Showing papers on "Economic stagnation published in 2013"

An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions

Abstract: When India became independent in 1947 after two centuries of colonial rule, it immediately adopted a firmly democratic political system, with multiple parties, freedom of speech, and extensive political rights The famines of the British era disappeared, and steady economic growth replaced the economic stagnation of the Raj The growth of the Indian economy quickened further over the last three decades and became the second fastest among large economies Despite a recent dip, it is still one of the highest in the world Maintaining rapid as well as environmentally sustainable growth remains an important and achievable goal for India In An Uncertain Glory, two of India's leading economists argue that the country's main problems lie in the lack of attention paid to the essential needs of the people, especially of the poor, and often of women There have been major failures both to foster participatory growth and to make good use of the public resources generated by economic growth to enhance people's living conditions There is also a continued inadequacy of social services such as schooling and medical care as well as of physical services such as safe water, electricity, drainage, transportation, and sanitation In the long run, even the feasibility of high economic growth is threatened by the underdevelopment of social and physical infrastructure and the neglect of human capabilities, in contrast with the Asian approach of simultaneous pursuit of economic growth and human development, as pioneered by Japan, South Korea, and China In a democratic system, which India has great reason to value, addressing these failures requires not only significant policy rethinking by the government, but also a clearer public understanding of the abysmal extent of social and economic deprivations in the country The deep inequalities in Indian society tend to constrict public discussion, confining it largely to the lives and concerns of the relatively affluent Dreze and Sen present a powerful analysis of these deprivations and inequalities as well as the possibility of change through democratic practice

Green Keynesianism: Beyond Standard Growth Paradigms

Abstract: In the wake of the global financial crisis, Keynesianism has had something of a revival. In practice, governments have turned to Keynesian policy measures to avert economic collapse. In the theoretical area, mainstream economists have started to give grudging attention to Keynesian perspectives previously dismissed in favor of New Classical theories. This theoretical and practical shift is taking place at the same time that environmental issues, in particular global climate change, are compelling attention to alternative development paths. Significant potential now exists for “Green Keynesianism†-- combining Keynesian fiscal policies with environmental goals. But there are also tensions between the two perspectives of Keynesianism and ecological economics. Traditional Keynesianism is growth-oriented, while ecological economics stresses limits to growth. Expansionary policies needed to deal with recession may be in conflict with goals of reducing resource and energy use and carbon emissions. In addition, long-term deficit and debt problems pose a threat to implementation of expansionary fiscal policies. This paper explores the possibilities for Green Keynesianism in theory and practice, and suggests that these apparent contradictions can be resolved, and that Green Keynesian policies offer a solution to both economic stagnation and global environmental threats.

Austerity in the euro area: the sad state of economic policy in Germany and the EU

Abstract: The Euro area is currently going through its worst period of recession and economic stagnation since the Great Depression and World War II. The article tries to give an impression of the extraordinary degree of fiscal austerity and the devastating economic effects it has already had and must be expected to have in the near future. In addition it is argued that both the lack of economic justification and the devastating consequences of the fiscal policies currently executed should have been absolutely obvious even from a mainstream perspective. Therefore the sad state of economic policies in the Euro area is that it did not even follow moderate mainstream proposals but instead seemed to rely on radical and outdated theoretical or purely ideological foundations. Germany as the most economically and politically influential member state of the Euro area seems to be most infected by such radical ideas.

The social cost of CO 2 in a low-growth world

Abstract: Climate change mitigation has slowed down as major emitters face economic stagnation. Research now shows that the average cost to society of an additional tonne of carbon dioxide emissions tends to increase during recessions as the impact occurs in a poorer world. This suggests that climate change mitigation should be a priority in a low-growth situation.

