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Article
Publication date: 31 January 2020

Alan G. Futerman and Walter E. Block

This study aims to offer a critique of the theory of the deterioration in terms of trade, developed by Raúl Prebisch and Hans Singer.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to offer a critique of the theory of the deterioration in terms of trade, developed by Raúl Prebisch and Hans Singer.

Design/methodology/approach

As an example of the theory’s shortcomings, the case of Argentina’s import substitution model is analyzed.

Findings

This study demonstrates how a misunderstanding of the influence of price variability in international trade may lead to the mistaken conclusion that protectionist measures must be enforced to achieve growth and prosperity.

Originality/value

This is the first study that criticizes the Prebisch-Singer theory of the deterioration in the terms of trade from an Austrian economics.

Details

Journal of Financial Economic Policy, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-6385

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2021

Sagnik Bagchi and Surajit Bhattacharyya

This paper aims to explore whether India’s export basket in the bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT) with two of its top trading partners characterize robust export earnings or…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore whether India’s export basket in the bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT) with two of its top trading partners characterize robust export earnings or not. This is pertinent for two reasons. First, India has a persistent problem of current account deficit for over decades now. Second, whether India’s export diversification strategy by participating in global value chains to improve export share in the world market led to the problem of the fallacy of composition.

Design/methodology/approach

This study considers bilateral trade data between India-USA and India-China at the HS-6 digit level over the period 1990–2018. The magnitude of total IIT is computed using the Grubel and Lloyd (1971) index. This paper then uses the unit value dispersion criterion to disentangle the magnitude of total IIT into horizontal and vertical IIT. Through a stepwise econometric exercise, this paper explores the attributes of exported goods in the IIT basket in terms of the directions of ToT, export share and export-price elasticity.

Findings

Across the two country pairs, the major contributors to the upsurge in IIT are five manufacturing industry groups of chemical, plastics and rubber, textiles, base metals and machinery and mechanical appliances. Across the industry groups, the dominant form of IIT has been low vertical IIT. Most of the industry groups do not characterize robust export earnings as the commodity groups have an elastic demand and an increasing trend of Terms of Trade (ToT). The exceptions are the industry groups of chemicals and textiles in India-China and India-USA, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The concern of slim export earnings in most industry groups offers scepticism in maintaining the sustainability of the current account. The problem of the fallacy of composition also cannot be ruled out given the dominance of low vertical IIT. This study argues that these industry groups need to engage in labour market reforms and require access to easy credit to achieve competitiveness in the world market.

Originality/value

The analysis performed in this paper attempts to integrate the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis in the context of IIT. Empirical evidence to such an issue is not profound.

Details

International Journal of Development Issues, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1446-8956

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 July 2012

Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan and Arkady Gevorkyan

Derivatives market has been epitomized with gross evil in the wake of the global economic crisis that ensued in 2008. This study argues for more extensive understanding of the…

Abstract

Derivatives market has been epitomized with gross evil in the wake of the global economic crisis that ensued in 2008. This study argues for more extensive understanding of the phenomena as dynamics previously viewed unrelated now exhibit correlation. As empirical reference, this research relies on recent trends in the commodity futures contracts with analytical relation to the currency exchange rate and by extension the financial and real sectors. With varying intensity often speculative sporadic trading in crude oil, coffee, wheat, rice, sugar, and gold benchmark futures may inflict detrimental effects on the global development efforts. The issue is most acute in the emerging markets facing inflation fears, speculative movements of foreign currency-denominated funds, and underlying domestic currency value. This dynamic reasserts the concept of fundamental uncertainty allowing us to connect the typical risk-return stand with a dialectical unity of the financial, real sector, and social costs. Ultimately, issues raised in this study relate to the problems of social stability and sustained economic development in the postcrisis environment given high frequency and volatility of capital flows. As such, this chapter contributes to the literature that bridges financial empirical analysis with modern socially responsible economic development.

