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6441. Restoring American Leadership

Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Cosponsored by the Open Society Foundations and the Security and Peace Institute (a joint program of the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation), Restoring American Leadership: 13 Cooperative Steps to Advance Social Progress offers a starting point for restoring America's international alliances. The papers in the report, written by experts in 13 fields, recommend how President George W. Bush can make progress in areas where his personal commitment to action is needed and where global alliances can help strengthen the national security goals of the United States. Restoring American Leadership covers a wide range of topics, from international cooperation in the war on terror, to curbing proliferation of nuclear weapons, to advancing the rights of women across the globe. Each paper offers a specific set of recommendations for executive action by the president consistent with his stated values, as well as a brief overview of the administration's position on the issue to date.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Leadership, and War on Terror
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

6442. Recommendations for Improving the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee’s Assessment and Assistance Coordination Function

Author:
Alistair Millar, Jason Ipe, George A. Lopez, Tona Boyd, Linda Gerber, and David Cortright
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Fourth Freedom Forum
Abstract:
The effectiveness of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) depends on its ability to keep pace with transformations in the global security environment. When the CTC was established in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the primary target was understood to be Al Qaeda and its international network of related terrorist groups. In order to secure its central role and relevance among multilateral counter-terrorism efforts, the CTC must find more creative ways to collect, assess, and disseminate information about current counter-terrorism capacities and to facilitate the provision of needed technical assistance by potential donors in a timely and sustainable manner.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6443. Making Trade Work: Straight Talk on Jobs, Trade, and Adjustment

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
This report examines the benefits and challenges of developing an effective adjustment policy for workers who lose their jobs because of outsourcing or any other adverse effects of trade. The statement, approved by CED's Research and Policy Committee states, "The most important next step is to recognize that adjustment policy is vital to achieving free trade - which, in turn, is vital to the nation's economic future." The statement concludes that America needs to develop the national will to devise and fund an adjustment policy that will get to "yes" on trade.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, and Unemployment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6444. Slow Passthrough Around the World: A New Import for Developing Countries?

Author:
Jeffrey Frankel, David Parsley, and Shang-Jin Wei
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Developing countries traditionally experience passthrough of exchange rate changes that is greater and more rapid than high-income countries experience. This is true equally of the determination of prices of imported goods, prices of local competitors’ products, and the general CPI. But developing countries in the 1990s experienced a rapid downward trend in the degree of passthrough and speed of adjustment, more so than did high-income countries. As a consequence, slow and incomplete passthrough is no longer exclusively a luxury of industrial countries. Using a new data set -- prices of eight narrowly defined brand commodities, observed in 76 countries -- we find empirical support for some of the factors that have been hypothesized in the literature, but not for others. Significant determinants of the passthrough coefficient include per capita incomes, bilateral distance, tariffs, country size, wages, long-term inflation, and long-term exchange rate variability. Some of these factors changed during the 1990s. Part (and only part) of the downward trend in passthrough to imported goods prices, and in turn to competitors’ prices and the CPI, can be explained by changes in the monetary environment – including a fall in long-term inflation. Real wages work to reduce passthrough to competitors’ prices and the CPI, confirming the hypothesized role of distribution and retail costs in pricing to market. Rising distribution costs, due perhaps to the Balassa-Samuelson-Baumol effect, could contribute to the decline in the passthrough coefficient in some developing countries.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Developing World, Tariffs, Exchange Rate Policy, and Inflation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6445. Contractionary Currency Crashes In Developing Countries

Author:
Jeffrey Frankel
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
To update a famous old statistic: a political leader in a developing country is twice as likely to lose office in the 6 months following a currency crash as otherwise. This difference, which is highly significant statistically, holds regardless whether the devaluation takes place in the context of an IMF program. Why are devaluations so costly? Many of the currency crises of the last ten years have been associated with output loss. Is this, as alleged, because of excessive reliance on raising the interest rate as a policy response? More likely it is because of contractionary effects of devaluation. There are various possible contractionary effects of devaluation, but it is appropriate that the balance sheet effect receives the most emphasis. Passthrough from exchange rate changes to import prices in developing countries is not the problem: this coefficient fell in the 1990s, as a look at some narrowly defined products shows. Rather, balance sheets are the problem. How can countries mitigate the fall in output resulting from the balance sheet effect in crises? In the shorter term, adjusting promptly after inflows cease is better than procrastinating by shifting to short-term dollar debt, which raises the costliness of the devaluation when it finally comes. In the longer term, greater openness to trade reduces vulnerability to both sudden stops and currency crashes.
Topic:
Debt, Economics, Developing World, Exchange Rate Policy, Currency, and Devaluation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6446. Science for Global Sustainability: Toward a New Paradigm

