World Economics Journal Archive
The contents of all previous issues of World Economics are listed below. Subscribers have access to the complete back issue archive: click on titles to view abstracts and full text of articles (PDF). If you are not a subscriber, sign-up online now.
Economists and Sustainable Development: The OECD Report on Policies for Sustainable Development
Wilfred Beckerman, World Economics, December 2001
The OECD report is almost exclusively about environmental policy (on which it
contains a mass of useful data and discussion). There is, commendably, hardly
any discussion of the implications of the usual core condition in consensus
definitions of sustainable developm ... More
What Do We Know About the Shadow Economy?: Evidence from 21 OECD countries
Friedrich Schneider, World Economics, December 2001
Estimates of the size of the shadow economy in 21 OECD countries are
presented. The average size of the shadow economy (as a percentage of ‘official’
GDP) over 1999/2000 in these countries is 16.7%. The author concludes that it is
the increasing burden of taxation an ... More
What Happened to the Washington Consensus?
Graham Bird, World Economics, December 2001
At the beginning of the 1990s it appeared that there was considerable agreement
about the kind of economic policies that countries turning to the IMF and the
World Bank should pursue. These included macroeconomic stabilisation,
microeconomic liberalisation and openne ... More
Championing Free Trade in the Second Age of Globalisation: Jagdish Bhagwati on trade, democracy and growth
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
World Economics, December 2001
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, publ ... More
Cohabiting with Goliath: How small equity exchanges will survive in the future
Avinash Persaud, World Economics, December 2001
The surviving legacy of the Long Term Capital debacle of October 1998 is an
increased preference for liquidity among international investors. This process has
a self-fulfilling element with liquidity following investors out of the less liquid
markets and into the mor ... More
Why is There No AIDS Vaccine?: A new economic explanation
Pedro Rey Biel, World Economics, December 2001
This paper provides an economic explanation for the non-existence of a vaccine
against AIDS. It comments on previously claimed economic reasons why private
laboratories do not have incentives to invest in an AIDS vaccine and provides a
new one: private companies alre ... More
Prohibition and the Market for Illegal Drugs: An overview of recent history
Suren Basov , Mireille Jacobson & Jeffrey A. Miron, World Economics, December 2001
Over the past 25 years in the United States, enforcement of drug prohibition has
expanded dramatically. Over the same period, however, the trends in drug
production and consumption have been essentially flat, and the real, purityadjusted prices of both cocaine and her ... More
Measuring Global Drug Markets: How good are the numbers and why should we care about them?
Peter Reuter & Victoria Greenfield , World Economics, December 2001
The continuing demand for measures of the size of global drug revenues has
produced a supply of numbers that consistently overstate international financial
flows. This paper shows that, rather than $500 billion, the annual figure in trade
terms may be about $25 billi ... More
Up for the Cup
Stefan Szymanski, World Economics, December 2001
Measured by attendance of football fans, the FA Cup is in decline. This paper
reviews the evidence of this decline and suggests that the underlying cause may
be the growing imbalance of competition in the Cup. The paper considers the
drastic innovation that the FA in ... More
Economic Globalisation: How far and how much further?
Ramkishen Rajan & Graham Bird, World Economics, September 2001
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 ... More
Wealth as a Criterion for Sustainable Development
Partha Dasgupta & Karl-Göran Mäler, World Economics, September 2001
In this article the authors define sustainable development as an economic
programme along which social well-being does not decline over time. It can be
shown that the requirement is equivalent to the maintenance of a comprehensive
measure of wealth, where an economy’ ... More
Redefining the Role of the State: Joseph Stiglitz on building a ‘post-Washington consensus’
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
World Economics, September 2001
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Professor Joseph Stiglitz is without question one of the world’s leading
economists. In his extensive research he has made seminal contributions to the
analysis of the economic consequences of incomplete informa ... More
Global Income Inequality: Beliefs, facts and unresolved issues
Arne Melchior, World Economics, September 2001
While several international organisations have argued that income gaps between
countries have increased during the last decades, the opposite conclusion is
obtained if countries are weighted according to their population size, and if price-level-adjusted income data a ... More
The Debt-Relief Initiative for Poor Countries: Good news for the poor?
Gustav Ranis & Frances Stewart, World Economics, September 2001
This paper reviews the new debt-relief initiative for Highly-Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPCs) designed to reduce the debt burden of potentially 36 poor
countries. It finds that the HIPC initiative is not likely to make a major
contribution to the problems of the world ... More
NGOs and International Economic Policy-Making: Rights and responsibilities in the global arena
Michael Edwards, World Economics, September 2001
NGOs and other citizens’ groups are enjoying an unprecedented upsurge in their
profile and influence in global debates over international economic policy. Public
opinion polls show this to be a popular trend, but the outcome of greater civil
society involvement depen ... More
Policy-Making in Resource-Rich Countries: Lessons from Zambia
Arne Bigsten, World Economics, September 2001
Economic development depends upon resource availability, resource allocation,
and the efficiency of resource use. One would presume that countries with an
abundance of natural resources would stand a better chance of developing than
resource-poor countries. Recent ex ... More
The International Arms Industry Since the End of the Cold War
Ron Smith, World Economics, September 2001
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 ar ... More
A Night at the Opera: Subsidies, prices and repertoire at London’s opera houses
Jeff Frank & Philip Wrigley, World Economics, September 2001
This paper considers how the behaviour of the two London opera houses differs
from profit-maximisation, possibly in response to the high level of government
funding and private donations. The opera houses put on more innovative and
artistically rewarding operas than ... More
Bad Market Days: Lessons from the stock market crashes of 1929 & 1987
Harold Bierman, World Economics, September 2001
There are a large number of misconceptions regarding the great stock market
crash of 1929 and the crash of 1987. Both crashes occurred when the general level of business was good and getting better. In 1929 there were very few hints that the great depression was two ye ... More
Is Public Spending Good for You?