The Re-Emergence of Workplace-Based Organization as the New Expression of Conflict in Argentina

Abstract: Since the turn of the century, labour conflict in Argentina has taken on a wide and diverse range of forms and expressions influenced by economic cycles and changing political conditions. In the context of economic stagnation and unemployment surrounding the 2001 crisis, workers’ demands were framed within wider patterns of social mobilization which saw less significance attached to union–led mobilization. This was the time of road occupations by the initiative of the unemployed to demand productive employment, and of the factory occupations – the so–called ‘recovered factories’ – by which workers defended their jobs and reinvented it under workers’ control. Both processes gained worldwide resonance and have been analysed widely in the international literature (Atzeni and Ghigliani 2007, Bryer 2010, Dinerstein 2002, 2008, Grigera 2006). However, since the economic recovery of 2003 the return to more traditional labour conflicts and the revitalization of unions together with the increase of collective bargaining have taken place. This renewed strength of Argentinean unions has been explained by a combination of economic, political and institutional variables, inter alia economic and employment growth, which resulted in a steady reduction of unemployment rates (Kosacoff 2010), government emphasis in employment generation and collective bargaining (Palomino and Trajtenberg 2006), and the role given to central union confederations in tripartite bodies (Etchemendy and Collier 2007).

What (if Anything) Can Developing Countries Learn from South Korea

Abstract: The economic development of South Korea since 1960 is one of the biggest success stories in the history of development. In just a few decades, South Korea transformed itself from an agricultural society to an industrialized nation exporting high-technology products such as cars, TVs, mobile phones or computers. Furthermore, after more than two decades of authoritarian rule South Korea changed relatively peacefully to a democratic society in 1987. On the other hand, many developing countries in Africa, Latin America or South Asia still face economic stagnation and enormous development problems: Poverty, inequality, bad health, a low life expectancy, illiteracy, ethnic and religious conflicts and discrimination of women are a daily occurrence. Observing these large differences in the development level of South Korea and today’s developing countries, this article explores, what numerous underperforming countries can learn from the South Korean development model. This article argues that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for today’s developing countries to imitate the South Korean development model by simply adopting similar policies and formal institutions because, apart from conventional explications, informal institutions shaped by Confucianism (“Asian values”) and specific historical circumstances played a key role in the economic development of South Korea. Nevertheless, there are still some lessons to be learnt from South Korea.

Eastern Germany's economic development revisited: path dependence and economic stagnation before and after reunification

Abstract: Twenty years after reunification Eastern Germany's economy is relatively stagnant compared with most of the productivity and income variables of Western Germany. The strong initial take-off which lasted until the mid to late 1990s ended at a level of 70%–80% of the western reference values. In this article two interdependent hypotheses are put to the test: (i) that the communist economy prior to reunification was on a stagnating path, contrary to what standard analyses show; and (ii) that strong elements of path dependence exist and that the switch from a planned to a market economy offset the pre-unification stagnation but was not able to repair structural deficits inherited from the past. In fact, looking into Western Germany's long-term data, an extremely stable development path can be found that extends from the nineteenth century to the present. Thus analysis of the East German development path is both economically relevant and politically interesting if economic policies are to be formulated. A seri...

Cosmopolitanism Within Borders: On Behalf of Charter Cities

Abstract: Economist Paul Romer proposes the establishment of charter cities. Charter cities would resemble special economic zones; that is, small regions that experiment with economic rules that differ from those governing their larger ‘host’ countries. Yet unlike a special economic zone, a charter city would also experiment with its own legal and political rules. The rules, in turn, can be enforced by a third-party coalition of representatives of foreign countries that enforce these rules at home. Host countries that face problems of economic stagnation or political instability can thus leverage the experience and credibility of ‘guarantor’ countries to gradually reform their own institutions. I defend charter cities as an instrument of cosmopolitan justice in nonideal global conditions. Contributing to efforts to establish charter cities is, in many cases, a more efficient use of a country's scarce resources than foreign aid or attempts to facilitate institutional change abroad. I argue that countries also have a moral reason to contribute to charter cities: they can serve as compensation for the coercive harms due to those countries' border closures. I conclude that cosmopolitans and nationalists can find common ground in their reasons to support the establishment of charter cities.

