Beyond royal politics: state transformation and foreign policy in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Saudi politics is commonly portrayed as reflecting a system of centralised personal rule in which decision-making power trickles down from the tightly knit power circles within the House of Saud. In contrast, this paper draws attention to the empowerment of quasi-autonomous state organisations in Saudi Arabia as a result of state transformation and regional integration. At its most extreme, state transformation in Saudi Arabia has created institutional and regulatory enclaves with vested interests and areas of competence that cross Saudi borders. This paper illustrates the foreign policy ramifications of transformed statehood in Saudi attempts to further Gulf regional integration in the context of the Gulf Monetary Union project.     

The political economy of labor market deregulation during IMF interventions

This study examines the relationship between policy interventions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and de jure labor rights. Combining two novel data sets with unprecedented country-year coverage – leximetric data on labor laws and disaggregated data on IMF conditionality – our analysis of up to 70 developing countries from 1980 to 2014 demonstrates that IMF-mandated labor market policy measures significantly reduce both individual and collective labor rights. Once we control for the effect of labor market policy measures, however, we find that collective labor rights increase in the wake of IMF programs. We argue that this result is explained by the impact of union pressure on governments which, in such a context, are imbued with the policy space to respond to domestic interest groups. The study has broader theoretical implications as to when international organizations are effective in constraining governments’ choices.     

金融危机后日本银行货币政策框架演变与启示

为了应对全球性金融危机对金融系统的冲击,日本银行采用了极为宽松的货币政策,在灵活调整货币政策框架的同时运用了大量传统和非传统的政策工具。文章主要从货币政策目标、货币政策工具以及货币政策传导机制三个方面考察了金融危机后日本银行从传统货币政策体系框架向量化货币政策体系框架的演变过程。日本银行的政策实践对我国进一步完善货币政策框架有一定的借鉴和启示。     

从紧货币政策对商业银行信贷业务的影响及其对策

2008年从紧货币政策的核心是从紧信贷政策，对商业银行信贷业务增长速度、盈利空间以及不良资产率都会产生影响。商业银行应积极应对宏观调控，在信贷业务的投放、结构调整、风险管理和业务创新上做相应调整，以保持信贷业务持续健康发展。     

中国货币政策的有效性分析——健全和强化结构性货币工具

当前,总量扩张货币政策存在着局限性,要增强货币政策的有效性,就应全面启动和强化结构性货币政策工具,通过产业结构的调整、优化,实现国民经济的健康运行与发展。     

The charismatic leadership of the ECB presidency: A language-based analysis

There is little doubt that the European Central Bank (ECB), and in particular its presidency, has taken the lead in tackling the euro crisis. But can this leadership be also characterised as charismatic? This article answers the question by focusing on language – a key component as well as a reliable indicator of charisma. By means of a software-assisted content analysis of the entire corpus of ECB presidential speeches, it is found that the crisis has indeed led to the emergence of the Bank's presidency as a charismatic euro leader. This in turn confirms the recent politicisation of the ECB, but at the same time might be seen as mitigating the problems related to the Bank's democratic deficit, to the extent that charisma can be seen, from a Weberian standpoint, as an alternative source of political legitimacy.     

发展吉林省中小企业金融支持政策论

融资困难已经严重影响了吉林省中小企业的发展,成为困扰振兴吉林省经济的一大难题.为此,吉林省出台了一些相关的金融政策,取得了一些成效,但还存在严重不足.参考国内外发达地区支持中小企业的做法,建议加大对担保机构的支持力度、加快组建与中小企业发展相匹配的中小金融机构、从财政与税收上对中小企业的发展予以支持、合理规范和积极引导民间金融等完善金融政策支持体系.     

Renewing IMF surveillance: Transparency, accountability, and independence

In this paper, we present a vision for IMF surveillance that seeks to produce a more accountable, transparent, and independent surveillance process. First, to make surveillance more focused, the IMF’s assessment should be principles-based; that is, the Fund should assess the overall coherence of exchange rate, monetary, fiscal and financial policies, with a view to analyzing their effects on external stability. Second, the IMF should have a governance structure that increases incentives to support candid, transparent assessments of surveillance. In practice, this entails a different role for the Executive Board: the Board will set out the Fund’s strategic framework for surveillance; the Managing Director and the staff will conduct surveillance. These reforms clarify the roles and responsibilities of the IMF and its member countries in the surveillance process. Also, our proposed reforms aim at making surveillance more even-handed and objective. We believe that this principles-based approach can bolster the credibility and legitimacy of surveillance, giving the Fund greater influence on the economic policies of members.

论全球金融危机下的中美经济关系失衡及其调整

20世纪90年代以来,中美经济关系日益紧密;但与此同时,两国贸易关系与投资关系失衡也不断加剧。全球金融危机的爆发对中美贸易关系失衡与投资关系失衡产生了不同的影响,并导致二者的调整路径明显分化。在后危机时代,美联储的宽松货币政策及退出时机、中美两国的经济结构调整、现行国际货币体系的改革以及人民币国际化进程的加速都将影响中美经济关系失衡的调整。从长期来看,中美投资关系失衡的调整将慢于贸易关系失衡的调整,但二者最终都将向均衡水平回归。     

试论19世纪俄国币制改革

19世纪的俄国,承继18世纪彼得一世和叶卡捷琳娜二世的治国方略,继续遵循俄国历史上极为独特的自上而下调节经济的政策。每一次的皇权更迭都伴随着一场社会政治经济变革的发生,对俄国历史发展和现代化进程产生了重大影响。19世纪俄国货币制度的演变,更是历经战争与和平的交替影响,从一个侧面反映了俄国历代沙皇拯救国家经济危机的策略以及治国安邦的既定方针和传统。