Download or read book Export Profiles of Small Landlocked Countries written by Alexander J. Yeats and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank demographic and country characteristic statistics identify 16 small landlocked countries that are similar to Lesotho. Ng and Yeats attempt to determine what useful policy information can be derived from the recent trade performance of these "comparators." Among questions they pose are whether the trade profiles of the comparators suggest potentially promising export ventures for Lesotho, do they indicate directions for a geographic diversification of trade, or do they suggest products in which Lesotho might acquire a comparative advantage. The authors also use U.S. partner country statistics to evaluate Lesotho's export performance in this major market. The U.S. data indicate Lesotho lost competitive export shares for about three-quarters of its major clothing products during the late 1990s. The data show these losses were primarily to the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries in the Caribbean. Lesotho was competing on basically equal terms and did not fare well. But it is generally held that the most efficient clothing exporters are in the Far East and not Latin America. Lesotho's difficulties in competing with the latter have worrisome implications for its ability to compete with East Asian exporters when the Multifiber Arrangement is phased out. The comparative advantage profiles of the landlocked comparator countries suggest Lesotho's options for a greatly needed export diversification may be wider than is assumed. One or more of the comparator countries developed a comparative advantage in 110 four-digit SITC (non-clothing) manufactures which are generally labor-intensive in production. Many of these goods should also be suitable for production and export by Lesotho. International production sharing often involves the importation and further assembly of components in developing countries. This activity can significantly broaden the range of new products in which a country can diversify. Statistics show many landlocked comparator countries have moved into component assembly operations, and it appears this activity could contribute to Lesotho's export diversification and industrialization. But the quality problems associated with Lesotho's trade statistics makes it impossible to determine the extent to which local production sharing is occurring. A special effort is needed to tabulate reliable statistics on Lesotho's current involvement in this activity. Finally, the authors attempt to determine how the commercial policy environment in Lesotho compares with that in other countries. Policymakers previously had difficulty in addressing this issue, but several recent efforts to compile comprehensive cross-country indices of the quality of governance and commercial policies now provide relevant information. These statistics suggest domestic commercial policies make Lesotho relatively less attractive to foreign investment than many other developing countries. Less than 20 percent of all Latin American countries have a domestic commercial environment judged to be inferior to that in Lesotho, while the corresponding share for East Asia is under 30 percent. Overall, almost 70 percent of all developing countries appear to pursue commercial policies that make them as, or more, attractive to foreign investment than Lesotho. This paper--a product of Trade, Development Research Group--was prepared for the background study of Lesotho Diagnostic Trade Integration Study in summer 2002.

Download or read book Landlocked Countries in South America written by United Nations and published by United Nations Publications. This book was released on 2009 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report analyses the current state of the landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) Bolivia and Paraguay. It analyses the traditional topics: infrastructure at national level and connectivity towards adjacent countries; the recent development in international laws and treaties; and cross-border operation. The report also evaluates the level of international transport costs and the potential impact on trade. It further presents the currently induced over costs in logistic chains, which pose an additional burden to the competitiveness of the countries.

Download or read book Measuring Up written by Educational Resources Information Center (U.S.) and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Export Opportunities and Barriers in African Growth and Opportunity Act Eligible Countries Inv 332 464 written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Export Profiles of Small Landlocked Countries written by Francis Ng and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank demographic an ...

Download or read book Gender Generations and Nonfarm Participation written by M. Shahe Emran and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors present an empirical analysis of intergenerational links in nonfarm participation with a focus on gender effects. Using survey data from Nepal, the evidence shows that the mother exerts a strong influence on a daughter's employment choice. Having a mother in a nonfarm sector raises a daughter's probability of nonfarm participation by 200 percent. The effects are truly dramatic for skilled nonfarm jobs. Having a mother in a skilled job raises a daughter's probability by 1,200 percent. Having a father in a nonfarm sector, on the other hand, does not have any significant effect on a son's probability of nonfarm participation when the endogeneity of education and assets is corrected for by the two-stage conditional maximum likelihood approach. But a moderate positive intergenerational correlation between fathers and sons exists for skilled jobs.

Download or read book The Bottom Billion written by Paul Collier and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bottom Billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and poverty. It was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times.