Extraction offshore, politics inshore, and the role of the state in equatorial guinea

Abstract: Since the mid-1990s people in the various territories that constitute the state of Equatorial Guinea have been experiencing transformations in their lives related, in one sense or another, to the extraction of oil and gas from the sea. The country has become the destination for hundreds of companies and thousands of immigrants from near and far. The construction of roads, other large infrastructures, or urban quarters has created new social geographies, while cities have grown enormously at the expense of the abandonment of rural habitats. However, other things continue: the maintenance of President Obiang Nguema in government, the military and police presence at checkpoints all along the roads, or the strikingly low levels of public services such as health and education. In recent academic literature, two different approaches attempt to shed light on the relationship between the extraction of mineral and other natural resources, and the economic and political configuration of producer countries. The first one is developed around concepts such as ‘rentier state’ and ‘resource curse’ (Mahdavi 1970 ;A uty1993; Karl 1997; Ross 2001) and insists on the trend of enduring authoritarian political systems and economic stagnation in countries dependent on the production and export of natural resources via rentier and neo-patrimonial mechanisms. 1 The second approach, stemming from neo-colonialism and dependency schools, uses ideas such as ‘new scramble for Africa’ (Bond 2006; Southall and Melber 2009) and highlights the role of international political economy and the interests of foreign companies and governments in the shaping of countries rich in natural resources. 2 What they seem to share is the idea that, in these dynamics, there is a distortion of the allegedly normal ‘national economy’ and of the functioning of a sovereign state. My analysis considers Equatorial Guinea not as a political entity whose autonomy is weakened by local misbehaviour or foreign exploitation, but as a space configured precisely by certain transnational connections that cross its territories, and especially the recent association between local government and transnational economic groups. The rentier and the ‘scramble’ perspectives tend to stress one of the two sides of this relationship, reinforcing outsider–insider, local–foreign analytical dichotomies. But only by reconsidering those dichotomies, and attending to the specific interactions of actors coming from distant

When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence

Abstract: The Western world has experienced extraordinary economic progress throughout the last six decades, a prosperous period so extended that continuous economic growth has come to seem normal. But such an era of continuously rising living standards is an historical anomaly, economist Stephen D. King warns, and the current stagnation of Western economies threatens to reach crisis proportions in the not-so-distant future. Praised for the "dose of realism" he provided in his book Losing Control, King follows up in this volume with a plain-spoken assessment of where the West stands today. It's not just the end of an age of affluence, he shows. We have made promises to ourselves that are only achievable through ongoing economic expansion. The future benefits we expect - pensions, healthcare and social security, for example - may be larger than tomorrow's resources. And if we reach that point, which promises will be broken and who will lose out? The lessons of history offer compelling evidence that political and social upheaval are often born of economic stagnation. King addresses these lessons with a multifaceted plan that involves painful - but necessary - steps toward a stable and just economic future.

Introduction to the Second Edition of The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism

Abstract: The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy was initially written thirty years ago this coming year as my doctoral dissertation at York University in Toronto. It was expanded into a larger book form with three additional chapters (on the state, imperialism, and socialist construction) and published by Monthly Review Press two years later. The analysis of both the dissertation and the book focused primarily on the work of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, and particularly on the debate that had grown up around their book, Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order (1966). In this respect The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism was specifically designed, as its subtitle indicated, as an “elaboration” of their underlying theoretical perspective and its wider implications.… Three decades later much has changed, in ways that make the reissuing of The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism in a new edition seem useful and timely. The scholarly research into Baran and Sweezy’s Monopoly Capital has expanded enormously in the intervening years, most notably with the publication of the two missing chapters of Monopoly Capital— one on the theoretical implications of their analysis for economics, the other on culture and communications—and through research into their joint correspondence. The Great Financial Crisis and the resurfacing of economic stagnation have engendered new interest in this tradition of thought. Under this historical impetus the theory itself has advanced to address new developments, particularly with respect to the understanding of stagnation, financialization, and the globalization of monopoly capital. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Europe’s Lost Decade

Abstract: Facing economic stagnation which will sap its strength, heighten political tensions and diminish its global role, Europe must dismiss ‘muddling through’ as an alternative to collapse. Only radical steps can avert a lost decade.

