The objective of this paper is relatively straightforward, suggesting 'what international air passenger travel will look like in five, ten or fifteen years and why?' This requires answering two questions; what will be the principal determinants of the growth in international air travel and what impact will each of these drivers have on the growth rate? An imbedded question is does history have anything to teach us or are there new forces at work? Canvassing the current aviation trade press finds two schools of thought, one taking the position that this a deep recession but a recession nonetheless and once world economies start recovering air traffic will go back to the typical growth of 4-5 percent annually. A second school is less sanguine, taking the position that it will not be business as usual when economies stop sinking and move to recovery. Any economic recovery is going to involve fundamental changes in institutions, rethinking polices regarding government participation in economies and changes in economic leadership in the world. There is also the hydra of protectionism most prominent now in the US but certainly being practiced elsewhere, and what will happen to foreign ownership restrictions that prior to 2009 were being seen as hurting rather than helping world airlines. All of this will change international aviation going forward.
The Altering Eye covers a "golden age" of international cinema from the end of WWII through to the New German Cinema of the 1970s. Combining historical, political, and textual analysis, Kolker develops a pattern of cinematic invention and experimentation from neorealism through the modernist interventions of Jean-Luc Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, focusing along the way on such major figures as Luis Buñuel, Joseph Losey, the Brazilian director Glauber Rocha, and the work of major Cuban filmmakers. Kolker's book has become a much quoted classic in the field of film studies providing essential reading for anybody interested in understanding the history of European and international cinema. This new and revised edition includes a substantive new Preface by the author and an updated Bibliography.
The Altering Eye covers a "golden age" of international cinema from the end of WWII through to the New German Cinema of the 1970s. Combining historical, political, and textual analysis, Kolker develops a pattern of cinematic invention and experimentation from neorealism through the modernist interventions of Jean-Luc Godard and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, focusing along the way on such major figures as Luis Buñuel, Joseph Losey, the Brazilian director Glauber Rocha, and the work of major Cuban filmmakers.
This paper investigates the sources and size of trade barriers at the industry level. We derive a micro-founded measure of industry-specific bilateral trade integration that has an in-built control for time-varying multilateral resistance. This trade integration measure is consistent with a broad range of recent trade models including the Anderson and van Wincoop (2003) framework, the Ricardian model by Eaton and Kortum (2002) and heterogeneous firms models. We use it to explore trade barriers for manufacturing industries in European Union countries between 1999 and 2003. We find a large degree of trade cost heterogeneity across industries. The most important trade barriers are transportation costs and policy factors such as Technical Barriers to Trade. Trade integration is generally lower for countries that opted out of the Euro or did not abolish border controls in accordance with the Schengen Agreement. Reductions in trade barriers explain about one-half of the growth in trade over the period 1999-2003 and are therefore a major driving force of the EU Single Market.
Contrary to popular perceptions, the United States has a much smaller small-business sector (as a share of total employment) than other countries at a comparable level of economic development, according to this new CEPR report. The authors observe that the undersized U.S. small business sector is consistent with the view that high health care costs discourage small business formation, since start-ups in other countries can tap into government-funded health care systems.
We investigate the influence of government size on the exposure of consumption growth to country-specific fluctuations in output growth using a sample of OECD countries. To the extent that governments are less constrained on international financial markets, it appears conceivable that governments diversify risks interna- tionally on behalf of agents. Our results indicate that the extent of international risk sharing is unrelated to the size of the public sector.
This paper is about public sector pensions, an issue that has become increasingly contentious in a number of countries in recent years, including in the United Kingdom. In the UK the public debate has focussed on the perceived generosity of these pensions, which, it is often claimed, contrasts with the pension promises made in the private sector. This paper does not attempt to answer whether public sector pension promises are relatively generous in the UK or elsewhere but instead aims to provide the bigger picture against which a discussion of public sector pension provision could be held. The origin of today's public sector pensions can be traced back at least to Ancient Rome, which offered pensions to its military personnel. Pensions to public sector workers can also be traced back several centuries even though their provision remained on an ad-hoc basis for longer, while universal pension provision for all is a creation of the modern welfare state. The issue of public sector pensions is intrinsically linked to the role of the state in society. Beyond the provision of pure public goods such as defence, the role of the state varies widely across countries, for example in the provision (and funding) of health or long-term care. The role of the state has also changed over time, for example in the telecommunications sector, reflecting technological progress and ideological changes. In most countries working for the state comes with a number of privileges (e.g. job security) but also with certain responsibilities (e.g. relinquishing the right to strike). An international comparison reveals that in a number of countries the state is also a special employer in the sense that it offers more generous pensions than the private sector. This is, however, not the case in all countries. The paper argues that the government might pursue a number of objectives going beyond poverty alleviation by offering more generous pensions but also stresses that more generally the objectives of efficiency, equity and sustainability remain desirable even in the context of public sector pensions.
