “downstreamness” depends crucially on the elasticity of demand faced by the final-good …

Essays On International Trade And Finance, Amat Adarov

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three papers exploring the macroeconomic implications of heterogeneity of countries in financial development, economic interconnectedness via trade and financial linkages.

Chapter 1 examines whether countries which are more centrally located in the global trade network have more synchronized stock markets. Global trade data is used to construct a novel measure of random walk betweenness centrality (RWBC), measuring the extent to which a country lies on random pathways in-between other countries and is therefore likely to be a conduit in the transmission of a shock across global markets. Based on a panel dataset of 58 countries over …

The Role Of Family Ties In Mitigating Moral Hazard: Firm-Level Evidence From Tamil Nadu, India, Goldie Chow

Master's Theses

Drawing on firm-level data from the district of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India, this study explores the role of family ties as a means to counteract potential moral hazard concerns. It is shown that firms will be more likely to employ family relations when faced with a higher hidden context for moral hazard. Specifically, the analysis finds that the presence of family members within the firm is higher when the firm provides general training and that firms that are more likely to do external business with family relations when it is believed that the legal system is not effective. Additionally, …

Remittance And Poverty Reduction: A Study Of Post-Conflict Migration From Nepal, Shreeya Neupane '12

Honor Scholar Theses

This paper is divided into six sections. Section 1 1s the introduction which lays out the problem and how it plans to respond to it. Section 2 contextualizes the problem by providing a brief political, historical and demographic background surrounding migration and historicizing poverty. Section 3 is on the methodology used in this paper. Section 4 describes the demographics related to migration. Section 5 focuses on the reported trends of poverty reduction and its validity. Section 6 is on the unintended consequences of migration, including inequality, feminization of labor and the real estate bubble and how these issues limit migration’s …

Japan As A Clean Energy Leader, Stefan N. Norbom

Student Publications

Over the past several decades, Japan’s energy strategy had positioned it as the world’s leader in clean and efficient electricity production and usage. This strategy, heavily dependent on nuclear energy, was essentially destroyed by one of history’s largest earthquakes, followed by a tsunami which overwhelmed five nuclear reactors on March 11, 2011. As of April 2012, all of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors have been shut down and it is uncertain when and how many may be restarted. This paper examines Japan’s options for crafting a new way forward with an energy policy to power the world’s third largest economy while …

Teaching About Global Debt In Social Studies Classrooms, Anand Marri, Timothy Patterson, Scott Wylie

Education Faculty Publications

The article offers guidelines in teaching high school students about global debt in their social studies class in the U.S. It outlines various ways on how to infuse discussions about global debt into social studies classrooms which include connecting the topic of global debt on a student's personal finance, providing of instructional materials, and focusing on public policy dilemmas. The author suggests teaching students about global debt through student-centered pedagogy.

International Political Economy Reference Sources: An Annotated Bibliography, Theodore C. Schwitzner, Chad M. Kahl

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

International political economy is an emerging yet specialized field that combines political analysis with the study of markets, trade, and development. With the global economy having an interdependent effect on politics, environment, and society, and with several major economic events of the last 20 years, the authors perceived a need to provide a guide to the sources in this field. This paper seeks to address this issue. The authors identified resources using WorldCat and standard reference sources, such as American Library Association's Guide to Reference Books; the annual American Libraries’ “Outstanding Reference Sources” articles; American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) volumes; …

The Politics Of H-1b Visa Limits, Fang Fang

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In recent years, the number of H-1B Visa (Temporary Work Visa) issued has increased tremendously. Various lobbying groups are devoted to persuading Congress to revise immigration laws and to increase the work visa issuance cap. The purpose of my study is to find out the how the H-1B Visa policy is effected by analyzing the lobbying expenditures of different economic sectors. Although there are abundant studies on the factors that affect immigration policies, there are few studies that concentrate specifically on the H-1B Visa. I combined campaign finance data and annual work visa data to assess the relationship between lobbying …

Challenges Of The Cooperative Movement In Addressing Issues Of Human Security In The Context Of A Neoliberal World: The Case Of Argentina, Stefan Ivanovski

Honors Theses

The response of some Argentine workers to the 2001 crisis of neoliberalism gave rise to a movement of worker-recovered enterprises (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores or ERTs). The ERTs have emerged as former employees took over the control of generally fraudulently bankrupt factories and enterprises. The analysis of the ERT movement within the neoliberal global capitalist order will draw from William Robinson’s (2004) neo-Gramscian concept of hegemony. The theoretical framework of neo-Gramscian hegemony will be used in exposing the contradictions of capitalism on the global, national, organizational and individual scales and the effects they have on the ERT movement.

The …

The “Impossible Trinity” Hypothesis In An Era Of Global Imbalances: Measurement And Testing, Joshua Aizenman, Menzie David Chinn, Hiro Ito

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We outline new metrics for measuring the trilemma aspects: exchange rate flexibility, monetary independence, and capital account openness, taking into account recent substantial international reserve accumulation. Since 2000, the trilemma variables in emerging markets have converged towards intermediate levels, characterizing by managed flexibility, using sizable international reserves as a buffer while retaining some degree of monetary autonomy. We test the linearity of the trilemma, and find that the weighted sum of the three trilemma variables adds up to a constant. Thus, a rise in one trilemma variable should be traded-off with a drop of the weighted sum of the other …

Three Essays On International Banking, Rong Ma

Dissertations

Without question, global financial integration has accelerated in the last two decades. This acceleration is due, in part, to the opening of developing countries' financial markets to foreign banks, prompting many changes to financial systems in developing countries. This dissertation consists of three essays focusing on the impacts and the determinants of international banks' participation in the financial markets of developing countries.