Yew-Kwang Ng, World Economics, June 2001
Studies by psychologists, sociologists and economists indicate that increases in incomes beyond about US$4,000 are not related to happiness nor significantly with the objective quality-of-life indicators (which increase with scientific and technological breakthroughs at ... More
Negotiating Trade
David Flath, World Economics, June 2001
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 ques ... More
IMF Programmes: Is there a conditionality Laffer Curve?
Graham Bird, World Economics, June 2001
The long-standing debate over IMF conditionality has received a new lease of
life in the context of the debate over a new international financial architecture.
Conditionality has increased in recent years and some proposals for reform envisage a continuation of this t ... More
Is the Internet Better than Electricity?
Martin Brookes & Zaki Wahhaj, World Economics, June 2001
This article looks at the economic impact of electrification in the United States to
gain insights about the possible consequences of today’s information
technologies. A close study reveals that electrification significantly raised
productivity growth by spurring a r ... More
The Rebirth of the Corporate Bond Market
Bill Robinson, John Raven & Christopher Chua , World Economics, June 2001
There has been a major switch from equity to debt finance in recent years,
associated with a fall in the long-term rate of interest. The paper explores the
macro-economic causes of the sea change in interest rates (lower budget deficits,
independent central banks, lo ... More
Keeping the Keynesian Faith: Alan Blinder on the evolution of macroeconomics
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
World Economics, June 2001
This wide-ranging discussion takes in the development of macroeconomics and the influence of ideas and events on that development, the nature and causes of the Great Depression, Keynesianism, lessons from the high-inflation period of the 1970s, the role of macroeconomic ... More
Latin America: The Long and Winding Road to Growth
Federico Foders , World Economics, June 2001
This paper reviews recent economic reforms carried out in Latin America and
relates them to the long-run economic trends in the region. After a brief overview
of growth and income distribution patterns of Latin American countries in the
nineteenth and twentieth centu ... More
Revisiting The Death of Economics
Paul Ormerod , World Economics, June 2001
Paul Ormerod achieved notoriety, even opprobrium among orthodox economists,
with the publication in 1994 of his best-selling book The Death of Economics.
Ormerod’s aim was to provide a critique of conventional economics which was
accessible to general readers. He des ... More
Promotion and Relegation
Stefan Szymanski & Stephen Ross, World Economics, June 2001
One of the most distinctive differences between team sports in Europe and
North America is the institution of promotion and relegation. This paper looks
into the history of why this institution developed in Europe but not North
America, and considers what effects it ... More
Wanted: Measures of Economic Change
Ralph Turvey, World Economics, June 2001
Economic growth may involve change, but there can be change without
economic growth insofar as outputs of some products or employment in some
regions or industries grows while there are equal decreases elsewhere. National
accounts data do not reveal such shifts, yet ... More
How Clear is the Crystal Ball?: Reflections on the accuracy of growth forecasts
Prakash Loungani, World Economics, March 2001
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 ... More
The Modern Motor Industry: Nowhere for the inefficient to hide
Garel Rhys, World Economics, March 2001
The motor industry is experiencing one of its periods of massive change. This
involves considerable micro- and macroeconomic effects, reflecting the structure
and behaviour of the industry and its scale of operations within an economy. The
industry is a highly rivalr ... More
Can Bettors Win?: A perspective on the economics of betting
Leighton Vaughan Williams, World Economics, March 2001
In this paper, a survey is undertaken of studies that examines the extent to which systematic patterns of behaviour in betting markets can generate above-average
or even abnormal returns, the latter being most conveniently defined for these
purposes as a profit. The p ... More
Eastern Enlargement and EU Labour Markets: Perceptions, challenges and opportunities
Tito Boeri & Herbert Brücker, World Economics, March 2001
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 ... More
Child Labour: Theory, policy and evidence
Saqib Jafarey & Sajal Lahiri, World Economics, March 2001
The purpose of this paper is to pull together the emerging theoretical and
empirical literature on the economics of child labour, and to draw out the
underlying commonalities between various contributions in this field. In doing
so, the authors also identify various ... More
On Understanding Money
Martin Shubik, World Economics, March 2001
Fiat money is a creation of both the state and society. Its value is supported by expectations which are conditioned by the dynamics of trust in government, the socio-economic structure and by outside events such as wars, plagues or political unrest.
The micro-manageme ... More
E-money: Will it Take Off?
Peter Spencer, World Economics, March 2001
The growth of the Internet and e-commerce raises some interesting questions for those interested in the monetary system. Is a new Internet-based digital
transactions medium likely to evolve and what would the consequences of this
be for taxation, monetary and financia ... More
Is Dollarisation a Viable Option for Latin America?
Graham Bird, World Economics, March 2001
In the aftermath of the East Asian financial crisis there has been much discussion of exchange rate policy in developing countries. Some observers have suggested that they should opt either for flexible exchange rates or for firmly fixed rates. Adopting the US dollar as ... More
Russia’s Post-Communist Economy
Peter Oppenheimer & Brigitte Granville, World Economics, March 2001
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 R ... More
The Emerging Northeast–Southeast Asia Divide and Policy Implications
Friedrich Wu, World Economics, March 2001
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 tradi ... More