Growth,the external terms of trade and endogenous trade liberalization

We study the effects of growth and changes in the external terms of trade on protection. There are two sectors, an urban sector and a rural sector, and trade policy is used to redistribute income between them. We show that growth precedes trade liberalization. In addition, we find that trade reform is triggered by falls in the world prices of primary exports or intermediate imports. These results are shown to hold for tariffs and quotas.     

Political polarization, congressional redistricting, and trade liberalization

During the last 50 years, political polarization in the US House of Representatives has intensified. One explanation for this trend emphasizes the importance of congressional redistricting. This paper analyzes the relationship between political polarization and redistricting in the context of two trade liberalization bills. The results of the paper indicate that redistricting has not contributed significantly to party polarization over trade policy although it has produced a partisan shift in favor of trade liberalization. Redistricting does not appear to impact political polarization largely because district-level characteristics currently are dominated by broader, national factors such as party affiliation. The results of the paper clearly demonstrate this point by showing that changes in party affiliation have a much greater impact on voting behavior than changes in district characteristics. The paper also finds, however, that institutional control of the redistricting process at the state level has influenced political polarization with respect to trade policy.     

Impact of trade and investment on income surge in Bangladesh: Evidence from trade liberalization regime

Trade and investment are crucial drivers of economic growth. Successful execution of trade and investment policy can elevate a developing country to a sustained growth path and make it self-reliant. Bangladesh implemented a trade liberalization policy in the 1980s, deviating much from its conservative trade policy. This article assesses the impacts of trade, investment in physical as well as human capital, and a few trade policy variables on income surge for the liberalized regime. The econometric analysis finds that export, import, and domestic investment stimulate income. The impact of foreign investment is not conducive. Public spending on education also contributes to the income surge. Among the policy variables, trade openness and currency depreciation produce a beneficial impact. Population growth retards economic growth. The baseline results hold in the estimations involving several specifications of variables and testified as robust. The article views that a comprehensive approach to trade and investment policy would ensure the comparative advantage of trade and the well-being of Bangladesh.     

The political economy linkage between trade liberalization and domestic environmental regulations

This paper considers the political economy linkage between trade liberalization and domestic environmental regulations in a duopolistic product market. We investigate the environmental consequences and welfare implications of a home country’s unilateral tariff reduction on a polluting good. In a framework where the domestic environmental tax is subject to the influence of the home firm, we find that a tariff reduction on a good producing a consumption-type externality will improve the home country’s environmental quality. Moreover, we find that the home country’s tariff reduction will unambiguously enhance the home country’s welfare; and it will damage the foreign firm’s profits and thus the foreign country’s welfare, provided that the weight that the home government attaches to its social welfare is sufficiently small. This result also suggests the possibility that a unilateral tariff reduction will achieve a Pareto improvement.     

Asymmetry in Japan and Korea's agricultural liberalization in FTA: domestic trade governance perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the nexus between food security and sustainability governance through a case study of palm oil. Palm oil's advocates claim that campaigns against palm oil and actions to halt its expansion due to sustainability concerns can undermine its food security role. However, palm oil expansion more directly undermines the food and livelihood security of rural and indigenous communities when land that rightfully belongs to, or has been used by, these communities is alienated to firms for oil palm cultivation with little or no consultation or compensation provided or alternatives considered. It is in this context that the paper examines whether the multi-stakeholder Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is able to ensure that this commodity is cultivated in ways that minimise environmental damage and livelihood disruption, thereby safeguarding palm oil's contribution to food security. The findings are mixed. RSPO certification provides fairly comprehensive and progressive socio-environmental regulation that has enhanced sustainable production practises in this industry especially by the larger transnational plantation companies mindful of their global reputation. The RSPO is also far more responsive than governments have been to the land rights of rural and indigenous communities, providing due process for land claimants as well as recognising that these communities may have legitimate rights to land even if companies were awarded legal title by governments. However, multi-stakeholder regimes can be fragile, requiring a great deal of internal accommodation and trade-offs to work. Already, different interests in the RSPO are pulling in different directions while national certification systems have emerged that are less onerous compared to the RSPO even as the latter seeks to further enhance its sustainability credentials.     

When trade liberalization turns into regulatory reform: The impact on business–government relations in international trade politics

Business–government relations on trade issues are generally characterized as protectionist lobbying or – less often – lobbying for the liberalization of markets. However, with the evolution of the trading system, negotiations today concern not just market opening, but also the regulatory frameworks that structure international trade. This transformation has important consequences for the ways in which private interests can contribute to trade negotiations. Instead of simply trying to exert pressure, businesses and other private actors now form working relationships with governments based on expertise, learning, and information exchange. This article illustrates these new forms of public–private interactions with examples from the USA, the European Union, and Brazil.     