Details

Derivative Securities Pricing and Modelling
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-616-4

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 11 August 2017

Abstract

Details

Core-Periphery Patterns Across the European Union
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-495-8

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2008

Phillip Anthony O'Hara

This paper seeks to evaluate how some of the core general principles of heterodox political economy (HPE) can be applied to the issue of how HPE has managed to undergo resurgence

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to evaluate how some of the core general principles of heterodox political economy (HPE) can be applied to the issue of how HPE has managed to undergo resurgence and development over recent decades.

Design/methodology/approach

Four major principles of heterodoxy are applied successively to this issue: historical specificity; contradiction; heterogeneous agents and groups; and circular and cumulative causation.

Findings

These principles assist in comprehending how HPE is able to develop its own concepts, networks, publications, academic departments, teaching and policy‐relevant material.

Research limitations/implications

HPE has had considerable success in developing a conceptual apparatus, which helps to explain the emergence of much of its edifice being developed in academic and policy circles. The performance of HPE has been impressive.

Practical implications

The conceptual apparatus of heterodoxy can be applied to real world situations; specifically a component of world history over especially the past 40 years.

Originality/value

This is the first time such a theme has been explored in the literature.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 7 January 2016

Alex W. A. Palludeto and Saulo C. Abouchedid

This paper reassesses the center-periphery relationship in light of recent developments in the international monetary system and the currency hierarchy in a geopolitical economy…

Abstract

This paper reassesses the center-periphery relationship in light of recent developments in the international monetary system and the currency hierarchy in a geopolitical economy framework. The center-periphery relationship has historically been examined in relation to the international division of labor, the pace and diffusion of technical progress associated with it, and the pattern of consumption it embodies. As conceived by structuralists and dependentistas, it is not seen as the result of the uneven and combined development of capitalism: it does not take into account the struggle between the dominant States (center), which want to reproduce the current order and the contender States (periphery) which aim to accelerate capitalist development to reduce the unevenness, and even to undermine the imperial project of dominant states. In a geopolitical economy framework, a powerful obstacle peripheral countries face in their efforts at combined development is the international monetary system, something that the theorists of the center-periphery relationship have perhaps overlooked. Because of its subordinate position in the currency hierarchy, the periphery is subject to greater external vulnerability, greater instability of exchange and interest rates, and as a result, enjoys a more restricted policy space. In this sense, the chapter shows that, beyond macroeconomic policies, the currency hierarchy in a context of high capital mobility limits a range of developmental policies of peripheral countries, reinforcing the unevenness of world economy and constraining combined development.

Details

Analytical Gains of Geopolitical Economy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-336-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2023

Hazwan Haini, Pang Wei Loon and Lukman Raimi

This study aims to examine whether diversified economies enhance the growth benefits from foreign direct investment (FDI). Diversified economies benefit from stable export…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether diversified economies enhance the growth benefits from foreign direct investment (FDI). Diversified economies benefit from stable export earnings, stable investment composition and greater factor endowments through forward and backward linkages that can leverage superior foreign technology embedded in FDI. This is crucial as many African economies suffer from dependency while FDI is concentrated in the primary sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a dataset of 15 Economic Community of West African States from 1995 to 2020 and compile variables from various sources, including an export diversification index measured using the Herfindahl–Hirschman index of product concentration. The authors use a growth regression model estimated using dynamic panel estimators to control for endogeneity and simultaneity issues.

Findings

The results show that the effects of direct FDI are insignificant to growth considering diversification and controlling for other confounding factors. Meanwhile, diversification is associated with growth, which highlights the importance of industrial policy. More importantly, the authors find that the marginal effects of FDI are positively and significantly associated with growth when diversification levels are low, implying that production structure matters for the FDI–growth nexus in developing economies.

Originality/value

Previous studies have overlooked the role of export production structure on the FDI–growth nexus. Many developing economies are dependent on primary exports and suffer from dependency, which implies lower levels of factor endowments. As such, this reduces the growth gains from FDI. The authors provide new empirical evidence on the importance of export production structure on the FDI–growth nexus.

