This paper argues that trade and capital account reforms within autocracies underlie the primacy of foreign currency procurement. A longitudinal comparison of four countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) in the Middle East and North Africa region shows a historical sequencing of reforms. In the 1960s and 1970s, the foreign exchange scarcity was managed primarily by rising restrictions, accumulation of debt and a number of unilateral country-specific strategies, including broader economic openings (infitah) and isolated capital account liberalizations. However, IMF-friendly reforms (orthodox trade liberalization) only became a political option in the context of the extreme fiscal scarcity of the 1980s and 1990s, after the failure of these earlier policies and the drying up of alternative unconditional finance. Additionally, the time differences regarding when orthodox reforms are implemented within autocracies mainly relate to global and regional cycles of different external windfall gains. These findings complement recent debates about the rush to free trade in at least two regards. First, they point to distinct causal mechanisms depending on the type of political regime (for example, autocracy versus democracy), explaining the beginning of trade and capital account liberalizations among developing countries. Second, they reveal the conditional historical influence of neoliberal ideas among structurally similar autocracies.
{"title":"When do Autocracies Start to Liberalize Foreign Trade? Evidence from Four Cases in the Arab World","authors":"T. Richter","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1596026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1596026","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that trade and capital account reforms within autocracies underlie the primacy of foreign currency procurement. A longitudinal comparison of four countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) in the Middle East and North Africa region shows a historical sequencing of reforms. In the 1960s and 1970s, the foreign exchange scarcity was managed primarily by rising restrictions, accumulation of debt and a number of unilateral country-specific strategies, including broader economic openings (infitah) and isolated capital account liberalizations. However, IMF-friendly reforms (orthodox trade liberalization) only became a political option in the context of the extreme fiscal scarcity of the 1980s and 1990s, after the failure of these earlier policies and the drying up of alternative unconditional finance. Additionally, the time differences regarding when orthodox reforms are implemented within autocracies mainly relate to global and regional cycles of different external windfall gains. These findings complement recent debates about the rush to free trade in at least two regards. First, they point to distinct causal mechanisms depending on the type of political regime (for example, autocracy versus democracy), explaining the beginning of trade and capital account liberalizations among developing countries. Second, they reveal the conditional historical influence of neoliberal ideas among structurally similar autocracies.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121939560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The world economy is currently going through a serious financial upheaval that sparked off in the United States and has spread to Europe and the rest of the world. The crisis has already led to the collapse of influential banks and firms as well as to recession in several countries, some consider such consequences as just the tip of the iceberg and that the worst is yet to come. This paper aims to study the current global financial crisis and its impact on Egypt. To do so, it first presents an overview of the causes and consequences of the current turbulence, followed by an assessment of the depth of the crisis and its implications for the Egyptian economy, including the financial sector, balance of payments and the state budget. In addition, the paper highlights the actions taken by the Egyptian government to cope with the effects of the crisis on the Egyptian economy and concludes with some recommendations on steps to handle this crisis.
{"title":"The Effects of the Global Economic Crisis on the Egyptian Economy (Arabic)","authors":"Hussein Elasrag","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1595408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1595408","url":null,"abstract":"The world economy is currently going through a serious financial upheaval that sparked off in the United States and has spread to Europe and the rest of the world. The crisis has already led to the collapse of influential banks and firms as well as to recession in several countries, some consider such consequences as just the tip of the iceberg and that the worst is yet to come. This paper aims to study the current global financial crisis and its impact on Egypt. To do so, it first presents an overview of the causes and consequences of the current turbulence, followed by an assessment of the depth of the crisis and its implications for the Egyptian economy, including the financial sector, balance of payments and the state budget. In addition, the paper highlights the actions taken by the Egyptian government to cope with the effects of the crisis on the Egyptian economy and concludes with some recommendations on steps to handle this crisis.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123783893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
No aspect of the global supply chain is untouched by environmental concerns and none more so than the security, broadly writ, of the supply chain itself. From the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, to the production of goods and their movement around the world all the way to consumption, the environment impacts every link of the chain. While uncertainties remain about the projected rate of sea level rise, the global and regional effects of climate change and the implications for international security, there can be no doubt that changes in the environment will present new and unprecedented risks for us all. From a practical and policy perspective, however, it is necessary to take a step back – while keeping an eye on the future – to get a better sense of vulnerabilities and what future risks and opportunities might portend. This report will focus on reasonable expectations of what the future may resemble – as suggested by security insights and current scientific consensus – on indicators related to such concerns as sea level rise, extreme weather events, climate change, economics, political security and their overall impacts.
