The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Antidumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Zheng ◽  
Regina Abrami
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Vertical Integration ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Industrial Structures ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Steel Industries

Why have China's petrochemical and steel industries behaved so differently in seeking trade protection through antidumping measures, especially given that both industries face the full force of the global economy? We argue that the patterning of antidumping actions is best explained in terms of industrial structures, inclusive of degrees of horizontal concentration and vertical integration. These structures determine a firm's motivation to seek protection as well as its capacity to overcome collective action problems within its industry. In the petrochemical industry, the shift toward greater horizontal consolidation and vertical integration reduces the collective action problems associated with antidumping petitions among upstream companies. It also weakens downstream companies lobbying in favor of the general protection of highly integrated conglomerates. In the steel industry, by contrast, national industrial policy fails to weaken local state interests sufficiently. Fragmented upstream and downstream channels instead persist, with strong odds against upstream suppliers waging a successful defense of material interests. Such distinctive industrial structures, we show, were a direct result of whether the central government could restructure these designated priority industries in its preferred direction. We find that exogenous price shocks proved particularly helpful in this regard.

scholarly journals Distributing Responsibilities for Climate Adaptation: Examples from the Water Domain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3676
Author(s):  
Neelke Doorn ◽  
Lieke Brackel ◽  
Sara Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Adaptation Policy ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Governmental Responsibility

It is often assumed that climate adaptation policy asks for new responsibility arrangements between central government and citizens, with citizens getting a more prominent role. This prompts the question under which conditions these new responsibility arrangements can be justified as they may raise serious ethical concerns. Without paying due attention to these ethical concerns, climate adaptation policy may be unsuccessful and even be considered illegitimate. This paper aims to address this topic by exploring some examples of climate adaptation responses and their associated ethical challenges. The examples from the water domain differ in terms of their primary beneficiaries and the extent to which they are prone to collective action problems. Discussion of the examples shows that any shift of responsibilities towards citizens should be accompanied by a governmental responsibility to make sure that citizens are indeed able to assume these responsibilities and a responsibility to see to it that the greater involvement of responsibilities does not create disproportional inequalities.

scholarly journals Agency in historical institutionalism coalitional work in the creation, maintenance, and change of institutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Emmenegger
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Historical Institutionalism ◽  
Sociological Institutionalism ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
The Creation

AbstractInstitutionalism gives priority to structure over agency. Yet institutions have never developed and operated without the intervention of interested groups. This paper develops a conceptual framework for the role of agency in historical institutionalism. Based on recent contributions following the coalitional turn and drawing on insights from sociological institutionalism, it argues that agency plays a key role in the creation and maintenance of social coalitions that stabilize but also challenge institutions. Without such agency, no coalition can be created, maintained, or changed. Similarly, without a supporting coalition, no contested institution can survive. Yet, due to collective action problems, such coalitional work is challenging. This coalitional perspective offers a robust role for agency in historical institutionalism, but it also explains why institutions remain stable despite agency. In addition, this paper forwards several portable propositions that allow for the identification of who is likely to develop agency and what these actors do.

scholarly journals Influencing Attitudes and Preferences Toward Climate Change using a Multi-Player, Transportation Themed Board Game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Xiaoyi Kjorven
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Board Game ◽  
Life Choices ◽  
Board Games ◽  
Effective Combination ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Game Board

Traditional tabletop board games have soared in popularity in recent years, and used often as tools for education and entertainment. Board games are an especially engaging format for studying themes of collective-action problem solving. This study looks at one of the most complex collective-action problems of this generation, climate change, and evaluates how individual attitudes and preferences may be altered by playing a board game specifically designed to influence how people relate to an issue. The board game Wheels was introduced and taught to 18 participants, who engaged in five separate playtesting sessions where observation, survey and interview data were collected. The study evaluates participants' attitudes and preferences toward certain transportation and climate change topics before and after playing the game. The game showed promise in changing players' preferences toward certain modes of transportation - increasing preferences toward electric vehicles and cycling, and decreasing preference towards gas powered cars. These findings indicate that the effective combination of select climate change game mechanics in a highly personalized theme may produce an engaging and entertaining experience that has the potential to transcend the game board and impact players' outlook upon real life choices.

Demographic Burst, Population Ageing and Labor-saving Technologies: Interaction in the 21st Century

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
A. Akimov
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
High Tech ◽  
The West ◽  
High Level

The ageing of population in the coming decades is becoming a constraint on economic growth in developed economies and countries of Eastern Asia, but labor-saving technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence may remove this limitation. At the same time, population growth in South Asia and Africa will face lower demand for cheap and low-qualified labor. Pairs of scenarios (success and failure) are proposed for principal regions and countries. For the West, a positive scenario is “the West closes”, which foresees high level of the industrial application of robots and no labor immigration. A negative one – “The West dissolves”, which means high immigration, but no jobs for immigrants, and immigrants’ straddle for domination in social life. The “robo China” foresees high level of robotics in China, high productivity and governmental planning of labor market. The “two Chinas” contemplates an urban high-tech China and a rural China which is not integrated into technological modernization. Central government hardly keeps social situation stable in this case. For India, the “partial participation in robotized economy” is a positive choice making India an element of the new global economy. India develops in the same vein as the West and China. “Out of the new economy” leaves India in the group of developing nations. For Africa, a positive scenario is “rental economy”. Human potential of Africa is not in demand as labor-saving technologies dominate in the global economy, but natural resources attract foreign investors. They pay rent, and it is distributed by governments among inhabitants. “Population growth burden” is a negative variant that foresees high unemployment and lack of financial resources. International assistance is the only way out in this case. Russia is buying labor-saving technologies abroad. The structure of Russian economy now enables to remove limitations resulting from the population ageing, but technological import makes Russia highly vulnerable.

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