This paper analyzes international antitrust enforcement when multinational firms operate in several markets with antitrust authorities in each market. We are concerned with how the sustainability of collusion in one local market is affected by the existence of collusion in other markets when they are linked by demand relationships. The interdependence of collusion sustainability across markets leads to potential externalities in antitrust enforcement across jurisdictions. As a result, cartel prosecution can have a domino effect with the desistance of one cartel triggering the internal break-up of the cartel in the adjacent market. We further find that the equilibrium in antitrust authorities' enforcement decisions may exhibit non-linearity due to a free-rider problem as the global economy is more integrated. We also analyze the equilibrium antitrust enforcement and compare it with the globally optimal antitrust enforcement policy.
This article demonstrates the empirical relevance and elaborates the theoretical foundation of a "polity-centered" causal mechanism of international environmental regulation which has been only superficially touched upon in international environmental regime theory and which challenges the policy-centrism of this field of research. Motorboat regulations on Lake Constance demonstrate the limits of established approaches in regime theory in explaining the strict regulations of this early regime. Rationalist explanatory approaches are not convincing since there are no helpful structural constellations and no functional need. According to normative-cognitive approaches, the institutional density and differentiation that exists in the transboundary Lake Constance region makes an "advocacy coalition" approach better suited than an "epistemic community" approach. Yet, even this perspective cannot explain the international breakthroughs towards strong regulations. To fill the remaining gap, it is necessary to account for the symbolic value of water in representing emerging transnational identities and institutions. Polity-centered coalitions of political leaders around the lake "performed" innovative regulations in a highly symbolic policy field in order to gain attention and recognition for their institutionalization of the idea of a "Euregio Bodensee." The article ends by demonstrating the empirical relevance of this causal mechanism beyond Lake Constance and discusses the theoretical consequences in the field of transnational water governance. ; + ID der Publikation: unilu_10500 + Sprache: Englisch + Letzte Aktualisierung: 2020-01-21 16:22:06
This article charts the evolving regulation of cooperation and coordination between international transport firms, in particular those operating within the liner shipping and international air transport sectors. There has been a long history of exemption of these sectors from the rules and regulations of antitrust or competition law. In the past three decades, regulatory reforms and privatization have, however, subjected these sectors to competitive forces that have transformed these industries. With the introduction of competition law in many jurisdictions, the justifications for their continued exemption have come under intense scrutiny. In the late 19705, the US initiated deregulation of its domestic airline sector and introduced reforms in the regulation of liner shipping which resulted in greater competition and lower prices. In 2006, the EU adopted a tougher stance by becoming the first jurisdiction to remove exemption for IATA passenger tariff conferences from 2007 and for liner shipping conferences from 2008. While arguments for the benefits of competition can be generally made, the lack of harmonization of competition laws together with the international nature of these sectors (which are further complicated by high concentration, network characteristics, and government sanctioned barriers to entry) continue to present challenges for competition authorities.
