Suchergebnisse

In 2015 the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 but real change demands a green social contract.

The age of unbridled free trade is rightfully over. Solidarity should be the new leitmotif of trade policy.

Die Konferenz Rio+20 endete mit einem enttäuschenden Kompromiss. Entscheidend für die Zukunft der globalen Nachhaltigkeitspolitik wird sein, ob es gelingt, die Schwellenländer stärker einzubinden.

Liberalisation of public services can be implemented not only through autonomous legislative action by individual countries, but also as a consequence of obligations arising from membership of supranational or international organisations. This article analyses how the process of the commodification of services at the level of the WTO, i.e. via the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), interacts with the politics of trade and services liberalisation in the European Union. Thus, we highlight the specific role of services negotiations in the WTO for the political dynamics of liberalising public services in the EU. Our conclusions highlight three specific functions of the GATS agreement: first, it serves as an institutional mechanism to 'lock-in' liberalisations achieved at a national or European level, secondly, it exercises a disciplinary effect on national regulation, and, thirdly, it provides an additional platform for the application of forum-shifting in the politics of international trade.

Structural transformation and export diversification into higher value-added products and away from primary commodities remain major development objectives for low-income countries (LICs). Sectors such as apparel or leather products have traditionally been gateways to export diversification for LICs and are generally regarded as first steps for developing countries embarking on an export-oriented industrialization process. Given their rather low entry barriers (low fixed costs and relatively simple technology) and labor-intensive nature, the sectors can absorb large numbers of unskilled workers and provide upgrading opportunities into higher value added activities within and across sectors. However, the defining characteristics of these sectors also mean that they are very competitive, leaving many suppliers with limited leverage and challenges in ensuring social and environmental compliance and longer term development benefits. In Ethiopia, the objective to transform from the still dominant agricultural sector to the industrial sector is paramount in policies. Agricultural development led industrialization (ADLI) was developed as the main guiding principle of Ethiopia's development process. The underlying idea was that Ethiopia's manufacturing sector should complement the growth of the country's dominant agricultural economy, focusing on labor intensive and low-tech industries with linkages to the agricultural sector. One of the main priority sectors is the leather and leather product (LLP) sector given its direct links to agriculture through the livestock sector as well as its labor intensity, relatively simple technology and large export potential. Ethiopia has adopted an active, state driven industrial policy aimed at incentivizing exports, linking to global value chains (GVCs), attracting lead firms and foreign direct investment (FDI), supporting local firms, and creating local linkages to promote priority sectors. As a result, the Ethiopian LLP sector has experienced significant growth dynamics in ...

Digitalization technologies, such as automation, robotization, artificial intelligence and Big Data are increasingly shaping economic processes. In public discourse, extreme outlooks are widespread. Either digital technologies will provide the solution to most contemporary problems, or dystopian scenarios claim that digital technologies make human labor redundant for production processes, resulting in soaring unemployment rates and widespread social disintegration. Against this backdrop, research on the impacts of digitalization on developing countries is still at an early stage. This briefing paper provides a critical summary of the literature on the challenges and potentials of digitalization for developing economies. A sober account of the historical evidence suggests that both euphoria and dystopian views are misplaced. The major policy challenge for development cooperation will consist in supporting LDC governments in their efforts to manage the effects of the economic and social transition process brought about by digitalization.