Do electricity supply constraints matter for comparative advantage? : a neoclassical approach

This paper examines the extent to which electricity supply constraints could affect sectoral specialization. For this purpose, an empirical trade model is estimated from 1990-2008 panel data on 15 OECD countries and 12 manufacturing sectors. We find that along with Ricardian technological differences and Heckscher-Ohlin factor-endowment differences, productivity-adjusted electricity capacity drives sectoral specialization in several sectors. Among them, electrical equipment, transport equipment, machinery, chemicals, and paper products will see lower output shares as a result of decreases in productivity-adjusted electricity capacity. Furthermore, our dynamic panel estimation reveals that the effects of Ricardian technological differences dominate in the short-run, and factor endowment differences and productivity-adjusted electricity capacity tend to have a significant effect in only the long-run.

Globalization and the Evolution of the Supply Chain: who gains and who loses?

This paper focuses on two distinct facets of globalization: the decrease in the trade costs of goods and the decline of communication costs between headquarters and production facilities within firms. When the unskilled have about the same wage in the two regions, the decrease of these costs fosters the gradual agglomeration of plants in the core region accommodating the headquarters. By contrast, when the wage gap is significant, the process of integration eventually triggers the re-location of plants into the periphery. In particular, when the process of re-location is driven by falling communication costs, the welfare of all workers living in the core goes down whereas the welfare of those who reside in the periphery rises.

Backward-bending of labor supply function and free riders

It seems like that backward- bending of labor supply function can be observed in Central Asian Countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. People’s basic needs of life are satisfied and they do not increase labor supplies even if wage increases. It is possible to find some cases in which slowdowns increase, when a manager in a firm enforces penalties for workers have slowdowns. This phenomenon occurs because a worker prefers the position of equilibrium on the labor supply function always in the upper direction. This article explains the increase of free-riders by penalties and how to avoid them.

The environment dimension of food supply chain analysis

The paper reviews relevant literature studying the environmental impacts of food supply chain from production to each stage throughout the supply chain. With limited data and information, to better understand these impacts, a concrete example of the tea supply chain in China is provided. The tea supply chain is analyzed from the environmental prospective, with potential pollutants being identified at each stage of the supply chain. As an example of the food supply chain in a developing country, some unique features of the developing economies are taken into consideration when concluding the implications.

The foundation of the Mexican welfare state and social security reform in the 1990s

Before 1982 Mexico's welfare state regime was a limited conservative one that put priority on the social security of organized labor. But following the country's debt crisis in 1982, this regime changed to a hybrid liberal model. The Ernest Zedillo government (1995-2000) in particular pushed ahead with liberal reform of the social security system. This paper examines the characteristics and the policy making of the social security reforms in the 1990s. The results suggest that underlying these reforms was the restructuring of the economy and the need to cope with the cost of this restructuring. The paper also points out that one of the main factors making possible the rapid execution of the reforms were the weakened political clout of the officialist labor unions due to their steady breakdown during the 1990s and the increase in the monopolistic power of the state vis-a-vis the position of labor during the negotiations on social security reforms.

The determinants of rural electrification in Bihar, India

This paper explores intra-state disparity in access to electricity and examines the determinants of electrification at the village level in Bihar, one of the underdeveloped states in India. Our field survey of 80 villages in 5 districts conducted in 2008-09 found that 48 villages (60%) are electrified when using the definition of electrification that a village is electrified if any one household in the village is connected to electricity. The degrees of “electrification” in terms of the proportion of household connection and available hours of electricity remain by and large low, and at the same time differ across districts, villages and seasons. In the processes of electrification, approximately 40% of villages have been electrified in recent years. Based on the basic findings of the survey, this paper examines the electrification processes and how it has changed in recent years. The econometric analyses demonstrate that location is the most important determinant of a village’s electricity connection. Another important finding is that with the rapid progress of rural electrificationunder the recent government programme and the tendency to connect the villages which are easily accessible, the collective bargaining power of the village, which used to significantly affect the process of electrification, has lost influence. This adversely affects remote villages. In order to extend electricity supplies to remote and geographically disadvantaged villages, the government needs to consider seriously other options for sustainable electricity supply, such as decentralized distribution of electricity rather than the conventional connection through the national/local grids.

