The spectacular economic rise of China
and India over the past two decades has accelerated their
trade with Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA). Their demands for oil, ...gas, and other
natural resources have been driving new relationships with
MENA countries based not only on energy but also on trade,
investment, and political ties. Indeed, Dubai has become the
center of a new Silk Road, the intersection where people,
capital, and ideas meet. And while the financial crisis that
hit global markets in 2008 has placed downward pressure on
growth, these new relationships are likely to deepen in the
coming years. The report's main messages are as
follows: a) demand for energy from China and India is
expected to increase substantially in the future, thus
greatly benefiting oil producing countries in the MENA
region; b) the oil exporters in the Gulf have laid big bets
on economic diversification and knowledge enterprises, bets
they might win, but with lots of risk along the way. Oil
price volatility may threaten the sustainability of the
recent expansion; and c) the growth of China and India
offers new market opportunities for the countries in MENA.
Besides energy, potential opportunities, for fertilizers,
petrochemicals, crude materials, agricultural products, and
a number of manufactured goods where MENA has strong
comparative advantages, remain unexploited.
We study an endogenous growth model where a profit-motivated R and D sector coexists with the introduction of free blueprints invented by philanthropists. These goods are priced at marginal cost, ...contrary to proprietary ones which are produced by a monopoly owned by the inventor. We show that philanthropy does not necessarily increase long-run growth and that it may even reduce welfare. The reason is that it crowds out proprietary innovation which on net may reduce total innovation in the long run. These effects would be reinforced if philanthropical innovation diverted people from other productive activities, if free goods were less taylored to customers than proprietary ones, and if philanthropical inventors sometimes came out with another version of an existing proprietary good. Dynamics can also be characterized and it is shown that the impact effect of free inventions on growth is positive.
This report is comprised of two volumes. Global Development Finance 2005 I: Analysis and Statistical Appendix addresses two key challenges in development finance: first, how to raise resources ...flowing to low-income countries, which are heavily constrained in their access to market-based finance. Second, how to manage the vulnerability inherent in developing countries' access to finance -- vulnerability stemming from changes in the global macro environment, as well as from shifting donor priorities (affecting aid and concessional finance) and changing debt dynamics in developing countries. Global Development Finance 2005 II: Summary and Country Tables includes a comprehensive set of tables of data for 136 countries that report under the World Bank Debtor Reporting System, as well as summary data for regions and income groups. It contains data on total external debt stocks and flows, aggregates, and key debt ratios, and provides a detailed, country-by-country picture of debt. Global Development Finance 2005 debt data are also available on CD-ROM and online, with more than 200 historical time series from 1970 to 2003 and country group estimates for 2004.
In this paper we analyse a model in which firms cannot pay discriminate based on year of entry to the firm, and argue that the wage dynamics are consistent with the empirical results of Beaudry and ...DiNardo (1991). Their results have been interpreted as supporting a model in which workers are ex post mobile. Since in our model worker mobility/commitment does not affect the optimal contract, it is argued that existing empirical research does not discriminate between different models of worker commitment.
We analyze how the financial conditions of the firm affect the compensation structure of workers, the size of the firm, and its dynamics. Firms that are financially constrained offer long-term wage ...contracts characterized by an increasing wage profile, that is, they pay lower wages today in exchange of higher future wages, effectively borrowing from their employees. Because constrained firms also operate at a suboptimal scale, which then increases gradually over time, we have that younger and smaller firms grow faster and pay lower wages.
The analysis of the distributional
impact of policy reforms on the well-being or welfare of
different stakeholder groups, particularly on the poor and
vulnerable, has an important role in the ...elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing
countries. In recent years this type of work has been
labeled as Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and is
increasingly implemented to promote evidence-based policy
choices and foster debate on policy reform options.
The analysis of the distributional
impact of policy reforms on the well-being or welfare of
different stakeholder groups, particularly on the poor and
vulnerable, has an important role in the ...elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing
countries. In recent years this type of work has been
labeled as Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and is
increasingly implemented to promote evidence-based policy
choices and foster debate on policy reform options.
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