Introduction: Europe's Crisis and the Welfare State

Abstract: Margaret Thatcher once quipped about the problem facing modern social welfare states: "They always run out of other people's money." Today, in country after country, we are seeing that prophetic remark coming true. The headlines have been dominated by the problems of the so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain), which face the most immediate economic crisis and have required economic support from the International Monetary Fund and other European countries. However, even countries with relatively robust economies, such as France and Germany, are facing unprecedented levels of debt. Unless the countries of Europe reform their welfare states, they will face some combination of huge tax increases or default on their obligations, both explicit and implicit. The result will be social upheaval and continued economic stagnation. The tough choices facing those countries are playing out today in parliaments and on the streets. The future remains highly uncertain. But how much better off is the United States? Our national debt exceeds $16.4 trillion and is increasing at a rate of more than $3 million per minute. And that only represents the debt that is actually "on the books." If the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security are included, then U.S. total indebtedness could top 800 percent of GDP. The Fall of the Welfare State The reason for this dire fiscal situation is the massive expansion of the welfare state that has taken place in the years following World War II, first in Europe but more recently in the United States. As government has taken responsibility for more and more areas of our lives--from retirement and health care to protecting us from unemployment or guaranteeing a minimum level of income--it has grown ever bigger, more costly, and more intrusive. At the most basic level, it has become unaffordable. Despite an ever growing tax burden, it has become impossible to pay for all the demands of the modern welfare state. At the same time, simply attempting to pay for those demands has slowed economic growth and left citizens poorer. A vicious circle was created, leaving countries unprepared to react to the onset of financial crisis and the worldwide recession that followed. The result has been a painfully slow and anemic recovery. The future of the welfare state is now open to question. Some argue that the financial insecurity illustrated by the banking collapse and recession demonstrate the need for a social safety net. Others tout the stimulative effect of government spending and warn that whatever long-term debt burdens countries may face, austerity in the short term would undermine recovery. Still others warn that only a fundamental restructuring and downsizing of the welfare state can restore a foundation for economic growth and prosperity. With federal spending, debt, and deficits all at or near record levels, and entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security facing enormous future shortfalls, this debate is particularly crucial to the United States. The lessons that America learns from Europe's crisis will go a long way toward determining future U.S. economic growth and prosperity. Fundamental Questions This special issue of the Cato Journal features articles from academics, economists, and politicians representing both Europe and the United States examining the crisis in Europe and the lessons that the United States can and should learn from Europe's problems. The authors attempt to answer such fundamental questions as: * What brought about the economic crisis confronting Europe? * What is the best way to analyze the underlying problems confronting European economies? * Has the modern welfare state become unaffordable? * How can countries adapt to changing demographics and aging societies? * What does austerity really mean and should countries pursue it? …

The State of Economics in 2012: Complacency Amid Crisis

Abstract: Despite the emergence of intractable economic stagnation in most developed countries, spectacular failures in financial markets and the empirical refutation of hypotheses central to economic policy for the last three decades, the economics profession remains largely complacent. Some reasons for this complacency are discussed, along with some suggestions for future directions.

Will Europe Face A Lost Decade? A Comparison With Japan's Economic Crisis

Abstract: After more than five years have passed since the start of the global financial crisis, many European countries are still suffering from financial instability, surging sover- eign debt, economic stagnation or decline, high unemploym ent and political turmoil. We compare consequences and policy measures during Europe?s current crisis with those in Japan in the 1990s after the burst of a real estate and asset price bubble. We show that despite marked differences, there are many simila rities both in eco- nomic outcome and policy reactions. Given the complexity, severity and persistence of Europe?s multiple crises, the threat of a Lost Decade similar to the one Japan has witnessed may not be unlikely. The paper concludes by presenting some of the les- sons learned from Japan and Europe.