This thesis aims at exploring different economic implications of international migration. Its first chapter is devoted to the description of a calibrated model of the world economy, which shows the importance of taking into account international capital mobility between world regions. In a context of global aging, demographic differences among regions could result in increased trade trough international capital movements that might improve economic outcomes compared to a situation of financial autarky. This chapter sets a path for a migration analysis within a world model. The second chapter investigates the impact of immigration on the sustainability of pension systems in North-America and Western Europe. It is found that increased immigration yields only small fiscal gains and that both a selective, with a majority of high-skilled immigrants, and a non-selective immigration policy, with a majority of low-skilled immigrants, induce similar tax cuts. The third chapter assesses the implications of various direct and indirect effects of high-skilled emigration on migrants' sending regions. It reconfirms the important role of remittances in raising the income of those left behind. Moreover, a high-skilled diaspora may greatly benefit domestic production by reducing information-related risks and bringing in more foreign direct investments, while the so-called ``brain gain" effect acts to reduce the income disparity between workers of different skills. Chapter four analyzes the link between climate change and international migration. A two-country model with endogenous climate change is employed, in which the production in the North generates climate change which negatively affects the productivity of the South. The main findings are that climate change will increase migration and that small impacts of climate change have significant impacts on the number of migrants. Finally, chapter five studies how high- and low- skilled migration affect fertility and human capital in migrants' origin countries. It is found that, within a theoretical model, a brain drain induces parents to have more high- and less low-educated children. Under specific conditions, fertility may either rise or decline due to a brain drain. ; Cette thèse vise à explorer plusieurs implications économiques de la migration internationale. Le premier chapitre est consacré à la description d'un modèle calibré sur l'économie mondiale, qui montre l'importance de la prise en compte de la mobilité internationale du capital entre les différentes régions du monde. Dans un monde en vieillissement, les disparités démographiques entre régions pourraient conduire à un accroissement des échanges à travers des mouvements internationaux de capitaux qui amélioreraient les performances économiques par rapport à une situation d'autarcie financière. Ce chapitre ouvre la voie à une analyse de la migration dans le cadre d'un modèle mondial. Le deuxième chapitre examine l'impact de l'immigration sur la viabilité des systèmes de pension en Amérique du Nord et en Europe de l'Ouest. Les résultats suggèrent qu'une immigration accrue apporte des gains fiscaux minimaux et que des politiques d'immigration sélective, avec une majorité d'immigrés qualifiés, et non-sélective, avec une majorité d'immigrés peu-qualifiés, entrainent des réductions fiscales similaires. Le troisième chapitre évalue les implications de divers effets directs et indirects de l'émigration qualifiée sur les pays d'origine des migrants. Elle reconfirme l'importance du rôle des transferts de fonds dans l'accroissement du revenu de la population restée au pays. De plus, la diaspora qualifiée peut être considérablement bénéfique pour la production domestique à travers la diminution des risques liés à l'information et en favorisant les investissements directs étrangers, tandis que l'effet de ``brain gain'' a un impact réducteur sur l'inégalité des revenus entre travailleurs de qualifications différentes. Le quatrième chapitre étudie la relation entre changement climatique et migration internationale. L'analyse est effectuée dans un modèle à deux pays avec changement climatique endogène, où la production du Nord génère un changement climatique qui affecte négativement la productivité au Sud. Les résultats principaux sont que le changement climatique augmente la migration et que des changements climatiques minimes peuvent avoir des impacts importants sur le nombre de migrants. Finalement, le cinquième chapitre étudie comment la migration de travailleurs qualifiés et peu-qualifiés affecte la fertilité et le capital humain dans les pays d'origine des migrants. Les résultats, obtenus dans le cadre d'un modèle théorique, suggèrent qu'une augmentation des opportunités de migration des travailleurs qualifiés amène les parents à financer l'éducation à un plus grand nombre de leurs enfants. Sous certaines conditions, la fertilité peut soit augmenter ou diminuer. ; (ECON 3) -- UCL, 2009
