How to benefit from publicly funded pre-competitive research: an empirical investigation for Germany’s ICR program

This paper contributes to the debate on the systemic effects of technology policy by investigating spillovers of pre-competitive publicly funded Industrial Collective Research (ICR) in Germany which is carried out by non-profit research institutes. Using data for 911 firms surveyed in 2006, the results show that non-actively involved firms in ICR projects use ICR results to a large extent. Almost all of these firms are engaged in collaborative research projects with non-profit research institutes. We conclude that company–scientists linkages are an important pre-requisite to absorb ICR results by non-actively involved firms in ICR projects.     

Expo Highlights

The 2010 World Expo opened in Shanghai on May 1. While serving as a platform to display the lates global scientific achievements and economic growth, it offers a wonderful op     

珠三角地区率先实现基本公共服务均等化的现实考量

《珠江三角洲地区改革发展规划纲要》提出珠三角地区2012年率先实现基本公共服务均等化目标。珠三角地区率先实现基本公共服务均等化目标应从立法、制度化建设、制定民生发展规划及标准、完善纵向和横向转移支付制度、建立以基本公共服务均等化为导向的官员考核指标体系和政府问责制等方面进行系统研究和实践。     

Union Carbide and James Hardie: Lessons in Politics and Power

In terms of industrial disasters, the chemical release at Bhopal and the long-term production and use of asbestos products are two of the largest and most controversial cases. Both events backfired on the companies responsible, namely Union Carbide and James Hardie (which, in Australia, largely controlled the asbestos products market). Yet in the case of Bhopal most victims have not been adequately compensated and, while compensation seems more assured for Australian asbestos victims, it has been a long and bitter battle for justice. How, in a globalised world, can we ensure that corporate negligence backfires and victims receive justice? This paper presents a framework for understanding how global corporations attempt to inhibit outrage and how to counter their tactics.     

The G-20 Moment

Thanks to the draining effects of the Iraq war and the financial meltdown emanating from Wall Street, a powershift away from American dominance is taking place. Caught between a rising China and an America in relative decline, the new leadership in Japan is recalibrating its post-World War II relationships. The G-20 has usurped the role once played by the G-8 as the governing committee of globalization. And the symbiotic coupling of "Chimerica", born out of the credit bubble built up over the past two decades, is being put to the test.
In this section, the new prime minister of Japan, the president of the European Union, the president of Brazil and a leading economic historian assess these shifts.     

MIXED COMPANIES AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE: NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS

This article looks at the use of institutionalized public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements by local governments for the delivery of different types of infrastructure. It starts by analyzing the mixed company model from a theoretical point of view, in particular the potential for internal regulation and the achievement of a relational agreement. Then, after discussing the practicalities of crafting this type of governance structure, four Portuguese case studies are examined. The empirical evidence on mixed companies operating in the water, waste, transportation, and education sectors shows that the extreme complexity involved in the whole life‐cycle management of these companies usually leads to a poor protection of the public interest.     

The not-so-great aid debate

The ‘Great Foreign Aid Debate’ raged in the 2000s yet there are few overviews of it. This paper builds on heuristic classifications of the debate not to simply classify it, but rather to explore how it is perhaps not as ‘great’ as claimed and, in fact, is contributing to a narrowing of thinking about development possibilities. The paper explores the debate through the books released in the 10 years from 2001 that made both an academic and a media impact. It analyses what gets discussed and why and, equally importantly, what does not get discussed. In terms of what is missing, the paper posits that ‘left’ has disappeared and the progressive critique and support for aid has been left to scholars like Jeffrey Sachs and Jonathan Glennie.