The first essay investigates whether banks with foreign owners are more willing to provide loans in the host country possibly contributing toward greater financial stability for that country. Specifically, I test whether foreign banks' lending behavior is different …

Hard, Soft, And Embedded: Implementing Principles On Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending And Borrowing, Anna Gelpern

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper, prepared for UNCTAD’s initiative on responsible sovereign lending and borrowing, considers concrete strategies for implementing the Principles. It draws on studies in soft law and new governance, and on the recent experience in promoting best practices in international finance, including project finance, extraction revenue management, foreign aid, sovereign investment, and sovereign borrowing in the capital markets. It recommends maintaining the current non-binding character of the Principles, while embedding implementation in multi-stakeholder arrangements for ongoing disclosure, assessment, interpretation, and adaptation. This strategy has the best chance of changing behavior in sovereign lending and borrowing by creating constituencies for implementation …

How Professional Service Firms Internationalise: Resource Commitments And Competencies For Internationalisation, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Conference papers

Departing from traditional economic and behavioural approaches, this study adopts a resource based lens to examine an area exhibiting exceptional growth, the internationalisation of professional service firms (PSFs). An in-depth qualitative study of the internationalisation process of five architectural firms expanding to multiple international markets was conducted. The paper’s main contribution is the identification of the interplay between PSF competencies and the firm’s approach to internationalisation. We reveal how these PSFs can be classified along a continuum ranging from artistic to engineering orientation depending on the firm’s relative emphasis on technical or management competencies when internationalising. Implications for PSFs when …

Shanghai As An International Financial Center - Aspiration, Reality And Implication, Raph Luo

Undergraduate Economic Review

China’s rapid economic development, especially in the financial sector, has ignited the discussion of the re-emergence of Shanghai as a leading international financial center (IFC). Much still remains to be done for Shanghai to catch up with established centers such as New York and London, including deepening its capital markets and opening itself up to cross-border capital flows. While Shanghai’s current financial development has been made possible largely by China’s past economic conditions and policies, recent reforms are also likely to guarantee Shanghai the position as a world-class onshore IFC in the near future. The rise of Shanghai will likely …

Returns From Self-Employment: Using Human Capital Theory To Compare U.S. Natives And Immigrants, Nikola Popovic

Undergraduate Economic Review

The focus of this paper is to examine the economic returns from self-employment when comparing natives and immigrants. I hypothesize that returns from self-employment will increase with age and education, and that immigrants from China, India, and the Philippines will have higher returns while immigrants from Mexico will have lower returns than natives. I also hypothesize that immigrants with high levels of education will earn more than natives with the same amount of education. The OLS regressions show that human capital variables explain the differences in self-employed income between natives and immigrants, as the literature suggests.

Imf: Predatory Lender Or Latin America’S Best Chance?, Paul Thomas Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recently, there has been heated debate as to whether or not assistance from the International Monetary Fund has proven to be a great humanitarian effort or a scheme by Western governments to keep emerging Latin American countries in debt. The IMF partners with numerous governments in order to create a collective monetary community from which all may benefit in times of need. These partnered countries are also able to apply for assistance if they find themselves in monetary hardships. Some studies have shown that the IMF has been too heavy handed, while other studies have shown that recipient governments may …

Impact Of The Global Crisis On Overseas Workers And The Families-Left-Behind: A Snapshot Of The Philippine Case, Alvin P. Ang, Alfie Maria R. Custodio

Economics Department Faculty Publications

The Global Economic Crisis (GEC) of 2008-2009 was seen as negatively affecting the Philippines in a different way. Most countries affected by the GEC suffered export declines and domestic economic slowdown leading to the collapse of certain sectors in the economy. Though the Philippines was affected this way in some aspects, it is more the unique nature of its economy having around 10% of its population abroad working or permanently settled but continuing to send a significant amount of remittances. It was the concern of the Philippines that the crisis affecting many of the destination countries of its migrant workers …

Why Was The Arab World Poised For Revolution? Schooling, Economic Opportunities, And The Arab Spring, Filipe R. Campante, Davin Chor

Research Collection School Of Economics

What underlying long-term conditions set the stage for the Arab Spring? In recent decades, the Arab region has been characterized by an expansion in schooling coupled with weak labor market conditions. This pattern is especially pronounced in those countries that saw significant upheaval during the first year of the Arab Spring uprisings. We argue that the lack of adequate economic opportunities for an increasingly educated populace can help us understand episodes of regime instability such as the Arab Spring.

Risk And The Technology Content Of Fdi: A Dynamic Model, Pao Li Chang, Chia-Hui Lu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper incorporates risk into the FDI decisions of firms. The risk of FDI failure increases with the gap between the South's technology frontier and the technology complexity of a firm's product. This leads to a double-crossing sorting pattern of FDI—firms of intermediate technology levels are more likely than others to undertake FDI. It is with the attempt to relax the upper bound of the technology content of FDI, we argue, that many FDI policies are created. The theory's predictions are consistent with the empirical patterns of FDI in China by US and Taiwanese manufacturing firms.

A Generation Of Isolation: Cuban Political Economic Policies, Elba Marcell Rivera Rodriguez

The Hilltop Review

Cuba is not only the largest island in the Greater Antilles, but also the only communist island in the Caribbean. This country has been governed by the Marxist-Leninist ideology for more than fifty years. Although the Cuban economy has not shown significant development since January 1, 1959, i.e. when the Revolutionaries came to power, it is presenting a new economic capacity-the tourism industry, which could drive the nation to a modern economic growth.

This article has been revised by the author. The revised version is available as a supplement at the link below.