Download or read book The World Bank Research Program 2005 2007 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pocket-sized reference on key environmental data for over 200 countries includes key indicators on agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, energy, emission and pollution, and water and sanitation. The volume helps establish a sound base of information to help set priorities and measure progress toward environmental sustainability goals.

Download or read book The Cotonou Agreement and Its Implications for the Regional Trade Agenda in Eastern and Southern Africa written by Manuel De la Rocha and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subregional trade arrangements (RTAs) in Eastern and Southern Africa have proliferated in the past 10 to 15 years. The small size of most of the countries in the region, some of which are landlocked, and the security needs in the post independence period largely explain the rapid expansion. These arrangements are characterized by multiple and overlapping memberships, complex structures, and eventually, conflicting and confusing commitments. The influence of RTAs has been limited to assisting the region in increasing trade, attracting foreign direct investment, enhancing growth, and achieving convergence among member countries. But despite their limitations, RTAs have the potential, if properly designed and effectively implemented, to be an important instrument in integrating member countries into global markets. In 1998 most of the Southern African countries, as members of the Africa Caribbean Pacific group (ACP), signed the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union, which includes the negotiation of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the ACP. The Cotonou Agreement explicitly leaves to the ACP countries to decide the level and procedures of the EPA trade negotiations, taking into account the regional integration process. This raises the question of how to decide on the groupings in the context of conflicting regional trade agendas. The author argues that the Cotonou Agreement and EPA negotiations could become the external driving force that will push the regional organizations to rationalize and harmonize their regional trade arrangements, thus strengthening the integration process and economies of the region, and assisting the Eastern and Southern Africa region in becoming a more active partner in the global economy.

Download or read book Creating Partnerships for Capacity Building in Developing Countries written by F. Desmond McCarthy and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: McCarthy, Bader, and Pleskovic discuss a variety of experiences in a number of transition and developing countries to build institutional capacity for economics education. A flexible approach met with some success. The approach uses partnerships that combine the often different needs of a number of private donors with the World Bank on the supply side. Much of the success was due to adopting each effort to the individual country situation. The authors also provide a brief summary of five academic institutions and four research networks in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This paper--a product of Partnerships, Capacity Building, and Outreach, Development Economics--is part of a larger effort in the Bank to build capacity for economic education.

Download or read book International Survey of Integrated Financial Sector Supervision written by Jose de Luna-Martinez and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the intense debate on the advantages and disadvantages of adopting integrated supervision that has taken place in recent years, little is known about the experiences of countries that have adopted it and the obstacles and challenges they have faced to implement it. In an attempt to shed light on this area, the authors present the results of a survey conducted in a group of 15 countries that have adopted integrated supervision. After a brief review of the literature on integrated supervision, the authors examine four topics: 1) The reasons cited by this group of countries for establishing an integrated supervisory agency. 2) The scope of regulatory and supervisory powers of these agencies. 3) The progress of these agencies in harmonizing their regulatory and supervisory practices across the intermediaries they supervise. 4) The practical problems faced by policymakers in adopting integrated supervision. The survey revealed that the group of integrated supervisory agencies is not as homogeneous as it seems. Important differences arise with regard to the scope of regulatory and supervisory powers the agencies have been given. In fact, contrary to popular belief, less than 50 percent of the agencies can be categorized as mega-supervisors. Another finding is that in most countries progress toward the harmonization of prudential regulation and supervision across financial intermediaries remains limited. Interestingly, the survey revealed that practically all countries believe they have achieved a higher degree of harmonization in the regulation and supervision of banks and securities companies than between banks and insurance firms. The survey also identified some practical problems faced by this group of countries in establishing their unified supervisory agencies. The authors discuss these problems, along with the practical lessons and recommendations provided by the 15 agencies to other countries considering integrated supervision, in the final section of the paper.

Download or read book Factfulness written by Hans Rosling and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” – Bill Gates “Hans Rosling tells the story of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly.” —Melinda Gates "Factfulness by Hans Rosling, an outstanding international public health expert, is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Former U.S. President Barack Obama Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. --- “This book is my last battle in my life-long mission to fight devastating ignorance...Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, eye-opening software, an energetic learning style and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” Hans Rosling, February 2017.