This thesis aims at exploring different economic implications of international migration. Its first chapter is devoted to the description of a calibrated model of the world economy, which shows the importance of taking into account international capital mobility between world regions. In a context of global aging, demographic differences among regions could result in increased trade trough international capital movements that might improve economic outcomes compared to a situation of financial autarky. This chapter sets a path for a migration analysis within a world model. The second chapter investigates the impact of immigration on the sustainability of pension systems in North-America and Western Europe. It is found that increased immigration yields only small fiscal gains and that both a selective, with a majority of high-skilled immigrants, and a non-selective immigration policy, with a majority of low-skilled immigrants, induce similar tax cuts. The third chapter assesses the implications of various direct and indirect effects of high-skilled emigration on migrants' sending regions. It reconfirms the important role of remittances in raising the income of those left behind. Moreover, a high-skilled diaspora may greatly benefit domestic production by reducing information-related risks and bringing in more foreign direct investments, while the so-called ``brain gain" effect acts to reduce the income disparity between workers of different skills. Chapter four analyzes the link between climate change and international migration. A two-country model with endogenous climate change is employed, in which the production in the North generates climate change which negatively affects the productivity of the South. The main findings are that climate change will increase migration and that small impacts of climate change have significant impacts on the number of migrants. Finally, chapter five studies how high- and low- skilled migration affect fertility and human capital in migrants' origin countries. It is found that, within a theoretical model, a brain drain induces parents to have more high- and less low-educated children. Under specific conditions, fertility may either rise or decline due to a brain drain. ; Cette thèse vise à explorer plusieurs implications économiques de la migration internationale. Le premier chapitre est consacré à la description d'un modèle calibré sur l'économie mondiale, qui montre l'importance de la prise en compte de la mobilité internationale du capital entre les différentes régions du monde. Dans un monde en vieillissement, les disparités démographiques entre régions pourraient conduire à un accroissement des échanges à travers des mouvements internationaux de capitaux qui amélioreraient les performances économiques par rapport à une situation d'autarcie financière. Ce chapitre ouvre la voie à une analyse de la migration dans le cadre d'un modèle mondial. Le deuxième chapitre examine l'impact de l'immigration sur la viabilité des systèmes de pension en Amérique du Nord et en Europe de l'Ouest. Les résultats suggèrent qu'une immigration accrue apporte des gains fiscaux minimaux et que des politiques d'immigration sélective, avec une majorité d'immigrés qualifiés, et non-sélective, avec une majorité d'immigrés peu-qualifiés, entrainent des réductions fiscales similaires. Le troisième chapitre évalue les implications de divers effets directs et indirects de l'émigration qualifiée sur les pays d'origine des migrants. Elle reconfirme l'importance du rôle des transferts de fonds dans l'accroissement du revenu de la population restée au pays. De plus, la diaspora qualifiée peut être considérablement bénéfique pour la production domestique à travers la diminution des risques liés à l'information et en favorisant les investissements directs étrangers, tandis que l'effet de ``brain gain'' a un impact réducteur sur l'inégalité des revenus entre travailleurs de qualifications différentes. Le quatrième chapitre étudie la relation entre changement climatique et migration internationale. L'analyse est effectuée dans un modèle à deux pays avec changement climatique endogène, où la production du Nord génère un changement climatique qui affecte négativement la productivité au Sud. Les résultats principaux sont que le changement climatique augmente la migration et que des changements climatiques minimes peuvent avoir des impacts importants sur le nombre de migrants. Finalement, le cinquième chapitre étudie comment la migration de travailleurs qualifiés et peu-qualifiés affecte la fertilité et le capital humain dans les pays d'origine des migrants. Les résultats, obtenus dans le cadre d'un modèle théorique, suggèrent qu'une augmentation des opportunités de migration des travailleurs qualifiés amène les parents à financer l'éducation à un plus grand nombre de leurs enfants. Sous certaines conditions, la fertilité peut soit augmenter ou diminuer. ; (ECON 3) -- UCL, 2009
