Suchergebnisse

Die Wirtschaft wuchs 2002 in den mittel- und osteuropäischen Ländern (MOEL) stärker als in der EU, und dies dürfte auch in den nächsten Jahren so sein. Dies gilt insbesondere für jene MOEL, die das BIP-Niveau von 1990 noch nicht wieder erreicht haben. In der Gruppe der wirtschaftlich fortgeschrittenen MOEL verlangsamte sich das Wachstum 2002 parallel zur internationalen Konjunkturflaute etwas, im zweiten Halbjahr 2002 zeigten sich aber Aufschwungtendenzen. Unterschiedliche Faktoren spielten dabei eine Rolle -- etwa ein Verschwinden des Aufwertungsdrucks auf einzelne Währungen, hohe Budgetdefizite oder hohe Lohnzuwächse. Eine Verbesserung der Handelsbilanzen zeugt von erhöhter Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Unternehmen in den MOEL; sie spezialisieren sich in ihren Exporten immer stärker auf technisch hochwertige Fertigprodukte. Es spricht für die wirtschaftliche Reife der künftigen EU-Mitgliedsländer, dass sie von der derzeitigen internationalen Wirtschaftsflaute nicht stärker in Mitleidenschaft gezogen werden. ; Reprint from: WIFO-Monatsberichte, Vol. 76, No. 5, May 2003 ; The Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) were able to maintain in 2001 and 2002 a growth rate significantly above that of the EU 15. The more developed group of CEECs went more in parallel with the EU 15, which means that their average growth rate fell considerably. The other group of countries has not yet reached the pre-transition level. They were more independent from the international business cycle and maintained higher growth rates or even accelerated growth. In the second half of 2002 a quite general tendency towards stronger growth became visible, not only from GDP data, but also from industrial output and foreign trade figures. The background for this development is a fading of nominal appreciation tendencies, possibly in the context of the central banks' lowering of nominal interest rates. In several CEECs inflation stopped too -- in some cases price indices even declined for several months. The joint outcome of depreciation and no or low inflation was real depreciation. Especially in Poland this development strengthened competitiveness of domestic producers. Foreign trade was characterized by diminished growth rates compared to 2000, and at the same time also by higher export-import ratios. The specialization of exports on technically sophisticated finished goods continues. The CEECs are still countries with low GDP per capita, even if measured in purchasing power parities. The price gap compared to the overall EU 15 level remains large. In both respects differences between CEECs are also considerable. Economic policies of CEECs are characterized by a relaxation of monetary austerity and continuous struggles with budget deficits. For the EU budget the accession of eight CEECs will provoke additional net expenditures of EUR 5 to 10 billion for the first three years as a whole. For CEE governments, EU enlargement will provoke a major stress in terms of balancing of their budgets. The enlargement will require additional expenditures of both governments and enterprises. The latter will have to comply with EU rules, which in some cases will require massive investment into new equipment. Austria's trade with CEECs shows a EUR 3 billion surplus, over 50 per cent of which the country achieves in the trade with countries on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Croatia and Slovenia are main sources of Austria's surplus, but Hungary remains by far the largest one. Austria's trade with Poland remains underdeveloped, as Poland's GDP corresponds to the aggregate GDP of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia, whereas Austria's trade volume with Poland equals that with Slovenia. All in all, the ongoing testing of the CEECs' endurance so far produces quite good results, which gives reason for optimism in view of EU enlargement.

Résumé Le secteur immobilier est considéré au Sénégal comme le principal débouché des investissements des Sénégalais de l'extérieur. Ainsi, la manne que représentent les transferts des migrants pourrait bien être un facteur d'amélioration des conditions d'habitat des ménages dakarois. C'est l'hypothèse que teste cet article à travers diverses analyses réalisées à partir des données collectées à Dakar dans le cadre de l'enquête Mafe. Sans surprise, les premiers résultats montrent qu'au moment de l'enquête, les ménages avec migrant(s) sont globalement mieux logés que les ménages sans migrant (type de logement, densité, niveau d'équipement). Mais la suite des résultats nuancent l'effet de la migration internationale sur les conditions d'habitat des ménages dakarois. D'une part, l'argent de la migration perçu par les ménages est faiblement utilisé à des fins de construction ou de transformation de l'habitat. D'autre part, l'analyse des conditions d'accès à la propriété des ménages, au moment de l'entrée dans le logement et non à celui de l'enquête, montre l'absence d'influence des migrants. Finalement, les investissements immobiliers des migrants semblent assez peu orientés vers l'amélioration des conditions d'habitat des ménages auxquels ils sont apparentés. Ceci n'empêche pas qu'ils puissent jouer un rôle dans la transformation de l'habitat à Dakar, notamment à travers des investissements locatifs.

