The Political Economy of Social Upgrading

Based on a Marxist reworking of the global value chains (GVC) framework, supplemented by insights from structuralist development economics and dependency theory, the thesis investigates what role evolving class relations play in processes of social and economic upgrading in global garment value chains. Situating workers’ agency at the intersection of a horizontal axis (local capital-labor-state relations) and a vertical axis (governance and distributional dynamics of the GVC), the thesis starts out by examining the key features of the 21st century garment GVC and their implications for producer countries. It is shown how a series of interrelated processes, including the transition to neoliberalism in the North, and the phase-out of quotas in the South, combined to produce a “supplier squeeze” in the garment GVC, with a simultaneous depression of export prices and an escalation of non-price requirements. Drawing on the work of the dependentista Marini, it is argued that these distributional dynamics amount to a form of unequal exchange that incentivizes manufacturers to super-exploit workers, pushing their wages below reproduction costs and/or working them beyond exhaustion.

Judicial quality, input customisation, and trade margins: the role of product quality

We study how the contracting environment affects the quality of trade. A better contracting environment not only induces specialisations in industries intensively using customised inputs, but also causes quality upgrading of domestic varieties and tougher competition in these industries. We incorporate these effects into a Ricardian model with customised input and product quality. Our model predicts that better judicial quality raises a country’s import prices and quality more in contract-intensive products, but has no impacts on its export prices or quality. We empirically confirm these predictions, and find that rising judicial quality is associated with increasing specialisations in contract-intensive industries.

Factors affecting competition in olive oil exports: Panel data analysis of selected countries. Case study

Recently, the growing interest in healthy and organic nutrition has led to an increase in both the consumption and production of olive oil. The fact that olive and olive oil production is mostly concentrated in the countries with a coastline on the Mediterranean has rendered their olive oil exports important in meeting the increasing demand for olive oil. For the exporting countries, this has raised the issues of having a large share in the international olive oil market and increasing their competitiveness. The importance of increasing competitiveness, especially for countries that generate income from agricultural production, is the driving force for conducting this study. The aim of the study was to determine the factors affecting the comparative advantages of the leading olive oil-exporting countries. In this context, the olive oil production, consumption and unit export prices of Turkey, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia for the 2000–2019 period were tested with a panel data analysis method to ascertain whether these variables have any significant effect on the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index. According to the findings, olive oil production affects the RCA index positively, whereas olive oil consumption affects it negatively in a statistically significant way.

Social and Economic Value in Emerging Decentralized Energy Business Models: A Critical Review

In recent years, numerous studies have explored the opportunities and challenges for emerging decentralized energy systems and business models. However, few studies have focussed specifically on the economic and social value associated with three emerging models: peer-to-peer energy trading (P2P), community self-consumption (CSC) and transactive energy (TE). This article presents the findings of a systematic literature review to address this gap. The paper makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it offers a synthesis of research on the social and economic value of P2P, CSC and TE systems, concluding that there is evidence for a variety of sources of social value (including energy independence, local benefits, social relationships, environmental responsibility and participation and purpose) and economic value (including via self-consumption of renewable electricity, reduced electricity import costs, and improved electricity export prices). Secondly, it identifies factors and conditions necessary for the success of these models, which include willingness to participate, participant engagement with technology, and project engagement of households and communities, among other factors. Finally, it discusses conflicts and trade-offs in the value propositions of the models, how the three models differ from one another in terms of the value they aim to deliver and some of the open challenges that require further attention by researchers and practitioners.

Brazil nuts a non-timber potential: Uncertainties and investments

The Brazil nut is one of the main non-timber forest products in Brazil, but its price fluctuations generate uncertainties and risks for both extractivists and investors. Econometric models or other simpler methods can estimate price changes and indicate the investment attractiveness of the Brazil nut. The objective of the present study was to analyze the risk-return relationship and the export price for both volatility of the Brazil nut over a 15 years period. The historical series of Brazil nut export prices, shelled and unshelled nuts, was evaluated from 2002 to 2016. The geometric growth rate and the variation coefficient indicate the return and risk respectively, associated with its price series. The price volatility of shelled and unshelled Brazil nuts was estimated with the standard deviation of the price series and with generalized models of ARCH (GARCH, EGARCH and TARCH). The shelled or unshelled Brazil nut coefficient increased over 15 years, with a low risk-return ratio. The shelled Brazil nut volatility was lower in the 2002 to 2006, 2007 to 2011 and 2012 to 2016 periods than for the unshelled nut when estimated by the standard deviation method than for the unshelled nut. The shelled Brazil nut price was higher from 2002 to 2016, with low volatility and persistent shocks. The estimate of the shelled and unshelled Brazil nut price volatility was better with the TARCH and the EGARCH models, respectively.