This paper's aim is to examine the reasons why the United States of America refuse to ratify international labor standards. Taking Utilitarian Liberalism as the appropriate approach tackling domestic-international entanglements, Robert D. Putnam's Two-Level Game Theory clearly bears some explanatory value. In short, the US faces domestic constrains not to adopt the ILO conventions at the international level. Other states, backed by International Organizations, effectively push forward the Decent Work Agenda. This tempted persuasion to shift the US domestic table from abroad is analyzed within the work's second step. However, due to clashing interests, future challenges occur. A broad range of theoretical approaches, reaching from Putnam (1988), Atkinson and Coleman (1989), to Global Social Policy, represented by Bob Deacon (2007) are thoroughly addressed throughout the occasional paper. ; Mit zunehmender Globalisierung - und angesichts der aktuellen Finanzkrise vermehrt - wird der Ruf nach einer "Zähmung" der Weltwirtschaft immer lauter. Einer der Forderungen bezieht sich auf die sozial- und arbeitspolitischen Verwerfungen; Internationale Sozialpolitik ist daher ein politisches Handlungsfeld im Entstehen und mit einer hohen Dynamik. In Bezug auf die Probleme und normativ-politischen Kontexte aktualisiert Internationale Sozialpolitik durchaus einen Teil der klassischen Wohlfahrtsstaats-Debatten. Es geht auch hier um Sicherheit, Gerechtigkeit, Fairness – ja teilweise sogar um "Dekommodifizierung" (Esping-Andersen) und um Grenzen der Ausbeutung der Ware Arbeitskraft. Im Bezug auf die Instrumente und Akteure spielt sich allerdings das Meiste jenseits des nationalen Wohlfahrtsstaats, in den weiten Räumen der internationalen Beziehungen ab. Das Beispiel der "Decent-Work-Agenda" zeigt, dass zudem weniger Geld als Steuerungs-, Transfer- und Kompensationsmedium im Vordergrund steht, sondern ansatzweise rechtliche und vor allem ethische Normen. Relevante Akteure bilden hier Vertreter aus dem breiten Spektrum an Non-Governmental Organisations im UN-System. Gleichwohl lassen sich Erkenntnisse aus der Forschung über den Wohlfahrtsstaat mit Ergebnissen der Internationalen Beziehungen kombinieren; hier dominiert der Rückgriff auf die klassischen Ansätze zur Erklärung internationaler Politiken. Gleichwohl zeigt sich damit auch ein integratives Feld für die Politikwissenschaft, das Aktualität, politische und praktische Relevanz verbindet.
This study seeks to explain country differences in the performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Hypotheses on the relationship between, on one hand, performance at the Olympiads and, on the other, population size and dynamics, economic resources, human capital, schooling quantity and quality, and the political regime are tested with a panel dataset of 97 countries over the period 1993-2006. The analysis distinguishes between crosscountry differences and intra-country differences. Results indicate that macro-conditions explain cross-country differences well but fail to predict changes in performance over time. Thus, long-term differences in country characteristics are associated with the average performance of Olympians.
Not long after the end of the Second World War economists and policy makers started considering free trade as a method of maximizing welfare, and also as a means of finding solutions to social and political problems. After the formation of the GATT in 1947 and WTO in 1995, governmental policies of the member states have continued moving forward to a system of free trade. The majority of nations have started following liberal trade policies, both in their pursuit of domestic economic objectives and while contributing to world trade. When government policies start inducing a system of liberal market economy, they have to modify the underlying economic concepts of government, and further make it suitable to cotemporary cross border trade requirements. First, government has to agree not to increase the existing levels of tariffs and second, when existing tariffs are lowered, it is likely that an even greater number of industries (domestic and foreign) will face the need to adjust to the competitive market situations. With the newly developed market conditions, nations start competing with each other for profitable international business. Consequently, they resort to policies of granting aid and subsidies, so as to maintain a dominant position in the market. As far as obligations under the WTO are concerned, all members are automatically bound by all the multilateral trade agreements, including the "Agreements on Agriculture and Subsides and Countervailing Measures (ASCM)," as well as the "Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU)".1Additionally, member states, while framing domestic policies, should ensure that WTO subsidy provisions are not breached. In so oing it is also necessary for WTO members to bear in mind the provisions of Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.2 In practice, there is invariable use of subsidies by nations even for minor reasons. Over time this practice is substantiated by legal precedent, ironically, indifferent to the vagueness of their purpose. The indiscriminate use of subsidies is contrary to the basic objectives of the WTO and enhanced legal complexities follow. It has led to the demand for broader legal support for various other subsidies with unclear objectives. To understand the far reaching effects of subsidies in international trade, we start with discussing state aid. The impact of subsidies and state aid in international trade can be divided in two stages. A noticeable aspect of such aid and subsidies is that they improve the initial conditions of an enterprise and later, these aids and subsidies act as a factor for export promotion. In order to understand market practices better, it is necessary to distinguish between state-aid and subsidy. Although, the two terms are different they have some commonness also. More significantly, the legal approach towards these two terms varies.