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.
How Can Sovereign Wealth Funds Mitigate Natural Capital Depreciation in Developing Countries?
Edward B. Barbier & Jo Burgess, World Economics, December 2018
Key indicators of economic performance for resource-rich developing economies are net national income and savings that are adjusted for natural capital depreciation. These indicators vary inversely with the reliance of developing countries on primary product exports, su ... More
Leveraging the African Private Sector to Enhance the Development Impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement
Hippolyte Fofack, World Economics, December 2018
By July 2018 the African Continental Free Trade Area had been signed by 49 African governments, accounting for over 86% of total African trade and 77% of combined GDP, and a total population of 1.2 billion. The Agreement has the potential to accelerate the process of di ... More
Analysing Intra-African Trade: AFCFTA: Much Ado About Nothing?
Peter Draper, Habtamu Edjigu & Andreas Freytag, World Economics, December 2018
In March 2018, most African heads of state gathered in Kigali to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), marking the culmination of intense negotiations. A number of central issues remain unresolved: it is an agreement with a substantial sensitive/ex ... More
Growth in Oil- and Non-Oil-Producing Countries: Domestic Policies and External Spillovers
Magda Kandil, World Economics, December 2018
Using data for a sample of oil- and non-oil-producing countries this article studies determinants of growth to assess the relative importance of domestic policies and external spillovers. For net oil exporters, a higher price of oil helps increase resources for spendin ... More
Designing a Global Financial Safety Net
Graham Bird, World Economics, December 2018
It often is neither possible nor sensible to immediately correct the underlying macroeconomic disequilibria that a financial and economic crisis reveals. To cushion the process of adjustment a global financial safety net is needed: owned reserves, regional financing and ... More
CryptoRuble: From Russia with Love
Zura Kakushadze & Jim Kyung-Soo Liew, World Economics, December 2018
A large number of decentralized cryptocurrencies has emerged since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, with a total market size exceeding $170bn. Recent reports suggest that Russia will issue its government-backed cryptocurrency, CryptoRuble, in the middle of 2019. Russi ... More
US-China Trade War Data: Truth and Post-Truth
Anirban Sengupta & Siddhartha K. Rastogi, World Economics, December 2018
Data on the importance of US–China trade and fundamental trade theory suggest that the USA is in a relatively weak position in its trade war. Not only will the protectionist measures of the Trump administration reduce the welfare of American citizens (theory of competi ... More
An Economic Comparison of Greece and Italy
Theodore Pelagidis, World Economics, December 2018
In Greece and Italy, populist parties have taken power in recent years, a result of coalition between radical left and far-right parties. Both countries are of concern to the European Commission—Greece’s ‘enhanced surveillance’ could end in another bail-out program; It ... More
David Henderson: 1927-2018: A Personal Memorial
Ian Byatt, World Economics, December 2018
David Henderson was both a scholar and a practising economic adviser. He was always concerned with what was going on in policy analysis and in the technical economics, or other thinking, which lay behind economic policy. He was widely and deeply read, not only in econom ... More
Data, Deceit, and the Defence of Truth
Stuart P.M. Mackintosh, World Economics, September 2018
Attacks on experts and professionals using available facts, are rising in the USA, with troubling implications for economics, for the collection of statistical data, and for the future integrity of the policymaking process. The Trump Administration is undermining fact-b ... More
A Critical Review of Thomas Piketty’s Capitalism in the 21st Century
Andrew Smithers, World Economics, September 2018
Piketty claims that capital rises faster than income which assumes that capital and income are independent variables. The evidence shows they are not and that the ratio of income to capital is probably stable over time. Piketty’s mistake appears to come from confusing d ... More
Measuring Macroeconomic Performance Using a Composite Index
Julian Gough, World Economics, September 2018
Large quantities of economic data, varying in accuracy and reliability and subject to later revision, are continually produced and published so interpretation using only one data source is subject to risk. The complex world of data can be simplified by combining differe ... More
The Seemingly Underappreciated Role of Panel Data in Measuring Poverty and Economic Transformation
Hai-Anh H. Dang & Calogero (Gero) Carletto, World Economics, September 2018