The US,Japan, and trade liberalization: from bilateralism to regional multilateralism to regionalism+

Abstract

Amid growing alarm over the rising atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, increasing attention is being given to ‘geo-engineering’ technologies that could counteract some of the impacts of global warming by either reducing absorption of solar energy (solar radiation management (SRM)) or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Geo-engineering has the potential to dramatically alter the dynamics of global climate change negotiations because it might cool the climate without constraining fossil fuel use. Some scholars have expressed concern that certain states may be tempted to act unilaterally. This paper assesses the approach that China is likely to adopt towards governance of SRM and the implications this holds for broader international climate negotiations. We survey Chinese public discourse, examine the policy factors that will influence China's position, and assess the likelihood of certain future scenarios. While Chinese climate scientists are keenly aware of the potential benefits of geo-engineering as well as its risks, we find that no significant constituency is currently promoting unilateral implementation of SRM. China will probably play a broadly cooperative role in negotiations toward a multilaterally governed geo-engineering programme but will seek to promote a distinctive developing world perspective that reflects concerns over sovereignty, Western imperialism and maintenance of a strict interpretation of the norm of common but differentiated responsibility.     

Currency convertibility, cost of capital control and capital account liberalization in China

This paper provides a synthetic view of the capital account liberalization, capital control and currency convertibility issues in China. A quantitative analysis following Henry’s study¹ fails to provide clear links between liberalization, diminishing capital controls and Chinese stock market returns. An institutional explanation is then offered to complement the quantitative analysis. We suggest that the property rights regime is an indispensable institutional variable when studying this topic. Originating from the current property rights regime; price distortion, moral hazard and monetary overhang are the main impediments towards capital account liberalization and full convertibility. Therefore, property rights reform should be given the first priority in Chinese economic reform. He is the author ofProperty Rights, Renminbi Full Convertibility and Economic Development [Chanquan Zhidu, Renminbi Ziyou Duihuan yu Jingji Fazhan] (Wuhan, China: Wuhan University Press, 2003). This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 70273030). The authors thank Dr. Sujian Guo, Mr. Robin Child and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and Miss Cate Bain and Mrs. Patricia Merton for their proofreading. The authors are responsible for any remaining errors.     

金融危机对我国会展业影响的利弊分析

会展业是第三产业发展成熟后出现的一种新型经济形态,是一种能够同时获得经济效益和社会效应的绿色行业。我国会展业的起步晚、起点低,但是发展很快。会展行业具有引导资源配置、推动相关产业发展的重要作用,被誉为＂行业发展的风向标＂。在全球经济一体化的浪潮中,中国会展业同其他行业一样,正在面临国际金融危机的压力与挑战。本文旨在客观地分析金融危机对于中国会展业产生的利弊影响,目的是使其扬长避短,因地制宜,最大限度地发挥其产业联动效应。     

Recent trends in the European Union trade and investment policy towards China

The last decades＇ trend towards the creation of a world market of goods and services and the upsurge of China as a global competitor ought to be considered as an important challenge for the European Union. In contrast to this interpretation, the European Union policy towards China has suffered from an absence from a long run view. European institutional behaviour has been based on applying measures that were solely reactions to the policies launched by the United States. Finally, the difficulty of finding common interests among all member countries has been a constant in the relationship with China. The European Union has recently shown a clear concern about the unavoidable need of improving European firms＇ competitiveness, especially in order to overcome the Chinese access to the internationalised division of labour. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to observe a thorough treatment for the economic challenge of emergent economies as a whole in many European policy measures.     

Executive agencies in Tanzania: liberalization and Third World debt

The purchase of an expensive, debt‐financed aircraft tracking system by one of Tanzania's newly created executive agencies suggests that recent bureaucratic restructuring and liberalization in Tanzania could possibly undermine the good use of international debt management schemes for poverty alleviation. Moreover, it raises a question about the uses (and misuses), in countries where governance capacities are weak, of new public management models of organization. This article explores Tanzania's donor‐funded executive agency programme, as one part of its wider civil service reforms. Drawing on empirical research, it examines the power structures and interdependencies between Ministers, departments and NPM style semi‐autonomous agencies and the potential for rent‐seeking behaviour and perverse outcomes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Policy networks and market opening: Telecommunications liberalization in Spain

Abstract.  For a broad range of policy sectors, liberalization was the predominant goal during the 1990s, and the policy change involved gave rise to a wide range of academic debates. In this article we analyze the consequences of these far-reaching policies for the policy process itself. We ask whether the policy changes significantly altered the characteristics of policy processes by considering the timing and extent of the changes in policy networks during those years. More concretely, we discuss the extent to which policy networks changed as a result of market opening, considering the case of the telecommunications policy network in Spain. Using data from two successive surveys, we compare the network structure before and after market opening. Our findings show that only slight changes occurred during this period, making the network denser but not more open. Thus, we suggest that a more successful liberalization probably would have required a network that was more open to new entrants and in which power was less centralized and so able to guarantee a competitive environment.     