{"title":"Links in the Chain: Environmental Concerns for the Global Economy and International Security","authors":"Sean Costigan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1604219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1604219","url":null,"abstract":"No aspect of the global supply chain is untouched by environmental concerns and none more so than the security, broadly writ, of the supply chain itself. From the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, to the production of goods and their movement around the world all the way to consumption, the environment impacts every link of the chain. While uncertainties remain about the projected rate of sea level rise, the global and regional effects of climate change and the implications for international security, there can be no doubt that changes in the environment will present new and unprecedented risks for us all. From a practical and policy perspective, however, it is necessary to take a step back – while keeping an eye on the future – to get a better sense of vulnerabilities and what future risks and opportunities might portend. This report will focus on reasonable expectations of what the future may resemble – as suggested by security insights and current scientific consensus – on indicators related to such concerns as sea level rise, extreme weather events, climate change, economics, political security and their overall impacts.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117295932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2010-04-08DOI: 10.1590/S1807-76922010000200003
EDSON RONALDO GUARIDO FILHO, Clóvis L. Machado-da-Silva, Luciano Rossoni
Based on the assumption that scientific knowledge is a social construction, (re)produced by a community of practicing researchers, in this article we seek to delineate two dimensions of this process. The first, which we have called the social dimension, has to do with the social interactions among researchers in a determined scientific field, being evaluated as a co-authorship network. The second, the intellectual dimension, defined as the programmatic profile expressed by its substantive content and provided references, is constituted in relational citation structures. With this analytical division in mind, we set out to research how the intellectual structure is conditioned by the social relationships among researchers, with a focus on the institutional analysis perspective in organizational studies in Brazil. For this purpose, we empirically evaluated the phenomenon from the convergence of the social network analysis with the scientometric analysis, seeking support for these analyses within the structurationist perspective of the institutional theory. The results point toward a conditioning of the intellectual dimension by the social dimension since there is significant evidence from individual relationships and relationships at the group level that support the argument for a recursive relationship between the two dimensions.
{"title":"The Social and Intellectual Dimensions in the Construction of Scientific Knowledge: The Institutional Theory in Organization Studies in Brazil","authors":"EDSON RONALDO GUARIDO FILHO, Clóvis L. Machado-da-Silva, Luciano Rossoni","doi":"10.1590/S1807-76922010000200003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1590/S1807-76922010000200003","url":null,"abstract":"Based on the assumption that scientific knowledge is a social construction, (re)produced by a community of practicing researchers, in this article we seek to delineate two dimensions of this process. The first, which we have called the social dimension, has to do with the social interactions among researchers in a determined scientific field, being evaluated as a co-authorship network. The second, the intellectual dimension, defined as the programmatic profile expressed by its substantive content and provided references, is constituted in relational citation structures. With this analytical division in mind, we set out to research how the intellectual structure is conditioned by the social relationships among researchers, with a focus on the institutional analysis perspective in organizational studies in Brazil. For this purpose, we empirically evaluated the phenomenon from the convergence of the social network analysis with the scientometric analysis, seeking support for these analyses within the structurationist perspective of the institutional theory. The results point toward a conditioning of the intellectual dimension by the social dimension since there is significant evidence from individual relationships and relationships at the group level that support the argument for a recursive relationship between the two dimensions.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116910576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Heterogeneity in product standards across World Trade Organization (WTO) Members adversely affects the international flow of goods and its reduction will increase global economic welfare if legitimate regulatory objectives are not violated. The Uruguay Round has seen the incorporation of international standards in both the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement as a harmonization device. Despite many benefits that international standards may offer, WTO’s attachment to international standards has been subject to various criticisms. This paper intends to offer a detailed analysis of the role of international standards in the TBT and the SPS Agreement. Especially, I will examine whether and to what extent international standards have constrained WTO Members’ regulatory autonomy in setting domestic product standards.
