The political economy of markets and development: a case study of health care consumption in the State of Kerala, India

Marketing theory has largely ignored the issue of power in influencing exchanges. Most of the studies either disregard the role of power, or resource power is the only dimension taken into account. In this study, we expand the existing understanding by centrally situating the role of socio-political power in the consumption process. We examine the health care system in the Indian state of Kerala and highlight that socio-political power is a crucial determinant of consumption levels. In the process, we argue that in a resource—constrained Third World society socio-political empowerment is critical to the development process.

Auditor industry specialization, political economy and earnings quality: some cross-country evidence

Using cross-country data, we evaluate the impact of investor protection on the association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists. Our findings show that the positive association between industry specialist auditors and earnings quality as documented in the literature is affected by the political electoral system, which reflects investor protection rights in a country. We document that audits by industry specialists are associated with higher earnings quality in countries with the proportional electoral system, reflecting weak investor protection. Our results also confirm Kwon et al.'s findings that overall there is a positive association between earnings quality and audits by industry specialists in countries with weak legal enforcement. Our findings, however, indicate that Kwon et al.'s results are valid only for countries with weak investor protection reflected by the proportional electoral system and not for countries with strong investor protection reflected by the majoritarian electoral system. These findings thus suggest that higher earnings quality of firms audited by industry specialists across countries can especially be expected when investor protection is low and legal enforcement is also weak. In addition, our research suggests that future cross-country studies could explicitly consider the role of the political electoral system of a country in evaluating corporate governance, management and accounting issues.

Does political economy reduce agency costs? Some evidence from dividend policies around the world

This study shows that firms in proportional-electoral countries pay out lower dividends and that the correlation between a firm's growth potential and dividend payout ratio is weaker in proportional-electoral countries. However, firms in proportional-electoral countries that cross-list in majoritarian system countries, tend to pay out higher dividends and the negative relation between growth potential and dividend payout tend to be stronger than their peers that do not cross-list. For a few countries that changed their electoral system towards a more proportional system, we observe a decrease in dividend payout ratio and a weaker relation between growth and dividends after the change. Overall these results indicate that a country's political system affects the severity of agency problems. Further, the effect of legal origin on dividend policy reverses once we include the political economy variables in the regressions. We also document that the electoral system not only affects the amount of dividends paid by a firm but also the form of payment.

The political economy of development in a globalizing world

The topics in this issue include the political economy of economic reforms, privatization and labor, structural change and growth, democracy and policy volatility, the role of trade intermediaries in the avoidance of export taxes, and the impact of the middle class on democratization and the international propagation of democratic values.

Place-making or place-masking? The everyday political economy of “making place”

As redevelopment and gentrification strategies globally continue to be aimed at attracting wealthier residents and consumers in an effort to drive economic growth, concerns for and interventions in the interests of social equity appear decreasingly relevant. Government, private sector and community organisations have of course worked together in different times and places to implement programs that are more rather than less inclusive – the variations always depending on the spatial politics of the context. This paper examines contemporary discourses and practices of place-making in Melbourne, and asks whether ways of thinking about urban redevelopment as place-making in this time and place are likely to enable the inclusion of social equity in these urban “improvements”.

The geopolitical economy of social policy in the Philippines: securitisation, emerging powers and multilateral policies

Recent geopolitical and economic changes have altered global social policy formation. Bretton Woods multilateral development agencies (MDAs) have selectively incorporated ideas that have emerged from developing country states and decision makers. Recent years have witnessed an increased acceptance of social transfers as part of renewed efforts at poverty alleviation policies based on social risk management. There has been an instance in the use and promotion of conditional cash transfer (CCT) policies by MDAs. One case is the Philippines. CCTs were a product of the emergence of a neostructuralist welfare regime (understood as an ideal type) in Latin America. There was an attempt to reconcile neoliberal strategies of development with aspirations for guaranteed minimum incomes. The Bretton Woods and regional development bank MDAs have facilitated the adoption of CCTs in other developing country contexts. In the Philippines, a combination of actions by national political actors and MDAs resulted in the implementation of a securitised and compliance-focused version of CCTs derived from the Colombian security state. Although poor households welcome income assistance, CCTs have acted to enforce further state monitoring without altering the national-based political and economic processes that replicate poverty.

Liberty beyond neo-liberalism: a republican critique of liberal governance in a globalising age

Steven Slaughter examines whether liberals can govern in a way that promotes liberty and moderates the significant social dislocation associated with neo-liberalism and economic globalisation. This book critically evaluates the potential of various liberal arguments to adequately address the harmful social aspects of economic globalisation in three distinct stages. First, it examines the configuration of contemporary economic globalisation and the consequences of this process for liberal thought and governance. Second, it examines contemporary liberal approaches by critically examining a series of liberal texts that provide practical alternative schemes of governance. Third, in finding these contemporary liberal arguments insufficient to the task of a socially responsible regulation of economic globalisation, the book concludes with an innovative scheme that stems from neo-Roman republican political theory.
This alternate approach is termed global civic republicanism and seeks to retrieve the public and civic character of the state in order to provide its citizens protection from economic vulnerability and thereby constitute a resilient form of individual liberty. As such, the philosophical and practical resources that support the idea of republican states are outlined and contrasted with cosmopolitan modes of thought. The legacy of republican ideas in respect to political economy, world politics and global governance are also examined.