Author:
William C. Clark, Paul J. Crutzen, and Hans J. Schellnhuber
Publication Date:
03-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper provides a context for the Dahlem Workshop on “Earth System Analysis for Sustainability.” The authors begin by characterizing the contemporary epoch of Earth history in which humanity has emerged as a major—and uniquely self-reflexive—geological force. They turn next to the extraordinary revolution in our understanding of the Earth system that is now underway, pointing out how it has built on and qualitatively extended the approaches that have served science and society so well since the first Copernican revolution. The authors then discuss the novel challenges posed by the urgent need to harness science and other forms of knowledge in promoting a worldwide sustainability transition that enhances human prosperity while protecting the Earth’s life-support systems and reducing hunger and poverty. Finally, the authors provide an overview of how the contributions to this Dahlem Workshop addressed the themes and challenges outlined in this introductory chapter.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Science and Technology, Institutions, Sustainability, Resilience, and Integrated Systems
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6447. Schools, Teachers, and Education Outcomes in Developing Countries

Author:
Paul Glewwe and Michael Kremer
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Eighty percent of the world's children live in developing countries. For economists working on education, the study of developing countries offers both policy questions of fundamental importance and a rich set of experiences to examine. This paper, prepared as a chapter for the Handbook on the Economics of Education, starts by providing background on primary and secondary education in developing countries, then outlines an analytical framework that will be used in interpreting the studies discussed. The authors then review selected empirical work: examining the factors influencing the quantity of education obtained; focusing on education quality by examining the determinants of skills obtained while in school; and examining distortions in education systems, the political economy of education, and school reform initiatives. Finally, the authors review methodological lessons and provide recommendations for future research on education in developing countries.
Topic:
Education, Developing World, Public Policy, and Teachers
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6448. What You Export Matters

Author:
Ricardo Hausmann, Jason Hwang, and Dani Rodrik
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
When local cost discovery generates knowledge spillovers, specialization patterns become partly indeterminate and the mix of goods that a country produces may have important implications for economic growth. We demonstrate this proposition formally and adduce some empirical support for it. We construct an index of the "income level of a country's exports," document its properties, and show that it predicts subsequent economic growth.
Topic:
Economic Growth, Exports, Productivity, and Specialization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6449. Trends in Competitive Balance: Is there Evidence for Growing Imbalance in Professional Sport Leagues?

Author:
Arne Feddersen and Wolfgang Maennig
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Abstract:
The concept of competitive balance is a central aspect in the literature of sports economics. A popular argumentation of sport functionaries is that dominance of one or a few teams could lead to unequal incomes for the clubs, restrictions in the clubs’ ability to improve sporting performance and ultimately to a loss of attractiveness and loss of income for the league. Following this line of reasoning and alleging a negative trend in competitive sports functionaries often try to implement regulations in team sport leagues. The aim of this paper is to analyze for eight different leagues if there is such a trend existing. For an empirical test for trends in competitive balance of four European soccer leagues (ENG, ESP, GER, ITA) and four US Major Leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), OLS regressions with a constant were carried out. For the entire observation period from 1969/70 to 2003/2004, of 48 trends ascertained, only 12 could be observed as being significantly positive (i.e. growing imbalance) with 19 significantly negative (i.e. growing balance). The remaining 17 trends were insignificantly different from zero.
Topic:
Economics, Sports, Soccer, Competitive Balance, and Sports Leagues
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and United States of America

6450. What Political Institutions Does Large-Scale Democracy Require?

Author:
Robert A. Dahl
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
ROBERT A. DAHL examines the political institutions necessary for a democratic country. He argues that a large-scale democracy requires the following political institutions: elected officials; free, fair, and frequent elections; freedom of expression; alternative sources of information; associational autonomy; and inclusive citizenship.
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, Citizenship, Freedom of Expression, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

6451. Corporate Crime in a Globalized Economy: An Examination of the Corporate Legal Conundrum and Positive Prospects for Peace

Author:
Paul Richardson
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
“This is it. They are going to arrest us all and execute us. All for Shell.” Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader of the Nigerian Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSAP), made this statement two weeks before his arrest in May 1994. Jailed for exposing the company’s role in directing and arming the Nigerian military, Saro-Wiwa’s efforts paved the way for similar campaigns throughout the world, in places as diverse as India, China, Colombia, Chad and Sudan. As the number of such cases has increased over the past decade, so too has the public’s scrutiny. What are the legal and ethical obligations of corporations operating in a conflict zone? How effective is existing international law in ensuring that companies are held accountable for extraterritorial human rights violations? Taking into account existing efforts to address corporate accountability on a global scale, this paper concludes that neither national legislation nor voluntary corporate codes of conduct provide an adequate means to ensure the protection of human rights. Instead, an international system must be created—one with sufficient oversight and monitoring powers to ensure that corporations adopt conflict-sensitive policies that contribute to peace and security
Topic:
Crime, Globalization, International Law, Economy, Peace, and Corporations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6452. Complex Emergencies and Human Development: A Quantitative Analysis of Their Relationship