{"title":"Reducing Product Standards Heterogeneity Through International Standards in the WTO: How Far Across the River?","authors":"Ming Du","doi":"10.54648/trad2010010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.54648/trad2010010","url":null,"abstract":"Heterogeneity in product standards across World Trade Organization (WTO) Members adversely affects the international flow of goods and its reduction will increase global economic welfare if legitimate regulatory objectives are not violated. The Uruguay Round has seen the incorporation of international standards in both the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement as a harmonization device. Despite many benefits that international standards may offer, WTO’s attachment to international standards has been subject to various criticisms. This paper intends to offer a detailed analysis of the role of international standards in the TBT and the SPS Agreement. Especially, I will examine whether and to what extent international standards have constrained WTO Members’ regulatory autonomy in setting domestic product standards.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124706428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2010-04-01DOI: 10.5089/9781451982589.001.A001
Raphael Espinoza, Oral Williams, A. Prasad
We investigate the extent of regional financial integration in the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The limited volume data available suggests that regional integration is non-negligible. Bahrain and Kuwait investments especially are oriented towards the region. The development of stock markets in the region will also improve the extent of financial integration. Interest rate data shows that convergence exists and that interest rate differentials are relatively short-lived-especially compared to the ECCU, another emerging market region sharing a common currency. Equities data using cross-listed stocks confirms that stock markets are fairly integrated compared to other emerging market regions, although financial integration is hampered by market illiquidity.
{"title":"Regional Financial Integration in the GCC","authors":"Raphael Espinoza, Oral Williams, A. Prasad","doi":"10.5089/9781451982589.001.A001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451982589.001.A001","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the extent of regional financial integration in the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The limited volume data available suggests that regional integration is non-negligible. Bahrain and Kuwait investments especially are oriented towards the region. The development of stock markets in the region will also improve the extent of financial integration. Interest rate data shows that convergence exists and that interest rate differentials are relatively short-lived-especially compared to the ECCU, another emerging market region sharing a common currency. Equities data using cross-listed stocks confirms that stock markets are fairly integrated compared to other emerging market regions, although financial integration is hampered by market illiquidity.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121512240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or “rebalancing†with an emphasis on service-sector development should be—and is becoming—one long-term response to the crisis by Asia’s emerging economies. In the long run, sustainable economic development will depend in part on achieving a “green†trajectory of service sector development, in which services help green the “product economy.†[ADBI Working Paper 209]
{"title":"Green Services and Emergence and Recovery from the Global Economic Slowdown in Developing Asian Economies","authors":"M. Stoughton, V. Anbumozhi","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1585624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1585624","url":null,"abstract":"The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or “rebalancing†with an emphasis on service-sector development should be—and is becoming—one long-term response to the crisis by Asia’s emerging economies. In the long run, sustainable economic development will depend in part on achieving a “green†trajectory of service sector development, in which services help green the “product economy.†[ADBI Working Paper 209]","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"7 3-4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120891362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vast empirical evidence underscores that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. As governments accordingly pursue export-promoting policies we are interested in the firmness of these conclusions with respect to African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of the destination of export trade. Using a micro-panel dataset from five African countries we confirm the self-selection. We apply propensity scores to match exporters and use a difference-in-difference methodology to test if African SMEs experience productivity gains because of export participation. Results indicate that African firms significantly learn-by-exporting. Manufacturers obtain significant performance improvements due to internationalization although this effect is moderated by export destination. Firms that export outside Africa become more capital intensive and at the same time hire more workers. In contrast we find evidence that exporters within the African region significantly downsize in capital intensity. Results regarding skill-bias of internationally active firms are mixed, where exporters within the region expand in size and hire more relatively unskilled workers.