Property-led Urban, Town and Rural Regeneration in Ireland: positive and perverse outcomes in different implementation contexts

Abstract: In the mid-1980s fiscal incentives were introduced to encourage the construction and refurbishment of residential developments in declining inner city districts in Ireland. These were abolished in 2006 but, during the intervening period, their focus was extended to include: large towns; small towns and a large rural region. Concurrently the context for their implementation changed as economic boom replaced prolonged economic stagnation. This paper examines the changing design of these incentives, their outputs and their intended and unintended impacts. It argues that, initially they were successful in drawing development into declining neighbourhoods but the extension of their lifespan and spatial focus created negative perverse impacts and deadweight costs for the exchequer. Thus it concludes that this regeneration strategy is useful for animating development in brownfield sites, where there is demand for housing but also barriers to its development. If applied to rural areas where housing demand is weaker they can generate excess supply and limited benefits for public investment.

Global economic challenges: the pressing and visible issues

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to identify the economic challenges that nations and the international community must grapple with. It also clarifies certain factors that could ease the occurrence of global economic problems.Design/methodology/approach – The paper briefly discusses problems that currently impede global economic growth and identifies factors that are essential to minimizing the emergence of these problems.Findings – The reoccurrence of global economic problems is not a passing phenomenon, but it is rooted in sociopolitical and economic environments prevailing in the world. When these problems appear, regional and global responses are needed. Under these circumstances, insightful and creative thinking free of nationalistic passions and rooted in the belief of shared benefits and fate may prove to be effective.Originality/value – The paper offers a genuine reflection on today's global economic reality. It sets the stage for an effective argument to counter the voices that seize on current global e...

The effects of global financial crisis on information asymmetry and stock price of firms accepted in stock exchange in Iran

Abstract: 1024x768 Normal 0 false false false RU X-NONE X-NONE The global economy has always been encountering different economic crises which have affected financial variables. The global financial crisis started in the United States by the boom in house prices and reached its highest amount when some of the banks encountered bankruptcy in financial markets and then it permeated into Stock Exchanges. Although Iran incurred the least damages at the start of the global crisis due to its status in financial issues, the economic relationships between Iran and foreign countries through exports can lead to the transmission of the dangerous outcomes of the global economic crisis into the country. The goal of the present research is to study the effects of the global financial crisis on information asymmetry and stock prices of 133 companies accepted in Stock Exchanges in Iran after the use of sifting method for the years between 2004 and 2011. The research method is a descriptive one and the variables were tested by using a statistical technique. The findings of the research show that there is a meaningful difference between stock prices and information asymmetry before and after the global economic crisis on firms in different industries in Iran. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA

Agricultural Sector Development and Structural Transformation: Sub-Saharan Africa Versus East Asia

Abstract: This study examines the nature of economic stagnation in the majority of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and discusses different approaches to structural transformation of their traditional agriculture-based economies. The argument is that the economies and people of SSA countries suffer from a Malthusian stagnation and poverty. This study attributes the Malthusian stagnation to underutilization of the richly endowed land and other agricultural resources, which in turn is due to the prevalence of "communal ownership of land" in rural areas. It argues that the traditional institution has kept agricultural productivity at extremely low levels and prevented a demographic dividend from being created. This study reviews the experiences of East Asian and other countries in their early stage of economic development along with those of SSA to understand the process of an economic takeoff. From this emerges the importance of broad-based agricultural development in enabling a traditional agriculture-based economy to get prepared for the takeoff. In particular, it turns out that internalizing the external effects of agricultural development on human development and its effects on savings is the key. It also finds supportive evidences from panel-data analyses of the dynamic driving forces in different stages of economic development.

Marx, Kalecki, and Socialist Strategy

Abstract: A historical perspective on the economic stagnation afflicting the United States and the other advanced capitalist economies requires that we go back to the severe downturn of 1974–1975, which marked the end of the post-Second World War prosperity. The dominant interpretation of the mid–1970s recession was that the full employment of the earlier Keynesian era had laid the basis for the crisis by strengthening labor in relation to capital. As a number of prominent left economists, whose outlook did not differ from the mainstream in this respect, put it, the problem was a capitalist class that was “too weak” and a working class that was “too strong.” Empirically, the slump was commonly attributed to a rise in the wage share of income, squeezing profits. This has come to be known as the “profit-squeeze” theory of crisis. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Globalización, Crisis Económica Mundial y Desarrollo Regional. Tendencias Globales e Implicaciones Europeas (Globalization, World Economic Crisis and Regional Development. Global Tendencies and European Implications)