Author:
Rosilyne M. Borland
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
Increasingly, the world’s poorest and most marginalized are also those most affected by armed conflict. The complicated interactions among modern conflicts, poverty, hunger, and disease have led to the emergence of the notion of the “complex emergency.” The widespread occurrence of complex emergencies in the world’s poorest countries, where development efforts are the most needed, has grave consequences for human development. Through an application of quantitative methods, this paper examines the relationship between complex emergencies and development using the human development index developed by the United Nations Development Programme and the typology of complex emergencies developed by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research. The study demonstrates a relationship between levels of development and types of complex emergencies and suggests that an index which considers the multiple manifestations of complex emergencies would provide a better measurement than a single quantifier. These results point to the need to situate development efforts in the context of complex emergencies in order for them to meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Topic:
Development, United Nations, Armed Conflict, and Emergencies
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6453. An Action Agenda for Enhancing the United Nations Program on Counter-Terrorism

Author:
David Cortright, George A. Lopez, Alistair Millar, and Linda Gerber
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Fourth Freedom Forum
Abstract:
The project examines how the CTC and the CTED can more effectively implement the mandates of Security Council Resolutions 1373, 1377, 1456, 1535, and other relevant measures. The project addresses the following specific research topics: financial asset controls; technical assistance to enhance member state implementation capacity; international, regional, and subregional coordination; linkages between counter-terrorism assistance and development aid; and the need to respect human rights while implementing counter-terrorism mandates.
Topic:
International Cooperation, United Nations, Counter-terrorism, and UN Security Council
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6454. Tough Policies, Incredible Policies

Author:
Alejandro Neut and Andrés Velasco
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
We revisit the question of what determines the credibility of macroeconomic policies here, of promises to repay public debt. The literature has focused on governments. strategic decision to default (or erode the value of outstanding debt via inflation/devaluation). It has also focused on increasing policymakers. utility costs as a way to deter strategic misbehavior. By contrast, we build a model in which default or inflation can occur deliberately (for strategic reasons) or unavoidably (shocks leave no other option). In addition, when it does occur, default or inflation entail pecuniary costs, not just utility costs for the policymaker. In the model with these two features, much conventional wisdom on the determinants of credibility need no longer hold. Tough policies such a as appointing a conservative policymaker, indexing public debt or denominating public debt in foreign currency may reduce, not increase, the credibility of vows to repay debt in full. For some parameter values, these tough policies may also reduce welfare.
Topic:
Debt, Crisis Management, Macroeconomics, Currency, Credibility, and Commitment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6455. Monetary Policy and the Currency Denomination of Debt: A Tale of Two Equilibria

Author:
Roberto Chang and Andrés Velasco
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Exchange rate policies depend on portfolio choices, and portfolio choices depend on anticipated exchange rate policies. This opens the door to multiple equilibria in policy regimes. We construct a model in which agents optimally choose to denominate their assets and liabilities either in domestic or in foreign currency. The monetary authority optimally chooses to float or to fix the currency, after portfolios have been chosen. We identify conditions under which both fixing and floating are equilibrium policies: if agents expect fixing and arrange their portfolios accordingly, the monetary authority validates that expectation; the same happens if agents initially expect floating. We also show that a flexible exchange rate Pareto-dominates a fixed one. It follows that social welfare would rise if the monetary authority could precommit to floating.
Topic:
Debt, Monetary Policy, Exchange Rate Policy, and Currency
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6456. Why is There No AIDS Vaccine?

Author:
Michael Kremer and Christopher M. Snyder
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
We argue that differences in timing of drug and vaccine consumption will lead firms to be biased against developing vaccines. Vaccines are sold before consumers are infected, when they still have private information regarding their infection risk, whereas drugs are sold after consumers are infected, when those with positive valuation have no private information on infection risk. Calibrations suggest that, for sexually transmitted diseases, for which infection risk is highly heterogeneous across consumers, producer surplus from drugs may exceed that from vaccines by a factor of four. Consistent with the model, empirical tests suggest vaccines are particularly unlikely to be developed for sexually transmitted diseases. Biases against vaccines are exacerbated by the durability of vaccines and by the interaction between the timing of vaccine and drug consumption and the temporary protection of intellectual property rights. We extend the analysis to allow for government procurement and for income heterogeneity among consumers. Given that antiretroviral drugs are difficult to deliver in the poor countries where most people infected with HIV/AIDS live, biases against developing a vaccine raise enormous public health concerns.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Public Health, and Vaccine
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6457. Sustainability Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors: A Review of Multi-national and Global Trends

