Are MENA Countries Reaping the Benefits of Inflows?
A comparative analysis of migrants’ remittances and FDI flows
Magda Kandil & Ida Aghdas Mirzaie
Volume 10, Number 3, 2009, pages 159 - 192
Using data for a sample of developing countries, we analyse the effects of external flows, namely migrants’ remittances and FDI flows, on real output growth, price inflation and components of aggregate demand. The historical evidence indicates unstable patterns of FDI inflows to a sample of nine MEN ... Read more
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Reasons for Remitting
Oded Stark
Volume 10, Number 3, 2009, pages 147 - 158
This article presents a set of reflections on what gives rise to remittances, which constitute a major part of the impact of migration on economic development in the migrants’ own countries. The collage of reasons presented serves to illustrate that remittance behaviour is the outcome of an intricat ... Read more
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Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods
Graham Bird & Thomas D. Willett
Volume 9, Number 3, 2008, pages 229 - 234
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Unwinding Global Economic Imbalances
What’s growth got to do with it?
Graham Bird
Volume 9, Number 3, 2008, pages 211 - 216
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Islamic Economics and Finance
Rodney Wilson
Volume 9, Number 1, 2008, pages 177 - 195
This article provides an introduction to key concepts and methods involved in an Islamic approach to business, investment, risk taking and insurance. The prohibition of riba (interest or usury) profoundly influences the way business transactions and investments are made and financial contract ... Read more
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Growth Strategies and Dynamics
Insights from country experiences
Mohamed A. El-Erian & A. Michael Spence
Volume 9, Number 1, 2008, pages 57 - 96
The paper examines the challenges that developing countries face in accelerating and sustaining growth. The cases of China and India are examined to illustrate a more general phenomenon which might be called model uncertainty. As a developing economy grows, its market and regulatory institutions cha ... Read more
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Economic Drivers of Pharmaceutical Investment Location
David Lewis, Edward Bramley-Harker & Joshua Farahnik
Volume 8, Number 3, 2007, pages 171 - 182
The article examines the range of economic factors that underlie decision making about the location of investments by research-based pharmaceutical companies. Set in the context of the commercial challenges facing the industry, structured interviews with 34 senior executives in pharmaceutical compan ... Read more
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The Future of North Korea is South Korea
(Or hope springs eternal)
Marcus Noland
Volume 8, Number 3, 2007, pages 27 - 52
North Korea's famine was in significant part a product of state failure, and unleashed an unintended grassroots process of marketization. Reforms undertaken in 2002 are more usefully interpreted as a response to this development than as a pro-active attempt to improve efficiency, and the government’ ... Read more
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A Dynamic Theory of China–U.S. Trade
Making sense of the imbalances
Amar Bhidé & Edmund Phelps
Volume 8, Number 3, 2007, pages 7 - 25
China's trade surplus with the U.S. is now more than a quarter of the U.S. trade deficit and, with China growing faster than the U.S., raises questions about its future course. Some media commentators term the chronic trade surplus "mercantilist" but offer no persuasive motive for it. Academics taki ... Read more
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On Solving the World’s Economic Problems by Doing Something Unfashionable
Graham Bird
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 119 - 131
The world currently faces a number of economic problems. These include the large global economic imbalances that may prove to be unsustainable; international poverty, where projections suggest that it is unlikely that the Millennium Development Goals will be achieved; and stalled multilateral trade ... Read more
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Prospects for Commodity Exporters
Hunky Dory or Humpty Dumpty?
Paul Collier & Benedikt Goderis
Volume 8, Number 2, 2007, pages 1 - 15
Those low-income countries that export non-agricultural commodities are in the midst of a resource transfer. It is undoubtedly the biggest opportunity for transformative development that these societies have experienced, dwarfing both aid and previous commodity booms. To get it in proportion, in 200 ... Read more
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The EU, the Middle East, and Regional Integration
Bessma Momani
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 47 - 56
The European Union’s venture into enhancing trade linkages with the Middle East, as conceived by the 1995 Barcelona Process, had high hopes but failed in producing the intended political and economic deliverables. The Euro–Mediterranean Partnerships were flawed, as they created a hub and spoke tradi ... Read more
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Aid for Trade
An essential component of the multilateral trading system and WTO Doha development agenda
Faizel Ismail
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 15 - 45
The paper argues that increased Trade and Aid are both essential to enhance the development of many developing countries. It argues further that trade-related technical assistance and capacity building is not only an essential element of the concept of special and differential treatment but i ... Read more
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Challenges to the Multilateral Trading System
Peter Sutherland
Volume 8, Number 1, 2007, pages 1 - 14
Ever since the GATT was established in 1948, the growth in international trade and economic growth has been remarkable. The traditional mercantilism of trade relations is less and less appropriate for the global economy. Bilateral trade deals make the business environment more complex and unpredicta ... Read more
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Agricultural Reform and Trade Negotiations
Can the Doha Round deliver?
