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This article presents a large-scale, systematic study of politically connected firms in China. It was conducted by compiling a database of all the publicly traded firms in China in 1993, 2002 and 2012 that codes the biographies of hundreds of thousands of board members. I find that there has been a significant increase in the percentage of firms that are connected with the national government in the last 20 years. This casts doubt on a popular argument that businesses in China have primarily relied on "local protectionism." I interpret this as a result of firms' need to connect with powerful and stable institutions. I test this by examining the impact of the fall of Chen Liangyu on firms in Shanghai. (China Q/GIGA)

Long-standing challenges concerning unemployment and the role of government have been the dominant underlying themes in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Effective State-Business Relations (SBRs) comprise a set of highly responsive and public interactions between the state and the business sector. The aim of this study is to explore the dynamics of net job creation rates in Egypt and Turkey, and the role of the SBRs, including various firm characteristics. The analysis relies on firm-level data derived from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys over the period 2008-2013. We implement the weighted ordinary least squares (OLS). Furthermore, we apply an Instrumental Variables (IV) Approach and the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) method for robustness check, to deal with the potential endogeneity issues coming from the self-reported statements and the possible degree of reverse causality between SBRs and the main outcomes of interest. Our findings suggest four major obstacles to SBRs, with constraints of access to finance and credit and political instability being the common major obstacles in the two countries explored. Corruption and lack of proper infrastructure in electricity in Egypt are found to be the next two main obstacles in SBRs, while tax rates and competition from the informal sector are identified as the other two main obstacles in Turkey. The results show that obstacles in SBRs contribute negatively to the net job creation. According to these findings, policy implications include the need to make SBRs operate more efficiently, investments on proper infrastructure and policies that minimize corruption and political instability. ; Economic Research Forum (ERF) ; The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and the grant received under the Structural Change, Resource Misallocation and Growth Dynamics in the MENA Region program call. An earlier version of this study is published as a working paper under the funding agreement with the Economic Research Forum (ERF) available at https://erf.org.eg/publications/state-business-relations-and-the-dynamics-of-job-flows-in-egypt-and-turkey/.

AbstractThis article presents a large-scale, systematic study of politically connected firms in China. It was conducted by compiling a database of all the publicly traded firms in China in 1993, 2002 and 2012 that codes the biographies of hundreds of thousands of board members. I find that there has been a significant increase in the percentage of firms that are connected with the national government in the last 20 years. This casts doubt on a popular argument that businesses in China have primarily relied on "local protectionism." I interpret this as a result of firms' need to connect with powerful and stable institutions. I test this by examining the impact of the fall of Chen Liangyu on firms in Shanghai.

Fünf Beiträge befassen sich mit den zu erwartenden Staatseinnahmen Tansanias aus Steuern, Zöllen und Abgaben für 1996/97 und den absehbaren Wechselwirkungen mit der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung des Landes. Zunächst wird ein Konzept tansanischer Unternehmer vorgestellt, das der Regierung zur Belebung der Wirtschaft und zur Verbesserung der Lage des Staatshaushalts schon für 1996/97 eine neue Steuerpolitik empfiehlt. Der zweite Beitrag behandelt den Regierungsentwurf der Einnahmeseite des Haushalts 1996/97. Der dritte Aufsatz setzt sich mit Zielen und Implikationen des Haushaltsentwurfs der Regierung aus volkswirtschaftlich-wissenschaftlicher Sicht auseinander. Ein weiterer Beitrag untersucht die Probleme Tansanias bei Steuererhebung und Steueraufkommen generell und vergleicht die problematische Situation Tansanias in dieser Hinsicht mit anderen Staaten Ost- und Südafrikas. Der letzte Artikel erläutert die Vorgeschichte des tansanischen Unternehmerkonzepts zur Steuerpolitik der Regierung und stellt eine Reihe von geänderten oder neuen offiziellen Steuer- und Abgabeverordnungen im einzelnen vor. (DÜI-Ply)