A legitimate paradox : neo-liberal reform and the return of the state in Korea

This article examines the neo-liberal reforms that the Kim government implemented in post-crisis Korea. It argues that by embracing the reforms, the state, paradoxically, re-legitimised itself in the national political economy. The process of enacting the reforms completed the power shift from a collusive state-chaebol alliance towards a new alliance based on a more populist social contract - but one that nonetheless generally conformed to the tenets of neo-liberalism. Kim and his closest associates identified the malpractices of the chaebols as the main cause of the crisis, so reforming the chaebols would be the key to economic recovery. Combining populism and neo-liberalism, they drew on support from both domestic and international sources to rein in, rather than nurture, the chaebols.

A framework for sustainable ecotourism : application to Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a small Central American nation that has gained an international reputation as a leader in environmental conservation. This has formed the base for its highly successful and lucrative small-scale ecotourism industry. However, there are threats from high rates of deforestation and expanding large-scale tourism that is trading on strong environmental credentials, so it is appropriate to conduct this policy analysis on such a significant ecotourism area. The paper develops an ecologically sustainable economic framework, drawing on the works of Adolph Lowe (1893-1995) and Michalstrok Kalecki (1899-1970), to examine the Costa Rican experience and then analyse lessons for general policy development of any ecotourism area. The analysis is conducted from a political economy (and not a tourism management) perspective on the trade-offs between small-scale and large-scale ecotourism.

Ecotourism in Costa Rica: an economic framework of analysis

Costa Rica is a small Central American nation that has gained an international reputation as a leader in environmental conservation. This has formed the base for its highly successful and lucrative small-scale ecotourism industry. However, there are threats from high rates of deforestation and expanding large scale tourism that is trading on strong environmental credentials. This paper sets out an ecologically sustainable economic framework to firstly examine the Costa Rican experience, and then analyse lessons for general policy development of any ecotourism industry. The analysis is conducted from a political economy perspective on the trade-offs between small-scale and large-scale tourism.

Korea's developmental alliance : state, capital and the politics of rapid development

South Korea is often cited as a case of miraculous transformation from poverty to prosperity. Korea’s achievement of moving from one of the world’s poorest countries as recently as the early 1960s to the ranks of the ten biggest economies only four decades later has rightly attracted interest from policymakers and scholars alike.

This book identifies the factors that shaped relations between the state and big business in Korea, the ‘developmental alliance’. These factors offer a cogent framework in which to identify and predict changes in power relations between government and business. Rather than merely offering a means of explaining the rapid-growth phase of Korean development, the politics of the developmental alliance also help us understand how and why the Korean miracle turned to crisis in 1997 and why the subsequent recovery has been so uneven. In this way, the book highlights the political power of business, which is often underplayed in discussions of the development of Korea. It also sheds light on the constraints on policymakers during modernisation, and how power is shared among a small number of powerful parties.

Illustrating the tumultuous politics of the ‘developmental alliance’ between business and government during the rise and decline of South Korea’s economic miracle, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in Korean politcs, economics and development,

Need and options for teaching global health

A conceptual and developmental approach to teaching global health is presented. We outline the differences between international health (traditionally, the connections between nation-states, typically ‘the west’ and ‘the rest’) and global health (a value-driven systems approach). We see a need for curriculum development in the area of global health, and describe how the health and tertiary education landscape in Melbourne (Australia) would be fertile ground for such a new programme. We illustrate our conceptual and strategic curriculum development efforts with local and international partners, and the outcome suggests we would be able to offer a Master of Global Health programme with two majors: an international health one (more disease oriented), and a global one (focused more on sustainability and political economy issues).

Reappraising the developmental state

This paper evaluates the legacy of the developmental state, which has been by most measures a successful vehicle of socioeconomic transformation. It seeks to clarify the features of the Asian model of development, to assess its contemporary significance, and to highlight the distinctive strands of national capitalism in the region. Consequently, the paper clarifies the factors which contributed to the formation of developmental states, and also the function of such states. Geopolitical, socioeconomic and political change since the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 has undermined the assumptions of the developmental state thesis. In seeking to ascertain the elements of the developmental state model which are most impervious to change, the paper finds comparatively greater variation in terms of state–business interaction with society than in the will and capacity of states to adopt a developmental orientation.

Web theory : an introduction

Web Theory is a comprehensive and critical introduction to the theories of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall examine the key debates which surround Internet culture: from issues of globalization political economy and regulation, to ideas about communication, identity and aesthetics." "Web Theory explores the shifts in society, culture and the media which have been brought about by the growth of the World Wide Web. It identifies significant readings, Web sites and hypertext archive sources that illustrate the critical discussion about the Internet and it mediates these discussions, indicating key positions within each debate and pointing the reader to key texts.

Water, escaping sovereignty : the hydropolitics of the Tigris-Euphrates river and Turkish state formation

Develops a critical analysis of the domestic and international factors influencing the process of Turkish state formation. Focuses on the political economy of water resource development along the Tigris-Euphrates river basin, shared by the three riparian states, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Turkey's large-scale development of the river is characterised as a state making imperative, highlighting the needs to improve regional resource diplomacy.