Kimberly Ann Elliott
Volume 7, Number 4, 2006, pages 125 - 144
In this essay, Kim Elliott examines the patterns of support for agriculture across countries and commodities in the industrialized world. She then summarizes the approach to reducing trade-distorting support that came out of the Uruguay Round, and concludes with a discussion of the implications for ... Read more
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The Emergence of a Regional Financial Architecture in Asia
Recent developments and prospects
Anthony Elson
Volume 7, Number 3, 2006, pages 167 - 184
This paper provides an assessment of monetary and financial cooperation in Asia since the regional financial crisis of 1997–98, with a view to determining whether the emerging Regional Financial Architecture in Asia is compatible with the global financial architecture and what are the prospects for ... Read more
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From The Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference to the Suspension of the Negotiations
Developing countries reclaim the development content of the WTO Doha Round
Faizel Ismail
Volume 7, Number 3, 2006, pages 133 - 166
This paper makes an assessment of the WTO Doha Negotiations from the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference until the suspension of the Doha Round at the end of July 2006. The paper analyses the events from a development perspective distinguishing between the perspectives of two broad groups of developing ... Read more
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Are We Heading for a Dollar Crisis?
Graham Bird
Volume 7, Number 1, 2006, pages 159 - 174
The US balance of payments current account deficit is in excess of 5 per cent of GDP. Is this sustainable? A loss of confidence in the dollar could lead to foreign investors selling dollars and to a sharp dollar devaluation. In principle, there could be a dollar crisis. But how likely is it? This pa ... Read more
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Trade Policy 2006
A tour d’horizon
Razeen Sally
Volume 7, Number 1, 2006, pages 45 - 71
The global momentum in favour of trade liberalisation has slowed down; and there is more liberalisation-scepticism post-Washington Consensus. Chances are that the Doha Round will either collapse or deliver a very modest result. Both outcomes will leave the WTO in very serious trouble. For the WTO to ... Read more
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Corporate China Goes Global
Friedrich Wu
Volume 6, Number 4, 2005, pages 171 - 181
Recent high-profile international acquisitions and take-over bids by Chinese companies have attracted much media limelight and raised intense interest in China’s rising outward foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper delineates the macro trends of China’s outward FDI based on the most currently ... Read more
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Reserve Accumulation in Asia
Lessons for holistic reform of the international monetary system
Graham Bird & Alex Mandilaras
Volume 6, Number 1, 2005, pages 85 - 99
In the aftermath of the 1997/1998 crisis, Asian economies have built up large
holdings of international reserves. Although initially encouraged to do so by the
IMF, more recently they have been criticised for maintaining undervalued
currencies, running large current account balance of payments su ... Read more
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Keynes, Globalisation and the Bretton Woods Institutions in the Light of Changing Ideas about Markets
Robert Skidelsky
Volume 6, Number 1, 2005, pages 15 - 30
For most of the twentieth century, pessimism about, and hostility to, markets was
prevalent and this pulled in an anti-globalist direction. Indeed, the global
institutions set up in 1944 were constructed by two market pessimists, John
Maynard Keynes, on whom this article concentrates, and Harry D ... Read more
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Trade in the Chinese 21st Century
Howard Davies
Volume 6, Number 1, 2005, pages 1 - 13
In this article Sir Howard Davies, Director of the London School of Economics
and Political Science, offers some thoughts, first, on the political framework
within which trade policy is determined, then about the way in which the
globalization debate has developed, and finally some suggestions on ... Read more
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The Influence of Political Distortions on Economic Performance
The contributions of Alberto Alesina
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 5, Number 4, 2004, pages 91 - 136
Alberto Alesina is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy and
Chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University. In this
interview he discusses with Brian Snowdon his views on several important
contemporary issues, including politics and the business cycle, budget deficits ... Read more
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European Financial Market Integration
Distant dream or nascent reality?
Patrice Muller
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 139 - 158
European Monetary Union and a vigorous legislative agenda have profoundly
changed the environment in which the European financial services industry
operates. These developments should have contributed to a deepening of
financial market integration in the European Union, especially within the
Eur ... Read more
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The G-20 and the World Economy
C Fred Bergsten
Volume 5, Number 3, 2004, pages 27 - 36
‘Globalisation’ is under attack throughout the world. However, no country has
ever developed successfully without participating actively in the global economy.