Role of supply chains in adopting product related environmental regulations : case studies of Vietnam

This paper shows some findings how product related environmental regulations, especially those that relate to management of chemical substances affect firms in Asia. Interviews were conducted for some firms in Vietnam that are part of global supply chains of electrical and electronic, furniture, and plastic industries. The global supply chains with MNC lead firms have helped local firms in developing countries to adopt technical PRERs overseas. On the other hand, indigenous firms that do not belong to global value chains might face hurdles to keep exporting to the regulated markets. PRERs could become a barrier for firms that attempt to the regulated markets without supports by MNC lead firms.

Environmental consciousness, economic gain and consumer choice of energy efficient appliances in Thailand, China and India

In developing economies, consumption of electricity in residential and commercial sectors increased with economic development. In order to identify the factors for effective facilitation of standard and labeling programs, this article explores factors that affect consumer choice to energy-efficient products. Main findings are as follows: (1)Consumers in Thailand shows the highest awareness to environmental friendly concepts, followed by India and China.(2) Chosen labeled products include air-conditioners, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, but not some popular products such as ceiling fans, electric fans or mobile phones. (3) Consumer who has higher energy conservation perception will buy energy efficient products.(4) Consumers in China, India and Thailand are sensitive to energy efficiency of products, primarily because they lead to less expenditure on electricity. (5) Labeling works to make levels of the energy efficiency of products more visible and thus helped consumers to choose the products.

How does firm heterogeneity information impact the estimation of embodied carbon emissions in Chinese exports?

Using an augmented Chinese input–output table in which information about firm ownership and type of traded goods are explicitly reported, we show that ignoring firm heterogeneity causes embodied CO2 emissions in Chinese exports to be overestimated by 20% at the national level, with huge differences at the sector level, for 2007. This is because different types of firm that are allocated to the same sector of the conventional Chinese input–output table vary greatly in terms of market share, production technology and carbon intensity. This overestimation of export-related carbon emissions would be even higher if it were not for the fact that 80% of CO2 emissions embodied in exports of foreign-owned firms are, in fact, emitted by Chinese-owned firms upstream of the supply chain. The main reason is that the largest CO2 emitter, the electricity sector located upstream in Chinese domestic supply chains, is strongly dominated by Chinese-owned firms with very high carbon intensity.

Transformation of the Rice Marketing System and Myanmar's Transition to a Market Economy

Creating a rice marketing system has been one of the central policy issues in Myanmar's move to a market economy since the end of the 1980s. Two liberalizations of rice marketing were implemented in 1987 and 2003. This paper examines the essential aspects of the liberalizations and the subsequent transformation of Myanmar's rice marketing sector. It attempts to bring into clearer focus the rationale of the government's rice marketing reforms which is to maintain a stable supply of rice at a low price to consumers. Under this rationale, however, the state rice marketing sector continued to lose efficiency while the private sector was allowed to develop on condition that it did not jeopardize the rationale of stable supply at low price. The paper concludes that the prospect for the future development of the private rice marketing sector is dim since a change in the rice market's rationale is unlikely. Private rice exporting is unlikely to be permitted, while the domestic market is approaching the saturation point. Thus, there is little momentum for the private rice sector to undertake any substantial expansion of investment.

Vertical specialisation indicator based on supply-driven input-output model

“Import content of exports”, based on Leontief’s demand-driven input-output model, has been widely used as an indicator to measure a country’s degree of participation in vertical specialisation trade. At a sectoral level, this indicator represents the share of inter-mediates imported by all sectors embodied in a given sector’s exported output. However, this indicator only reflects one aspect of vertical specialisation – the demand side. This paper discusses the possibility of using the input-output model developed by Ghosh to measure the vertical specialisation from the perspective of the supply side. At a sector level, the Ghosh type indicator measures the share of imported intermediates used in a sector’s production that are subsequently embodied in exports by all sectors. We estimate these two indicators of vertical specialisation for 47 selected economies for 1995, 2000, 2005 using the OECD’s harmonized input-output database. In addition, the potential biases of both indicators due to the treatment of net withdrawals in inventories, are also discussed.

The supply chain in East Asia

East Asia is a major tea-consuming and -producing area; however, few studies have examined the East Asian tea industry from the perspective of the supply chain. Based on field and desktop studies of the tea markets in Taiwan and China, this paper provides an overview of each market together with detailed case studies. In this analysis, the characteristics of the tea industry and the main problems in the current supply chain in terms of governance, upgrading, and food safety and quality control are identified. This paper will help fill the gap in studies of the East Asian tea industry from the perspective of the supply chain.