The OPEC countries' collective policy is to offer external development assistance free from political or commercial ties, with the purpose of expressing the solidarity of one group of developing countries with the rest. Since 1976, this policy has found vigorous practical expression in the operations and activities of the OPEC fund. First published in 1983, this book describes the Fund's organisational evolution into a fully-fledged international body, detailing the fund's achievements in providing loans and grants to over 80 countries with operations based on principles that have influenced the whole development movement. Concrete examples are outlined, such as where the fund has acted as a catalyst for development, or a spokesman for a group of countries in international negotiations

Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1. Introduction Part I SEA Frameworks 2. SEA in Australia 3. SEA in Canada 4. SEA in New Zealand 5. SEA in the United States 6. SEA in the Asian Region 7. SEA in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia 8. SEA in the European Union 9. SEA in Southern Africa 10. The SEA Protocol Part II SEA Application 11. SEA and Transport Planning 12. SEA and Water Management 13. Regional Sectoral Assessment and Extractive Industries 14. SEA and Coastal Zone Management Part III SEA Linkage to Other Instruments 15. Thematic Overview of Linkages Between SEA and Other Instruments 16. SEA and Environmental Planning and Management Tools 17. Landscape Planning 18. SEA as a Tool for Conservation and Sustainable use of Biodiversity in Developing Countries 19. Using SEA to Enhance Poverty Reduction Strategies 20. SEA and Spatial Planning Part IV Cross Cutting Issues in SEA 21. Environmental Indicators in SEA 22. Some Wider Reflections on the Challenge of Public Participation in SEA 23. Addressing Health Impacts in SEA 24. Managing Cumulative Impacts: Making it Happen 25. Transboundary Issues in SEA 26. Planning in Tiers? Tiering as a Way of Linking SEA and EIA Part V SEA Process Development and Capacity Building 27. SEA Process Development and Capacity-building - a Thematic Overview 28. SEA Theory and Research: an Analysis of the Discourse 29. Professional and Institutional Capacity Building for SEA 30. Developing SEA Guidance 31. Institutional Challenges for SEA Implementation and Decision Making: Search for Appropriate Organizations 32. From Formulation to Implementation: Strengthening SEA through Follow-up 33. SEA Knowledge and its use in Information Sharing, Training and Learning Part VI: Toward Integrated, Sustainability Assessment 34. From SEA to Sustainability Assessment 35. Assessment for Sustainable Development

Global changes are increasing unemployment worldwide, particularly among women, members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and youth. Occupational social work practice can be systematically reformulated to focus on job retention supports in work programs. International exchanges of information and knowledge-building among occupationally-focused social workers can shape this reformulation, increase job retention and promote the historic mission of the profession.

There is a clear need for international coordination of standards and policies in the mining sector. This Perspective addresses how harmonization may help to reduce arbitrage and promote natural resource investment in a way that minimizes negative impacts on communities and maximizes development gains.

The globalization of economic activity, including the expansion of international trade, the amazing ability of international capital markets to transfer capital rapidly across borders, and the movement in Europe toward greater economic unification, have made it more difficult for nations independently to fashion tax laws that properly balance their own equity, economic efficiency and simplicity goals. This is what makes this conference to analyze the international aspects of recent proposals to replace the federal income tax with some form of consumption tax, with particular emphasis on the Nunn-Domenici "USA" tax and the Armey-Shelby flat tax ("flat tax"), so important. As the paper by Stephen Shay and Victoria Summers well demonstrates, it would be absurd to consider major tax restructuring in the United States without assessing the potential effects of such a change on international flows of capital and trade, on our existing treaty network, and on our domestic international tax law. We must also anticipate the likely responses of other nations. The first lesson is that the forms of consumption tax proposals that seem to enjoy the most political support in the United States today are unique creations both in their structure, and because they would completely supplant the current income tax system. Indeed, it is this uniqueness that makes the Shay-Summers paper so important and the discussion at this conference so necessary.