Countries and even whole regions that have failed to globalise, or which have
‘de-globalised’, have lagged. What is needed is more openne ... Read more
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Explaining the ‘Great Divergence’
Daron Acemoglu on how growth theorists rediscovered history and the importance of institutions
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 5, Number 2, 2004, pages 83 - 130
Daron Acemoglu is Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. In this interview he discusses with Brian Snowdon some of his
recent research findings that confirm the key role played by ‘good’ and ‘bad’
institutions in determining the economic performance of countries. He ... Read more
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The Quest for Development
What role does history play?
Areendam Chanda & Louis Putterman
Volume 5, Number 2, 2004, pages 1 - 31
It may be no coincidence that those countries that grew most rapidly in the late
twentieth century—including South Korea, China, and, of late, India—were
relatively developed civilizations when Western Europe began its overseas
expansion five centuries ago. In this article the authors explore the ... Read more
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Beyond the Ivory Tower
Stanley Fischer on the economics of contemporary global issues
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 5, Number 1, 2004, pages 67 - 114
Stanley Fischer had a long and distinguished career as an academic economist at
MIT, and was Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist at
the World Bank, before becoming First Deputy Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund in 1994. He is now President of Citigroup
In ... Read more
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The End of the Road for the WTO?
A snapshot of international trade policy after Cancun
Razeen Sally
Volume 5, Number 1, 2004, pages 1 - 14
The collapse of the Doha Round in Cancun is symptomatic of a wider malaise in
the WTO. It has an overloaded agenda, and is becoming excessively legalised
and politicised. The “UN-isation” of the WTO proceeds apace. Its decisionmaking
mechanism is crippled. It is therefore not surprising that atte ... Read more
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China’s Capital Market
Better than a casino
Stephen Green
Volume 4, Number 4, 2003, pages 37 - 54
Throughout the 1990s, China’s stock market was developed as a tool of industrial
policy. It was used to supply capital to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that
remained controlled by the state and whose performance usually declined after
listing. Secondary market trading was poorly regulated, again ... Read more
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Exchange Rate Regimes
Is there a third way?
Vijay Joshi
Volume 4, Number 4, 2003, pages 15 - 36
This paper argues that (a) for many developing countries, the optimal external
payments regime would be a combination of an intermediate exchange rate with
capital controls and (b) the policy stance and advice of the IMF should reflect
this judgement. The paper uses India as a case study to illus ... Read more
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The Outlook for World Trade
Peter Sutherland
Volume 4, Number 3, 2003, pages 27 - 34
The former GATT and World Trade Organization Director-General (1993–1995)
defends the multilateral trade system—“If goods do not pass frontiers, armies
will”—and describes the challenges facing the World Trade Organization
particularly in meeting the Doha Development Agenda. He responds to critic ... Read more
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Weapons Exports
The bogus moral dilemma
Samuel Brittan
Volume 4, Number 2, 2003, pages 39 - 56
The commonly held view that an ethical approach to arms sales is desirable but
‘unaffordable’ because jobs and exports are at stake is challenged by Samuel
Brittan. He argues that it arises from a failure to understand the circular flow of
income, the fallacy of a ‘lump of labour’ and a long disc ... Read more
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Are Multinationals Really Bigger Than Nations?
Paul De Grauwe & Filip Camerman
Volume 4, Number 2, 2003, pages 23 - 37
Multinational corporations are increasingly seen as excessively big and powerful,
and as having dramatically increased in size and power. This perception has led
to the view that the big corporations are threatening democratic institutions of
the nation-states and that they pervert the cultural a ... Read more
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Should We Be Globaphobic About Globalisation?
Dani Rodrik on the economic and political implications of increasing international economic integration
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 3, Number 4, 2002, pages 147 - 192
Dani Rodrik is best known for his work on international economics, trade policy,
the institutional foundations of economic development, and the political
economy of economic policy reform. Much of his recent research has been
concerned with the limits and consequences of international economic
i ... Read more
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Labour Standards and International Trade
Krisztina Kis-Katos & Günther G. Schulze
Volume 3, Number 4, 2002, pages 101 - 129
Can a case be made for the imposition of international minimum labour
standards? And if so, on what grounds? The authors systematically present the
existing theoretical and empirical arguments for and against introducing minimum
labour standards on the international level, and discuss whether tra ... Read more
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A Decade of Trade Reforms in India
How it compares with East Asia
Ramkishen S. Rajan & Rahul Sen
Volume 3, Number 4, 2002, pages 87 - 100
This paper summarises recent trade reforms in India and documents the extent
to which the country has integrated with the global trading system. The paper
argues that India has made important strides since the initiation of reforms in
1991. Although it lags significantly behind most of East Asia ... Read more
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Ready to Join the EU?