Abstract: The current paper investigates the cross-national relevance of quantitative world systems theory for two dimensions of development (human development, income redistribution) on a global scale and on the level of the European regions and tries to confront the basic pro-globalist assumptions of the “Lisbon process”, the policy target of the European leaders since the EU‟s Lisbon Council meeting in March 2000 to make Europe the leading knowledge-based economy in the world with a world systems perspective.Starting from the 1970s and during a phase in the long swings of global economic cycles, which is comparable to the current global economic slump, the Swiss sociologist Volker Bornschier, in a series of quantitative analyses on the drivers of world economic stagnation and social imbalances, published in the world‟s leading social science journals maintained that dependency from the large transnational corporations may dynamize economic development in the short term, but that this dependency causes stagnation and social imbalances in the long term.Dependency from the large, transnational corporations, as correctly predicted already by Latin American social science of the 1960s and 1970s, and by Bornschier and by later world systems theories, emerges indeed as one of the most serious development blockades on a global and on a European level. There are significant negative effects of MNC penetration on human development, and social cohesion during the current global economic crisis.Secondly, we analyze European regional performance since the 1990s in order to know whether growth and development in Europe‟s regions spread evenly among the different parts of the continent. It emerges that dependency from the large transnational corporations is incompatible with a balanced, regional development.

Asian Capitalism and the Regulation of Competition: Competition and competition law in Japan: between scepticism and embrace

Abstract: Japan’s engagement with international models of competition law has been decidedly ambiguous and counter-cyclical with its economic performance. During times of prolonged economic growth, Japan’s attitude to Western styles of competition regulation has been predominantly skeptical, if not hostile. By contrast, during times of economic stagnation, it has been much more positive. The first part of this chapter charts the ebb and flow of competition law in Japan. In the 1950s and 1960s, competition law conflicted with Japan’s industrial policy and enforcement became anemic. There was a revival in the 1970s, when the oil crisis wreaked havoc on the Japanese economy, but momentum was lost again in the 1980s. Finally, in the 1990s and 2000s, competition law gained increasing acceptance among policymakers seeking ways to revive a stagnating economy. The second part of this chapter explores the link between competition law and Japan’s specific form of capitalism. It argues that competition law can best be characterized as a legal irritant, rather than as a legal transplant that is either fully accepted or rejected. Indeed, the introduction of competition law in Japan triggered a process of mutual irritation between the law and Japan's economic system. This process led to a double transformation: on the one hand, competition law was changed, interpreted and enforced in ways to make it more compatible with Japan’s capitalism. At the same time, competition law triggered change in Japan's economic and social order. This process of mutual irritation is still continuing and suggests that competition law in Japan will continue to evolve, in parallel with Japan's capitalist system itself and conditioned by the performance of that system, along a trajectory distinct from that of the West.

Does the European Marriage Pattern Explain Economic Growth

Abstract: This paper scrutinizes the recently postulated link between the European Marriage Pattern (EMP) and economic success. A metastudy of the historical demography literature shows that the EMP did not prevail throughout Europe, its three key components did not always coincide, and its more extreme manifestations were associated with economic stagnation rather than growth. There is no evidence that the EMP improved economic performance by empowering women, increasing human capital investment, adjusting population to economic trends, or sustaining beneficial cultural norms. European economic success was not caused by the EMP and its sources must therefore be sought in other factors.

Globalization, the Labor Market, and Retirement

Abstract: This chapter examines the issues of labor and financial markets in the context of two significant macro-global developments, both of which pose challenges to prospects for retirement and to effective policymaking. Economic stagnation, the first of the two developments, is a sustained condition of slow or no growth, so slow as to fail to produce broad-based economic prosperity. This development is impacting not only the USA but also other advanced capitalist economies. This chapter reviews the arguments that explain the existence of a stagnation tendency and discusses its effects for job growth and retirement saving. Globalization, the second major development, involves the growing interconnectedness of nation-state economies. This development too has consequences for labor and financial markets. Specifically these developments have wage, employment, and income distribution effects on people’s work lives in ways that affect economic security before and during retirement.