Download or read book U S Contingent Protection Against Honey Imports written by Julio J. Nogués and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 2001, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the imposition of steep antidumping duties against honey imports from Argentina and China ranging from 32.6% to 183.8%, and a countervailing duty against Argentina of 5.9%. A previous AD investigation was concluded in 1995 with a spension "agreement" that curtailed US imports from China by around 30%. This sequential pattern of increasing and widening protectionism to include successful exporters under contingent protection measures, sends a clear message that other countries should think twice before investing in expanding honey exports to the US. Thousands of poor people around the world live from honey production, and contingent protection measures destabilize their incomes and make their lives and futures more uncertain. In addition to looking into the trade effects of these measures, this paper concludes that under the regulatory arrangements of the DOC, poor beekeepers don't have a chance of defending themselves. For example, responding to lengthy and sophisticated questionnaires that sought to determine cost of production, went beyond their capacities and in the absence of this information, the DOC resorted to the evidence presented by the Petitioners which was riddled with errors. This suggests the urgent need to introduce reforms into the WTO antidumping and subsidy agreements. At the minimum what is required is a consensus that all Respondents be given the same opportunity by the international trade rules.

Download or read book Migration and Human Capital in Brazil During the 1990s written by Norbert M. Fiess and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Emerging Project Bond Market written by Mansoor Dailami and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The emergence in the 1990s of a nascent project bond market to fund long-term infrastructure projects in developing countries merits attention. The authors compile detailed information on a sample of 105 bonds issued between January 1993 and March 2002 for financing infrastructure projects in developing countries, document their contractual covenants, and analyze their pricing determinants. They find that on average, project bonds are issued at approximately 300 basis points above U.S. Treasury securities, have a surprisingly high issue size of US$278 million, a maturity of slightly under 12 years, and are rated slightly below investment grade. In terms of geographic origin, projects in Asia and Latin America have issued more bonds than those located in other regions. Much of the recent work relating to the role of contractual covenants to the determination of bond prices has focused on the U.S. corporate bond market with its unique bankruptcy code - Chapter 11 - and well developed legal framework, recognizing the bond contract as the sole instrument of defining the rights and duties of various parties. In circumstances in which the underpinning legal and institutional frameworks governing contract formation and enforcement are not well developed, the link between bond pricing and legal framework becomes important. This finding is confirmed by the authors' econometric analysis of project bond pricing model. So, investors take into account the quality of the host country's legal framework and reward projects located in countries that adhere to the rule of law with tighter credit spreads and lower funding costs.

Download or read book Asian Free Trade Agreements And Wto Compatibility Goods Services Trade Facilitation And Economic Cooperation written by Shintaro Hamanaka and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2014-01-13 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is an appropriate time to rethink the relationship between trade regionalism and multilateralism in the Asian context as we witness the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia. In the 1980s and 1990s, many scholars and policymakers believed that Asian integration was market-based, rather than legal-based, and that Asian integration would never be codified through agreements. Yet today, there are a large number of FTAs signed and under negotiation in Asia.This book investigates the appropriate relationship between regionalism and multilateralism, with a special reference to recent FTAs in Asia. It is undeniable that past trade multilateralism-regionalism debates centered on the trade-in-goods aspect. However, the majority of recent FTAs in Asia cover issues beyond trade-in-goods and tariff liberalization, such as trade facilitation, services, and economic cooperation. While the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXIV governs regional integration initiatives in trade in goods, there is no (or at most a thin) World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement that stipulates the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism in issue areas other than goods.Thus, this study carefully considers the meaning of “WTO-compatible FTAs” by distinguishing “WTO consistency” and “WTO friendliness”, going beyond GATT Article XXIV debates and proposes a general framework for examining the openness of regionalism in various issue areas by identifying tree-type questions to distinguish several types of exclusiveness. It then specifically asks the following questions: Can Asian FTAs that cover several issues be considered multilateralism friendly? How does the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism differ between trade-in-goods and non-goods issue areas? What are policies that might reduce the exclusiveness of regional initiatives? The study concludes by listing counterintuitive policy suggestions to make FTAs truly WTO compatible. The book also includes a comprehensive list of FTAs in Asia and several WTO Agreements relating to trade regionalism.

Download or read book Rethinking Competitiveness written by Kevin A. Hassett and published by AEI Press. This book was released on 2012-12-19 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is composed of nine prominent scholars' interpretations of and answers to the question: “If ‘competitiveness’ were to have a rigorous and relevant meaning in your field, what might that be?”