Panel survey data play a crucial role in producing estimates on welfare dynamics as well as insights into transformation processes in developing economies. Panel survey data are indispensable for effective policy advice for poverty reduction and growth. Fielding and mai ... More
Measuring Greek Debt: The Difference between Market and Credit Perspectives
Colin Ellis, World Economics, September 2018
It is likely to be several decades before data on government assets, off-balance sheet and contingent liabilities are consistently available across a wide range of countries. In the absence of data, GDP is a readily available scaling factor, but official sector agencies ... More
On Microfinance-led Socioeconomic Change: Inferences from Field Data
Sazzad Parwez, World Economics, September 2018
Government and non-government agencies in India are working towards empowering people at the grassroots through the provision of microfinance. Self-help groups have emerged as instruments of change for poor people (women in particular) trying to solve their problems col ... More
Trade Wars and African Growth Prospects
Hippolyte Fofack, World Economics, September 2018
African economies are back on a path of economic expansion which has been broad-based driven by both commodity-dependent and non-resource-rich economies. The region is forecast to achieve an average economic growth rate of 4 per cent in 2018 and grow by as much again th ... More
China’s Economic Growth and Foreign Direct Investment Flows
Tong Tong, Bin Li & Tarlok Singh, World Economics, September 2018
Economic reforms implemented since 1978 have contributed to economic growth and prosperity in China. China has emerged as the largest host country for foreign direct investment, in that it receives enormous inflows and has concurrently become one of the largest supplier ... More
Measuring the Performance of the Bombay Stock Exchange: The Impact of Demutualisation
Divya Aggarwal & PC Padhan, World Economics, September 2018
The literature on the impact of the demutualization of stock exchanges on performance is growing since the percentage of demutualized exchanges has risen from 10% in the mid-1990s to 63% in 2002. The Bombay Stock Exchange, established in 1875, demutualised in 2005 to fo ... More
Using the World Bank’s Bank Data to Assess Changes in Financial Regulation and Supervision since the Global Financial Crisis
Vighneswara Swamy, World Economics, September 2018
The World Bank’s Bank Regulation and Supervision Survey (BRSS) data can be used to gain insights into bank regulatory/supervisory styles across countries. The data illustrate the differences in regulation/supervision among crisis, non-crisis and BRICS countries, and hig ... More
The Ten-Year Crash Anniversary
Theodore Pelagidis, World Economics, September 2018
The ten-year anniversary of the 2008 crash and the unprecedented length of the bull (stock) market since then is an opportunity to reflect on the crash’s roots. A result of the bear market between 2000 and 2002 was the Sarbanes–Oxley Act that separated the business of c ... More
Measuring Illegal Activities in the National Accounts
Brian Sturgess, World Economics, June 2018
Until 2014 the only illegal activity measured in the UK National Accounts by the Office of National Statistics was the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco. The European System of National Accounts 2010 requires statistical bodies to measure consensual illegal economic acti ... More
Cash, Demonetisation and the Informal Economy in India
Shaurya Sharma & Cledwyn Fernandez, World Economics, June 2018
India took a demonetisation step in November 2016 by banning 500 and 1000 rupee notes as legal tender benefiting banks but hurting the poor and the under banked. The shadow economy was badly affected and even measured GDP growth rate slumped, but demonetisation proponen ... More
Debt, Economic Growth and Data Adequacy
Vighneswara Swamy, World Economics, June 2018
The effects of government debt on economic growth has become of immense importance in the backdrop of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and Reinhart & Rogoff’s related research. This study is based on a sizeable dataset which extends the horizon of analysis to country ... More
Error in Demographic and Other Quantitative Data and Analyses
Thomas Burch, World Economics, June 2018
Statistical data consumed, analysed and produced contain errors from more sources than is often recognised and the commercialisation of survey and other statistical research and ‘inventions’ such as ‘big data’ has led to naïve and faulty analysis and propaganda. Oskar ... More
Exchange Rates as a ‘Veil’
Biagio Bossone, World Economics, June 2018
The effectiveness of exchange rates as an adjustment mechanism in a given country depends on the role played by domestic financial markets. With floating exchange rates and full integration into global financial markets, policy-making space is determined by the size of ... More
Free Trade, Protectionism, and the Global Economy
Theodore Pelagidis, World Economics, June 2018