The development potential of migration: The status quo, lessons from other regions, and implications for research

Abstract: Migration may be triggered by one or more factors including economic issues such as relative economic stagnation or decline, environmental fluctuations that would include climate change and negative changes in weather conditions, political volatility, and social concerns for example, conflicts and other forms of social instability.

Can NEPAD Rescue Africa through the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract: That the majority of Africans are materially poor is hardly disputable, nor very surprising. After all the entire continent has been dealt several unfavorable blows: A dehumanizing and devastating global slave trade, colonialism, and multiple European backed commercial ventures with the view of exploiting the riches and wealth of the continent, providing little institutional, infrastructural and human capital when African countries began to achieve independence during the past century. In the more recent past, the Cold war and post cold war politics, protracted conflicts, structural adjustment programmes and HIV/Aids pandemic have left the continent poorer than before. Unlike East Asia, which has enjoyed a dramatic reduction in the absolute number of people living in poverty over the last 15 years, sub Saharan Africa has seen dramatic increases in both the total number of poor people and the fraction of its population that is poor. This sad reality has not gone unnoticed, various initiatives have been adopted even though most of them are tantamount to rhetoric, from Tony Blair's Africa commission, the G7 finance ministers' debt relief, the live 8 concerts, the make poverty history campaign and the G8 Gleneagles promises to the United Nations 2005 summit, Africa's gains seem to be reduced to some kind of public relations exercise indicating that the world has taken stock of the plight of the continent. But the problems of the continent persist- debt and inequitable trade are at the heart of Africa's problems and sometimes powerful elites within Africa collaborate with exploiters in the North at the detriment of their own nations. During the last half century, the economic performance of the developing world has been far from uniform. Developing countries were polarized into those that made great progress in catching up and those that were mired in economic stagnation. Many African countries belong to the second group. The question, which arises is, what could be done in order to help these countries to move from the stagnation to sustainable growth and development? During the last five decades, many attempts were explored and undertaken without any remarkable results. In 2000, 189 states endorsed the Millennium Development Goals, covering an array of targets with aspirations of reaching these goals by 2015. One year after, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, a vision and strategic framework for Africa's renewal was launched as a driver for African countries to move from long severe poverty, and consequently in reaching the MDGs. In this paper, we would like to share how policies contained within the NEPAD programme are key elements in achieving the MDGs. The first part of the paper analyses the whole vision behind the NEPAD programme, with the emphasis on the role that must play various African governments. The second part discusses the Millennium Development Goals and their targets. The third part develops a model for an effective and efficient implementation of these two initiatives, and how they could lead to a sustainable development within the African continent. The last section focuses on various roles African governments must play in order to achieve the various targets developed within the Millennium Declaration.

Models of Success for the Romanian Economic Organizations: New Characteristics of the National Competitive Advantage Mix

Abstract: In the current period of uncertainty and economic stagnation, the national economies are trying to redefine and identify again the sources of the competitive advantage. The neo-Keynesian models are once more facing the liberal models, the austerity strategies are facing the investment strategies, the partisans of each of these opinions appreciating the opportunity of their own proposal. The results of the study come to align many of the specialists’ efforts, to contribute to identifying the optimum way of combining the resources, the mix of measures that can provide the lasting competitive advantage of the national economy, and, finally, to identify the component elements of the “Romanian diamond” of generating success and increasing external attractiveness.

Europäischer Tarifbericht des WSI – 2012/2013

Abstract: The current European Collective Bargaining Report of the WSI gives an overview on recent trends in collective bargaining in the European Union in the years 2012 and 2013. It analyses the development of collectively agreed and effected wages against the background of the general economic framework conditions in Europe. Since the economic crisis in 2009 the overall pattern of wage developments in Europe has changed fundamentally. Most European countries have been faced by a continuous decline in real wages. In a period of strong austerity policies, weak wage developments further contribute to the drop in economic demand and economic stagnation in Europe.