Macroeconomic Dynamics of the Total Factor Productivity of the Russian Economy

The growth rate of Russia’s total productivity has been slowing down significantly since 2008. The majority of relevant publications either describe an economic methodology or specifically focus on labour productivity. However, economic growth rates, as well as community welfare, largely depend on total factor productivity. The paper aims to determine the reasons for the slowdown in the growth of total factor productivity after 2008. This negative dynamics was assessed using a macroeconomic econometric model and estimates for Russian regions and types of economic activity. Elasticity of dependent variables was calculated based on econometric equations as well as multipliers of exogenous variables presented in the model. Ordinary and rank correlations between the variables were also examined. The calculations revealed that the stagnation of total factor productivity was caused by the misallocation of resources across industries and regions, de crease in aggregate demand, increase in capital goods prices (primarily due to rouble devaluation) and a slowdown in digital economy development. In turn, these trends were influenced by a decline in public investment and export prices, as well as a slowdown in population growth and liquidity. Simultaneously, growth of the world economy contributed to the demand for Russian export goods, preventing a decrease in productivity. The findings can be used for forecasting Russian economic trends and developing relevant policy measures. Further research will examine the role of human capital, energy intensity, climate and institutional factors in increasing the total productivity.

Spatial Price Dynamics and Asymmetric Price Transmission in Skim Milk Powder International Trade: Evidence from Export Prices for New Zealand and Ireland

A fast-changing global landscape highlights the importance of understanding spatial price dynamics in key international markets such as China, especially in the era of COVID-19 pandemic with international food trade and food system experiencing an unprecedented challenge. Nowadays, New Zealand’s dominant position in China’s dairy import market is being challenged by European Union (EU) dairy exporters leading to intensified market competition. Using monthly export data of skim milk powder (SMP), we applied threshold cointegration models along with asymmetric error correction models to examine spatial price dynamics and price transmissions of New Zealand and Ireland in Chinese and global markets. We found that New Zealand’s export prices retain their leadership position in China, Ireland’s export prices are well more aligned with those in international markets. In terms of own-country price transmission, Ireland’s relatively symmetric and swift adjustments were found to contrast with New Zealand’s SMP export prices, which displayed more asymmetric price transmissions.

Spatial Price Transmission and Price Dynamics of Global Butter Export Market under Economic Shocks

Recently, the world has experienced striking economic and policy changes, and subsequent uncertainties have impacts on dairy trade price fluctuations. The Global Vector Autoregressive (GVAR) methodology was established in this paper to better understand international butter export prices transmission, the feedback between the economic context changes and price fluctuations, and the link between the global butter market, energy market, and other commodity markets. We assessed which key factors are typically associated with butter export price movements with regards to shocks to crude oil price, palm oil price, farm-gate raw milk price, exchange rates, and consumer price index (CPI) for food of the EU, New Zealand, the U.S., and the rest of world (RoW), respectively. Using generalized impulse response functions, this study found that decreases in farm-gate raw milk price could be swiftly transmitted to butter export prices of not only a home country but other foreign countries. However, palm oil price and crude oil price merely affects global butter export prices. We also found that U.S. dollar depreciations against the Euro will cause a decline in U.S. butter export price. It is concluded that butter export markets are not well-integrated, yet butter export prices of New Zealand and the U.S. are highly linked.

Dampak Kebijakan Tarif dan Non-tarif Negara-Negara Importir atas Ekspor Tuna Olahan Indonesia

This study aims to analyze the impact of the tariff and non-tariff policies implementation of the importing countries on the export performance of Indonesian processed tuna. A cross-sectional gravity model analysis was conducted to find out the impact of these policies on exports. The variables used include GDP per capita of the importing countries, population, economic distance, export prices, actual exchange rates, tariff policies, and non-tariff policies in the form of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT). The estimation shows that the variables of GDP per capita of the importing countries, population, exchange rates, export prices, and SPS give a positive and significant effect on the trade of Indonesian processed tuna commodities. On the other hand, economic distance and TBT policy give a negative and significant impact on the volume of this particular commodity. Meanwhile, the tariff policy implementation also give a negative effect on the export volume, but it is not significant. Keywords: cross sectional gravity, export performance, non-tariffs, tariffs