Free trade benefits consumers, but has harmed less-skilled workers in western countries fuelling polarization and the rise of nationalistic populism. Despite U.S. President Trump’s contradictory stance on tariffs, trade policy is closely connected with the level of the ... More
Rare Earth Elements: A Historical Comparison - Favouritisms as Probable Factors Causing Market Manipulation by China
Sotiris N. Kamenopoulos, World Economics, June 2018
Rare Earth Element Reserves are estimated at 130 million metric tons while global production/processing capacity was approximately 126,000 metric tons in 2016, 95% controlled by China The US authorities and academics mistakenly treat Rare Earth Elements as “one group, o ... More
Commonwealth and EU Growth
Ed Jones, World Economics, June 2018
The Commonwealth of Nations is growing rapidly in comparison to the ailing Eurozone Measured by share of world GDP, the Commonwealth overtook the (1973) European Union in 2004 By the same measure, the Commonwealth is slightly larger than the current Eurozone In 2017, th ... More
Measuring the Impact of Terror: An Event Study of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Piotr Konwicki, World Economics, March 2018
Events observed in Israel include terror attacks, controversial elections and unexpected wars, the impact of which can be analysed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in terms of abnormal returns. Results show that defence and high-tech industries react positively to these e ... More
Commercial Real Estate Data - New Demands, Old Challenges
David Rees, World Economics, March 2018
The global financial crisis, followed by a global portfolio shift towards commercial real estate, has reinforced the demand for timely, consistent and transparent valuation metrics and transactions data. Current initiatives at global, country and market level are addres ... More
Using Price-Adjusted Income Data to Measure Regional Income Inequality Across the UK
Julian Gough, World Economics, March 2018
Data for gross disposable household income for each region of the UK are published annually by the Office for National Statistics. The latest provisional data available are for the year 2015. The annual data for household income are in nominal terms only—i.e. they do no ... More
Cultural Data Mirror International Structural Economic Differences
Colin Ellis & Oleg Oleksiy, World Economics, March 2018
Data on cultural differences between countries based on the definitions developed by Geert Hofstede are now available for more than 80 countries. Data on six structural economic indicators published by the World Bank—ease of doing business, enforcement of contracts, con ... More
The Knowledge Economy in Historical Perspective
Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, World Economics, March 2018
The knowledge economy provides huge opportunities for economic growth and to become the cornerstone of future economic development by turning data into wisdom or human capital. Education, one aspect of the knowledge economy, exhibits a history divided into three stages ... More
The Financial Crisis and Gender: Assessing Changes in Workforce Participation for Rural India
Siddhartha K. Rastogi & Pradyun Rame Mehrotra, World Economics, March 2018
Labour market data in India shows female participation declining as GDP has increased, a phenomenon found in other East Asian economies over past two decades. This contradicts empirical observations, which argue over the feminization of the work force due to participati ... More
Debunking the Relevance of the Debt-to-GDP Ratio
Arturo C. Porzecanski, World Economics, March 2018
Historical experience does not confirm the simplistic notion that the heavier the burden of the public debt relative to GDP, the greater is the risk that governments will encounter debt-servicing difficulties. In 25 government defaults that occurred during 1998-2017, th ... More
The World Economy: Over Half a Century of Near Continuous Growth
Ed Jones, World Economics, March 2018
The World Economy has grown for 57 out of the past 58 years, only the great recession of 2009 saw an interruption in over half a century of continuous growth. Over the whole of the last 5 decades, annual real GDP growth has averaged 3.2%, and 1.6% in per capita terms. G ... More
Evaluating the Impact of Trade on Development
Brian Sturgess & Oni Oviri, World Economics, March 2018
The main conclusions of the theory of comparative advantage is powerful and inescapable – restrictions on trade harm economic welfare. The principle of comparative advantage shows that trade enables one-off welfare gains, but the impact of international trade on prospe ... More
Trumponomics and Taxation
World Economics, March 2018
At the end of 2017 President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which Republican supporters argue would transform the US economy and stimulate an enduring increase in the rate of economic growth. The motivation behind the legislation appears to be the beli ... More