The rise of China—challenges and opportunities for the European Union

Asia Europe Journal - China’s growing power and influence raise important and inescapable questions for countries and societies around the world, not least for Europe. A rising China offers...     

Renminbi appreciation and Global Value Chains in China: exploring the linkages

China has experienced a rapid integration into Global Value Chains and a decade long appreciation of its exchange rate. However, these trends have been analysed largely in isolation from each other. In this paper, we explore the linkages between the two based on interviews with a sample of firms in Jiangsu Province. We show (1) how the distribution of the costs and benefits of exchange rate appreciation depends on the power hierarchies between firms in GVCs; (2) how exchange rate changes are important drivers of upgrading and even downgrading in GVCs; and (3) that the firm heterogeneity evident in GVCs provides additional insights into the politics of exchange rate determination in China.     

Some models of academic corruption

The paper notes that while much work has been done in the past on corruption in government and business, relatively little attention has been devoted to corruption in academic institutions. The principal forms of academic corruption are plagiarism and various forms of cheating, research fraud and financial fraud. Two simple mathematical models are proposed for exploring the motivations for (1) plagiarism, which is essentially a solitary crime, and (2) bribery. The responsiveness of the demand for the first of these, and the demand for and supply of the second to changes in underlying parameters are explored.