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The potential benefits of globalization – seen as progressive worldwide economic integration – have been touted by many economists, government officials and journalists, but the obstacles to its acceptance are seldom assessed against its putative advantages. Some opposing observers, protest groups and a few governments have warned about the inequities and burdens of globalization. However, few have focused on the multiple obstacles to, or on the necessary policies and attitudes for, successful moves to globalization. International Business researchers need to encompass the multiple aspects in the political, social and cultural realms that are affected by, and involved in, the process of globalization and require acceptable treatment. A fundamental reconciliation is required between socio-economic systems based on relationships and those based primarily on market signals in order to reduce conflicts and achieve the necessary community of interests.

The empirical estimates for the money demand function reported here are based on quarterly time series for Thailand for the period 1973:1 to 1985:4. The money demand function estimated is novel in that it takes into account the potential effect of external monetary developments on domestic money demand in the open economy of Thailand. The empirical results show that foreign interest rates do play an important role in the Thailand money demand function. Hence the Thailand monetary authorities should not ignore the response of domestic money demand to external factors in formulating their stabilisation policies.

The chapter presents a historical and economic analysis of Nordic wage formation, with a special focus on how collective agreements really work. A stereotypical interpretation of the evolution of Nordic wage bargaining systems is that a centralised setting of wages has gradually been substituted with more decentralised pay bargaining. This overlooks the fact that central organisations could never really control wage levels, even in the golden age of centralised bargaining. Instead, central pay bargains defined minimum wage changes that ensured that local conflicts would be ruled out. Moreover, the central stipulations could often be overruled or adjusted at the local level. Following insights of Teulings and Hartog, we argue that the main function of Nordic collective agreements has always been to rule out local conflicts that would otherwise be initiated to seek local rents. Thus, collective agreements combine macroeconomic flexibility with adequate investment incentives at the local level. In this crucial sense, Nordic collective agreements are a completely stable institution. The most important transformation that has taken place is that formal peak bargaining on mean pay increases has been substituted with pattern bargaining where the manufacturing industry acts as a wage leader. Economic theory suggests that this almost amounts to centralised pay setting.

The empirical estimates for the money demand function reported here are based on quarterly time series for Saudi Arabia for the period 1962/I to 1981/IV. The money demand function estimated in this article is novel in that it takes into account the potential effect of external monetary and financial factors on domestic money de‐mand in the open economy of Saudi Arabia. The empirical results show that these external factors (foreign interest rates and exchange rates) do play an important role in the Saudi money demand function. Hence, the Saudi monetary authorities should not ignore the response of domestic money demand to these external factors in formulating their stabilisation policies. The empirical evidence also indicates that the inflationary expectations and permanent real income variables exert significant influences on money demand, with the latter variable exhibiting a unitary long‐run elasticity. Finally, the estimated money demand equation is found to be structurally stable over time.

China around 1900 was an enormous domain with approximately 400 million people, almost all of them desperately poor. Most were farmers, working intensively on small tracts of land using relatively primitive technology. It was in many respects a Malthusian economy, with high death and birth rates and many residents living close to the subsistence level.

A news report from South Africa reads, “Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) members held a string several meter long with 40,000 pieces of fabric attached to display their agitation over cheap Chinese imports which has claimed thousands of jobs loss. Due to cheap Chinese imports over 67,000 jobs had been lost and more than 350,000 people have been suffering who were engaged in clothing, footwear and textile sectors.” A saver in Southeast Asia once complained, “When I opened up my dollar savings account about 3 years ago, I bought a sizable amount of the green bucks at Philippine peso 56.40. Today, the peso–dollar exchange rate stands at Philippine peso 43.27. That's a net loss of Php13.13 for every dollar that I have in the bank. That loss closely amounts to a brand new car or a down payment for a house and lot. And I thought going with a dollar savings was the best fiscal move I made in years.” Other savers in many countries are also affected since their local currencies have become much stronger against the U.S. green bucks.

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati is a prolific scholar with an impressive array of awards and multiple publications to his name. By traditional measures of output, Professor Bhagwati has clearly addressed many interesting questions. Yet there is more to a scholar's career than can be captured by these numbers; Professor Bhagwati's work can also be marked by the importance of the questions he asks. Important questions offer insight into how we can reframe our thinking. Beyond contributing to the debate about globalization and free trade, Professor Bhagwati has helped reshape it. In this chapter, I identify several important questions that he has asked regarding the role of globalization in poverty alleviation and explore their importance in helping us think differently about how globalization can work better for the poor.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants that affect international capital flows (ICF) toward the Spanish real estate market over the period 1995 first quarter to 2017 fourth quarter.

VECM methodology is used to analyze time series and panel methods using pooled EGLS regression.

VECM parameter results for construction and real estate activities sectors, quickly suggesting a stable performance of capital flows toward Spanish real estate sector that the short-term fluctuation of foreign investment results contributes to the long-term equilibrium relatively soon. By applying the Monetary theory of Johnson, the model identifies a relevant role of M3 explaining capital flows to real estate, together with the lagged variables of construction and real estate activities capital flows, Spanish real interest rate and Spain’s economic growth rate; they are the significant determinants on capital movement to Spanish real estate sector. Interestingly, Spanish housing prices as an exogenous variable, directly, significantly and negatively affect real estate capital flows in all cases as a way to capture the assets price bubble.

Findings highlight reasons affecting capital flows to real estate and construction activities to Spanish sectors which allow capital Funds to take into account those drivers in their investment decisions.

This paper is the first attempt to analyze the determinants of ICF to Spanish real estate market; it has a significant meaning for both Spanish economy and international investors.