Author:
Anthony A. Leiserowitz, Robert W. Kates, and Thomas M. Parris
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
This review analyzes five efforts to define sustainability values, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Earth Charter, the UN Millennium Declaration, and the Global Scenario Group. It then summarizes empirical trends in sustainability values, attitudes, and behaviors, as measured by multi-national and global-scale surveys, related to human and economic development, the environment, and driving forces (population, affluence, technology, and entitlements). The review also summarizes empirical trends related to the values identified by the Millennium Declaration as essential to international relations (e.g., freedom and democracy, equality and shared responsibility), and broader contextual values (e.g., capitalism, globalization, institutional trust, and social change) that have sustainability implications. It then identifies several important attitude-behavior gaps and barriers. Finally this review draws several conclusions regarding future research needs and the value, attitude, and behavioral change needed to achieve sustainability.
Topic:
Environment, Poverty, Science and Technology, Population, Sustainable Development Goals, and Survey
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6458. Globalization and the Environment

Author:
Jeffrey A. Frankel
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Fears that globalization hurts the environment are not well-founded. A survey reveals little statistical evidence, on average across countries, that openness to international trade undermines national attempts at environmental regulation through a “race to the bottom” effect. If anything, favorable “gains from trade” effects dominate, for measures of air pollution such as SO2 concentrations. Perceptions that WTO panel rulings have interfered with the ability of individual countries to pursue environmental goals are also poorly informed. Recent rulings have in fact confirmed that countries can enact environmental measures, even if they affect trade and even if they concern others’ Processes and Production Methods (PPMs), provided the measures do not discriminate among producer countries. People care about both the environment and the economy. As real incomes rise, their demand for environmental quality rises. This translates into environmental progress under the right conditions—democracy, effective regulation, and externalities that are largely confined within national borders and are therefore amenable to national regulation. Increasingly, however, environmental problems spill across borders. Global externalities include climate change and ozone depletion. Economic growth alone will not address such problems, in a system where each country acts individually, due to the free rider problem. Multilateral institutions are needed, and national sovereignty is the obstacle, not the other way around.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Globalization, Regulation, Economy, Trade, WTO, and Multilateral Institutions
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6459. CERI: For a theory of nationalism

Author:
Christophe Jaffrelot
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
Nation is state-oriented, whereas nationalism is an ideology which may simply promote one's own identity against others. Therefore, theories of nation-building do not explain nationalism. Other theories adopting a materialist approach do, like Gellner's model in which nationalism appears as resulting from socio-ethnic conflicts, but they ignore the inner mechanism of this ideology. Theories looking at nationalism as an export product from the West also miss this point too. In contrast, a convincing body of theories anchor nationalism in socio-cultural reform. The intelligentsia which undertakes it in order to resist the threat posed by some dominant Other – often from the West, that fascinates them-eventually develops a nationalist attitude, because it is not willing to imitate the West but strive to restore its culture by incorporating into it prestigious features of the West through the invention of a convenient Golden Age, the cornerstone of nationalism. This approach finds a parallel in the theories of ethnicity which do not apply the primordialist paradigm but focus on the making of group boundaries. Barth highlights the decisive role of the relationship to the Other and the little importance of cultural contents – compared to the maintenance of group boundaries – in the making of ethnic identities, in such a way that there are more affinities between his theory of ethnicity and theories of nationalism than between the latter and theories of the nation.However, one can construct an integrated model of nationalism by organising different theories in a sequence. While the ideology-based approach comes first, the creation of a nationalist movement implies the rise of socio-economic conflicts and the massification of nationalism, a process of nation-building.
Topic:
International Relations, Demographics, Development, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6460. Sovereignty and the Politics of Identity in International Relations

Author:
Adrian Kuah
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the linkages between the norms and practices of sovereignty and the discourses on the formation of political identity and communities amidst tewnty-frist century socio-political and economic transformations. By undertaking a postmodern deconstruction of sovereignty, this paper recognizes sovereignty as a subjective, and hence fallible, social construct. It further contends that sovereignty as an Enlightenment project has become untenable with its promise of a universal solution to spatiotemporal problems. Against the backdrop of globalization, this paper problematizes sovereignty and argues that it is inextricably tied to the politics of identity. It also raises the idea of sovereignty as an analogue of the Englightenment model of the rational sovereign Man. Enshrined most preeminently in the nation-state, sovereignty represents simultaneously the locus and the limit of what is regarded as political identity. Furthermore, the norms and practices of sovereignty reflect changes in notions and the foci of identity. This paper attempts to locate explanations for the evolution of sovereignty at the level of identity formation, and points out that the politics of identity and the politics of sovereignty are a mutually constitutive, intersubjective discourse. Finally, this paper states that by persistently defining sovereignty in terms of indivisibility and exclusivity, sovereignty itself is becoming an obstacle to human emancipation.
Topic:
International Relations and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Global Focus