Details

International Journal of Development Issues, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1446-8956

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 April 2020

Jianning Kong, Peter C. B. Phillips and Donggyu Sul

Measurement of diminishing or divergent cross section dispersion in a panel plays an important role in the assessment of convergence or divergence over time in key economic…

Abstract

Measurement of diminishing or divergent cross section dispersion in a panel plays an important role in the assessment of convergence or divergence over time in key economic indicators. Econometric methods, known as weak σ-convergence tests, have recently been developed (Kong, Phillips, & Sul, 2019) to evaluate such trends in dispersion in panel data using simple linear trend regressions. To achieve generality in applications, these tests rely on heteroskedastic and autocorrelation consistent (HAC) variance estimates. The present chapter examines the behavior of these convergence tests when heteroskedastic and autocorrelation robust (HAR) variance estimates using fixed-b methods are employed instead of HAC estimates. Asymptotic theory for both HAC and HAR convergence tests is derived and numerical simulations are used to assess performance in null (no convergence) and alternative (convergence) cases. While the use of HAR statistics tends to reduce size distortion, as has been found in earlier analytic and numerical research, use of HAR estimates in nonparametric standardization leads to significant power differences asymptotically, which are reflected in finite sample performance in numerical exercises. The explanation is that weak σ-convergence tests rely on intentionally misspecified linear trend regression formulations of unknown trend decay functions that model convergence behavior rather than regressions with correctly specified trend decay functions. Some new results on the use of HAR inference with trending regressors are derived and an empirical application to assess diminishing variation in US State unemployment rates is included.

Book part
Publication date: 20 July 2011

Raul Caruso

This chapter presents first a theoretical model of conflict between two agents characterised by a two-sector economy. In a contested sector, two agents struggle to appropriate the…

Abstract

This chapter presents first a theoretical model of conflict between two agents characterised by a two-sector economy. In a contested sector, two agents struggle to appropriate the maximum possible fraction of a contestable output. In an uncontested sector, they hold secure property rights over the production of some goods. Agents split their resource endowment between ‘butter’, ‘guns’ and ‘ice-cream’. Eventually, tradable goods made of both butter and ice-cream produced by conflicting parties are sold to the rest of the world. Therefore, the opportunity cost of conflict depends also on the relative profitability of contested and uncontested production. In particular, productivity of uncontested production and profitability of contested sectors are countervailing forces. The empirical section focused on a panel of Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1995–2006. Results are not fully conclusive. However, there is robust evidence that prices of manufactures (interpreted as the uncontested ice-cream) are negatively associated with the likelihood of a civil war. Eventually, international price of manufactures is also associated with a higher GDP per capita growth rate. The concluding remark seems to be that an increase in world prices of manufactures would make civil wars less likely.

Book part
Publication date: 11 August 2017

Gabriela Carmen Pascariu and Ramona Ţigănaşu

The unequal distribution of economic activities, transposed in economic, social and territorial disparities is the general characteristic of the European economy. Gaps increased…

Abstract

The unequal distribution of economic activities, transposed in economic, social and territorial disparities is the general characteristic of the European economy. Gaps increased in the context of European Union (EU) enlargement towards Eastern and Central Europe and of the economic crisis, thus bringing new differentiations among member states’ economies. The main aim of the chapter is to emphasise the centre-periphery differentiations in the European economy, by using a composite index of peripherality, in order to better understand the determinants of growth and convergence in Central and Eastern European countries and to reach normative conclusions for increasing Cohesion Policy (CP) effectiveness. The first part of the chapter provides a short overview of the main theories and models of the peripherality analysis and the relationships between the centre and the periphery, in order to find out how this analysis relates to the research in the field. The second part provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of European economies during 2003–2014, in order to find out whether the EU enlargement process stabilised the EU core-periphery pattern or, on the contrary, the process of core-periphery structural convergence occurred. The third part includes the suggested model of analysis (methodology, data, and main results) from a multidisciplinary perspective, underlining the centre-periphery differentiations on the two axes, North–South and West–East. The results have been interpreted in conclusions, with a focus on their relevance for the European CP challenges.

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