On the status of reform in the candidate countries
Federico Foders, Daniel Piazolo & Rainer Schweickert
Volume 3, Number 4, 2002, pages 43 - 72
This paper presents a new set of indicators concerning the status of economic
reform in the candidate countries for the enlargement of the European Union
which is scheduled for 2004. After an overview of indicators of institutional
development, macroeconomic policy and trade policy, a composite i ... Read more
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Can Africa Catch Up?
Arne Bigsten
Volume 3, Number 2, 2002, pages 17 - 33
The trend towards globalization of the last few decades has been manifested in
the sustained growth of world trade and flows of investment and technology. For
most regions this growing integration has led to rapidly growing per capita
incomes, while Africa has stagnated at the income level achiev ... Read more
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Letter from Buenos Aires
Pierre Wassenaar
Volume 3, Number 1, 2002, pages 179 - 183
“IMF criminals!” cry the antiglobalists in the wake of Argentina’s descent into
chaos. But the real crime of Argentina’s last ten years was its own supineness in tying its fortunes for so long to the economy of an indifferent superpower, and allowing itself to become the plaything of international ... Read more
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Capital Controls
The experience of Malaysia
Jomo K.S.
Volume 3, Number 1, 2002, pages 125 - 143
Malaysia’s decision to adopt capital controls in September 1998 reminded the
world that there are alternatives to capital account liberalisation. Unfortunately,
there has been a tendency for both sides in the debate over the capital control
measures to exaggerate their own cases, with little rega ... Read more
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Championing Free Trade in the Second Age of Globalisation
Jagdish Bhagwati on trade, democracy and growth
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 2, Number 4, 2001, pages 53 - 104
Professor Jagdish Bhagwati is without question one of the world’s leading
economists and an authority on the principles and practice of foreign trade. In his extensive research over the past forty years he has made seminal contributions to trade theory and policy, public finance, the new political ... Read more
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The International Arms Industry Since the End of the Cold War
Ron Smith
Volume 2, Number 3, 2001, pages 155 - 166
This article surveys the evolution of the international arms market since the end of the Cold War. It begins with the policy context, the choices made by the
national Ministries of Defence and the constraints they faced. It then looks at the choices available to the arms producers: convert, diversi ... Read more
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Economic Globalisation
How far and how much further?
Ramkishen Rajan & Graham Bird
Volume 2, Number 3, 2001, pages 1 - 18
The concept of globalisation has received a great deal of popular attention in
recent years. However, the term is often used quite loosely. When defined to
mean closer international economic integration, the evidence shows that the
extent of globalisation may easily be exaggerated. This article e ... Read more
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Negotiating Trade
David Flath
Volume 2, Number 2, 2001, pages 19 - 28
If unilateral free trade is the best policy, then why are international treaties
needed to achieve it? The reason may be found in the Becker theory of
competition among political pressure groups. By entering wide-ranging
negotiations, nations shift the political question from one of protecting a ... Read more
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The Emerging Northeast–Southeast Asia Divide and Policy Implications
Friedrich Wu
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 169 - 180
Since the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in mid-1997, the gulf between the Northeast Asian economies and Southeast Asian economies has widened as measured by GDP growth rates and size, direct and portfolio investment flows,
stock market capitalisation and trading turnover, as well as foreig ... Read more
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Russia’s Post-Communist Economy
Peter Oppenheimer & Brigitte Granville
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 149 - 168
Ten years after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia’s measured output was still showing a net decline of around 40 per cent – but with no comparable
decline in average living standards, both because the output drop affected mainly the defence sectors and because Russia’s participation in inter ... Read more
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Eastern Enlargement and EU Labour Markets
Perceptions, challenges and opportunities
Tito Boeri & Herbert Brücker
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 49 - 68
This paper summarises the key findings of a recent study on the impact of
Eastern Enlargement of the European Union (EU) on labour markets in the
current Member States. The study focuses on three main channels along which
enlargement may affect labour markets in the EU, namely i) trade, ii) forei ... Read more
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How Clear is the Crystal Ball?
Reflections on the accuracy of growth forecasts
Prakash Loungani
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 1 - 8
Two salie nt features of growth forecasts are discussed. First, recessions generally arrive before the forecast. Slowdowns are predicted but forecasters are unable or unwilling to call recessions. Second, private sector forecasts tend to be similar to those of official agencies. Some tips for foreca ... Read more
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From Rags to Riches
Ireland’s economic boom
Brendan Walsh
Volume 1, Number 4, 2000, pages 113 - 133
This article explores the factors behind the Irish
economic renaissance of the 1990s. These include the fiscal correction of the 1980s, the availability of an ample supply of well-educated labour, a
competitive exchange rate, and the inflow of EU aid. The reintroduction of ‘social
partnership’ is ... Read more
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