{"title":"Learning-by-Exporting and Destination Effects: Evidence from African SMEs","authors":"Martijn Adriaan Boermans","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1612770","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1612770","url":null,"abstract":"Vast empirical evidence underscores that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. As governments accordingly pursue export-promoting policies we are interested in the firmness of these conclusions with respect to African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of the destination of export trade. Using a micro-panel dataset from five African countries we confirm the self-selection. We apply propensity scores to match exporters and use a difference-in-difference methodology to test if African SMEs experience productivity gains because of export participation. Results indicate that African firms significantly learn-by-exporting. Manufacturers obtain significant performance improvements due to internationalization although this effect is moderated by export destination. Firms that export outside Africa become more capital intensive and at the same time hire more workers. In contrast we find evidence that exporters within the African region significantly downsize in capital intensity. Results regarding skill-bias of internationally active firms are mixed, where exporters within the region expand in size and hire more relatively unskilled workers.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123028981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we analyze the Chinese Government Bond (CGB) market. We find that CGB returns exhibit three common risk factors, which are well captured by three indices composed of short-, medium-, and long-term bonds. Moreover, these common risk factors exhibit strong momentum. In particular, weekly returns on medium and long maturity bond portfolios have a serial correlation of 27.73% and 31.29%, respectively. We further show that the serial correlation in bond returns allows significant profits from using simple momentum strategies. The strong momentum in bond portfolio returns indicates market inefficiencies. We further compare CGBs facing different restrictions on their trading in different markets and find that bonds with more restrictions allow more momentum profits.
{"title":"The Chinese Government Bond Returns","authors":"Jiang Wang, Zhishu Yang, Dongyan Ye","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1623747","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1623747","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we analyze the Chinese Government Bond (CGB) market. We find that CGB returns exhibit three common risk factors, which are well captured by three indices composed of short-, medium-, and long-term bonds. Moreover, these common risk factors exhibit strong momentum. In particular, weekly returns on medium and long maturity bond portfolios have a serial correlation of 27.73% and 31.29%, respectively. We further show that the serial correlation in bond returns allows significant profits from using simple momentum strategies. The strong momentum in bond portfolio returns indicates market inefficiencies. We further compare CGBs facing different restrictions on their trading in different markets and find that bonds with more restrictions allow more momentum profits.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115879112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates the usefulness of relative performance evaluation (RPE) for the incentive scheme in an undeveloped economy lacking market-based competition. In a sample of China’s listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during 2001-2005, 41% of the Chairmen of the Board or CEOs who left the office have been promoted, by definition, based on the RPE. By regression, the findings show that the likelihood of promotion is significantly positively associated with preceding RPE. The promotion incentive with RPE relates positively to the post- firm performance and outperforms other incentives by almost 7% based on three-year post- Tobin’s q. But the relation only persists significantly in the region where the market is less developed and competitive, namely, with the lower number of firms listed in the stock market, less stock market capitalization, or higher regional Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). These results imply that RPE plays a critical incentive role in a less competitive market environment.
{"title":"An Empirical Investigation of Incentive Plan with Relative Performance Measure: Evidence from China's Listed State-Owned Enterprises","authors":"Fang Hu","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1570996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1570996","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the usefulness of relative performance evaluation (RPE) for the incentive scheme in an undeveloped economy lacking market-based competition. In a sample of China’s listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during 2001-2005, 41% of the Chairmen of the Board or CEOs who left the office have been promoted, by definition, based on the RPE. By regression, the findings show that the likelihood of promotion is significantly positively associated with preceding RPE. The promotion incentive with RPE relates positively to the post- firm performance and outperforms other incentives by almost 7% based on three-year post- Tobin’s q. But the relation only persists significantly in the region where the market is less developed and competitive, namely, with the lower number of firms listed in the stock market, less stock market capitalization, or higher regional Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). These results imply that RPE plays a critical incentive role in a less competitive market environment.","PeriodicalId":213755,"journal":{"name":"International Environment of Global Business eJournal","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131359966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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