Political transition,economic liberalization and civil service reform in Malawi

This article reviews the efforts aimed at reforming the civil service of Malawi at the same time as the country has been undergoing political transition and economic liberalization since 1991. Some of the measures in the civil service reform programme interfaced with either the political transition process (for example, the Public Service Act) or with economic policy reform (for example, privatization). In a few other cases, it was a mixture, a political economy perspective (for example, curbing corruption). The article draws attention to the achievements and problems of implementation, including the coordination of donor support, and highlights the lessons learned and the prospects for the remaining years of the decade and beyond. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 209–222 (1997). No. of Figures: 2. No. of Tables: 2. No. of Refs: 9.     

类型比较视野下的中国村庄“人情”研究

本文基于多个中国村庄的经验材料,对当下农村的"人情"状况展开了总体性的研究。根据"人情"在各个村庄中的异质性表现,文章归纳了三种类型的村庄,并具体分析了"人情"异质性背后的村庄社会基础,着重指出了"人情"异化的原因,并对如何改造异化的"人情"作出了初步探讨。     

Domestic institutions,liberalization patterns,and uneven crises in Korea and Taiwan

pragmatic and long-term approach to financial market reform, with greater sensitivity to political risks and constraints.     

Regulatory lags,liberalization, and vulnerability to banking crises

This article explores the effect of delays in updating prudential regulation on the likelihood of a country experiencing banking crises, and it disentangles the impact of different aspects of regulation on crisis onset. I argue that delays in revision to banks' prudential regulation allow banks to adopt risky behavior, which increases a country's vulnerability to systemic banking crises. This effect, however, is conditional on the level of liberalization of the financial market. At lower levels of liberalization, banks have stronger incentives to escape the constraints of regulation and to take advantage of regulatory lags. At high levels of liberalization, the effect of regulatory lags is curbed, possibly by market discipline. Statistical analyses on a sample of developed and developing countries from 1974–2005 support this argument and help rule out the competing learning hypothesis. These results suggest that the effects of institutions can vary with the passage of time.     

Two paths to financial liberalization: South Korea and Taiwan

Abstract

This article explores the emergence of new spaces for civil society organisations (CSOs) as a result of an increasing interest by international donors in multi-stakeholder approaches to good governance under the ‘new policy agenda’. Drawing upon a contemporary case study of civil society in Cambodia, it argues that CSOs have been encouraged to perform two key roles on a national level: professional service delivery agents and democratic watchdogs. Both roles are seen by donors as integral to supporting an accountable and professional model of the Cambodian state while drawing upon valuable private sector lessons in a synergetic model of governance. The result is the construction of particular neoliberal spaces for CSOs operating as technical implementation mechanisms in response to externally driven donor pressures. Furthermore, under this new framework of governance, CSOs face pressure to undergo internal transformation akin to new public management reform; embracing economistic and administrative modes of coordination as core values of civil society participation.     

Genro Rule in China and Japan: A Comparative Perspective

For a time in both Japan (roughly 1890–1915) and much more briefly in China (about 1987–1992), major political decisions were made by cohesive groups of retired elders of the founding generation. Necessary if not sufficient conditions for rule by elders include a closed system, with the elite not held responsible to a wider public; and a constitutional or practical vagueness about the locus of final political authority. The more general pattern in such systems is personal dictatorship, with rule by elders as an alternative when cultural or political conditions stand in the way of one-man rule. This essay explores the pattern, conditions, and characteristics of rule by elders in China and Japan as genro rule serves as an alternative to one-man rule in generational transitions in political regimes with a relatively cohesive ruling group and a weak institutional structure. Peter R. Moody, Jr. is professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and he specializes in the study of Chinese politics. His more recent books include Tradition and Modernization in China and Japan, Political Change in Taiwan, and Political Opposition in Post-Confucian Society. He is editor of China Documents Annual and book review editor for the Review of Politics. He has written on Chinese politics, Asian international affairs, Chinese political thought, international relations theory, and theory of political parties.     

No sorting,no advantage: Regression discontinuity estimates of incumbency advantage in Japan

While the existing literature has identified a sizable incumbency advantage in single-member district (SMD) races in developed democracies, we argue that some political and institutional contexts of Japan's Lower House elections would undermine the incumbency advantage. Our regression discontinuity (RD) analysis indeed shows little advantage, and further examination suggests this as largely due to the “best-loser” provision in Japan's mixed-member system, which gives a loser of SMD competition a chance to be a “resurrected” incumbent. We also show no evidence of sorting – i.e., systematic difference between bare winners and bare losers – in close SMD races and thus add further evidence to support the methodological argument that the election RD analysis is a viable and promising research design.