Canada has run persistent deficits for years and has seen its debt rise steadily. Net federal debt as a percentage of GDP has increased in the last 15 years from 30% to 73%. Interest charges alone ...account for almost 34 cents of every federal revenue dollar. In response, the Canadian government has taken aggressive action over the last 2 years. The centerpiece of the Canadian program has been to commit to an interim deficit target on the way to an eventual balanced budget. The 2 most recent federal budgets provide for a 10% reduction in program spending by 1996-1997, making Canada the only G-7 nation to budget an absolute decline in program outlays. The most important factor in such sweeping fiscal reform has been public support. The public has come to understand the severity of the problem and regards the reform measures as balanced and fair.
Foreign Investment in East Asia: A Survey Hill, Hal; Athukorala, Prema-chandra
Asian-Pacific economic literature,
November 1998, Letnik:
12, Številka:
2
Journal Article
This article updates the May 1989 literature survey on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the East Asian region published in this journal. Following an overview of trends of FDI in the 1990s, it ...focuses on three key issues: the impact of the recent Asian economic crisis on FDI inflow relative to other forms of capital inflows; the link between FDI and trade; and technology transfer and adaptation. It is too early to discern the implications of the crisis for host‐country policies and investment decisions of multinational corporations, but the indications are that FDI will continue to play a pivotal role in economic transformation, and in regional and global economic integration.
This chapter estimates the rate of return (ROR) to investments in research and technology development in the wine grape industry in South Africa. The analysis illustrates the applied and adaptive ...research conducted in the industry and estimates RORs of about 40% for R&D and extension. These high RORs should provide significant incentives for further investments in R&D. Given the nature of the industry, more emphasis should be given to soliciting private funds for research activities, subsequently moving away from dependence on public funds.
The process of political coalition building surrounding trade reform in
Mexico had implications for the 1994-95 peso crisis. This article traces
the formation of a free trade coalition between state ...and business
elites across several episodes of trade opening, focusing on the NAFTA
negotiations. The consolidation of this powerful but narrow coalition
helped to cement the Salinas government's neoliberal reform agenda,
boost investor confidence, and restore moderate levels of low-inflation
growth in the early 1990s, but it also gave rise to the macroeconomic
imbalances and political instability that led to the 1994 crisis. Since
then, the economic basis of the neoliberal coalition may have recovered,
but its political viability may be questionable.
As the economic crisis in East Asia has unfolded, many investors have assumed that East Asian business and financial assets are becoming available at fire sale prices. One of the reasons the crisis ...reached such serious proportions, however, was the lack of adequate information about the financial markets of these economies. Investors with shortterm capital, attracted by the East Asian growth record, overwhelmed the financial systems of small open economies and failed to carry out due diligence on their potential investments. Ignorant of or disregarding the risks, they subsequently fled when they re-evaluated them after the crisis began in Thailand
