COVID-19 and Policy Impacts on the Bangladeshi Rice Market and Food Security

This research employs a partial equilibrium model to estimate the short- and long-run effects of COVID-19 and rice policies on Bangladesh’s rice market and food security. We also analyze the impact of relevant policies in terms of their effectiveness in mitigating stresses stemming from a hypothetical pandemic with a COVID-19-like impact. The results indicate that the effect of COVID-19 on Bangladeshi food security during FY 2019/20 was mixed, as the indicators of food availability improved by 5%, and decreased by 17% for food stability, relative to what they would have been otherwise. Policy simulation results indicate that a higher import tariff improves self-sufficiency status, but undermines rice availability and accessibility by bending the market toward a restrictive trade regime. Results also indicate that unlike stock enhancement policy, closing the existing yield gap improves rice availability, accessibility, and moderates the depressing effect of a future event with repercussions similar to COVID-19, although the yield policy appears more speculative and could be too costly. The insights generated contribute to the understanding of policies that aim to achieve sustainable development goals related to aggregate food security, and build resilience against future shocks akin to COVID-19.

M&As by Business Groups and Market Competition: A Study of Tata Steel

This article examines the involvement of business groups in consolidation activity. An important component of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act was “the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few” which has been de-emphasized as per the amendment made in 1991. The new Competition Act mainly deals with the case-by-case analysis of market competition rather than ownership concentration. The competition regulation in its current form is mainly focusing on the concept of “economic efficiency” and not addressing the “social fairness” concept. The involvement of business groups in consolidation activities results in multiplier effects as they are already part of a diversified and well-structured umbrella of business with horizontal and vertical linkages. This article observes the active involvement of big business groups in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity across various product lines. Further, many such M&As are leading to capacity expansion not only in various overlapping products (i.e., horizontal linkages) but also in the vertical line of business, in which the affiliate firms of the group are engaged. This may be beneficial to the group as a whole since the cost of intermediary inputs supplied to various affiliate firms can be reduced. The study points to consider the “ownership and group effect” and the resulting synergy creation more carefully while assessing competition.

Does trade openness cause economic growth in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh has followed a restrictive trade policy immediately after its liberation. But the system was proven wrong, and gradually it opened up its market to others and started to improve its foreign trade. This paper investigates the impact of trade openness on Bangladesh's economic growth using annual time-series data for the period from 1972-73 to 2015-16. The paper uses such econometric tools as unit root test, cointegration test and error correction model to investigate the relationship between the variables. This study revealed a positive association between export and GDP but the opposite relation between import and GDP and recommended to enhance export earnings. IIUC Studies Vol.16, December 2019: 99-110

The Pre-Modern Period of Competition Law

The precursors to NZ’s modern competition law were the Monopoly Prevention Act 1908 and the Commercial Trusts Act 1910, but a solid body of antitrust doctrine never materialized. The Privy Council did its best (or so it seemed) in a landmark appeal in 1927 to take a contrary view from the New Zealand judges. In future decades reliance was placed upon the cumbersome British bureaucratic-style restrictive trade practices law as a model for our legislation. Yet the paramount reason for the moribund state of competition law was a strong policy preference by successive governments for direct regulation of the economy based on the unstated, but rock-solid, premise of social stability. Large-scale intervention in the economy was the norm. It took a revolution in economic philosophy to occur and that came in 1984 under the Lange Labour government. The Commerce Act 1986 is seen as a key part in the newly deregulated economy. The Act was not a natural, incremental step in the evolutionary process but a leap (saltation) forward into the “modern” era.

“If competition has any virtue, we ought not to have a system that stifles it”: Competition in London Clearing Banking, 1946–1971

Concentration in many industries has increased markedly in recent decades in the United States, although in Europe it has been stable or has even decreased. Where concentration has increased, the question arises as to how to measure the extent of competition (or the degree to which it is contestable) in a market in which there are relatively few competing firms, over the long term. This article explores competition in clearing banking in the UK from 1946 to 1971. This period is of interest in the context of industry concentration because clearing banking was relatively concentrated and, it has long been argued, uncompetitive. The article evaluates competition from four perspectives. First, it considers the competitiveness of London clearing banking from a quantitative perspective. Next, it evaluates competition through the lens of competition policy, particularly the extent to which monopoly, mergers, and restrictive trade practices existed in clearing banking. Third, the conclusions of the National Board for Prices and Incomes’ report into bank charges in 1967 are considered. Finally, it explores the extent to which the clearing banks were open to and embraced change, and were innovative, assuming that these qualities are more likely to be present when there is competition among banks. It questions key aspects of the dominant interpretation of clearing banking as uncompetitive and slow to innovate.

Geographies of production II: Thinking through the state

As corporate power strains the liberal hegemony that has stabilized the globalization project, it is no wonder that scholars of global production are increasingly turning their attention to the role of the state. While the long-held assumption that the state primarily acted to facilitate capital’s priorities remains accurate, it is nonetheless incomplete. I discuss studies that focus on other state roles (regulator, buyer and producer) and pay particular attention to the ways that restrictive trade regulations and state-owned enterprises shape production arrangements. Turning from state roles (i.e. what states do), I go on to examine critical scholarship that focuses on why states act in the ways that they do and how social forces and class dynamics shape these institutional arrangements. Recent studies of labor regimes, the political economy of smallholder value chains, and the dialectic of geoeconomic/geopolitical logics offer useful insights into the role states play to stabilize (or not) global production arrangements. Overall, examining the state-production network nexus can shed light on the possibilities to work with, through or against the state in order to transform the relations of power materialized in and through global production networks.

Economic development through the dairy sector: analyzing the legal protection frameworks

The paper discusses the important role played by the dairy sector in Kenya with respect to economic development from which the economic and social rights can be realised. In doing so the paper defines an elaborate structural framework within which the sector is managed from the level of production of milk to marketing and sale of dairy products. Various laws and policies that govern the sector are highlighted most of which have interventions to the existing challenges that affect the sector. The paper highlights a number of threats to the sector which if not addressed within the given protection frameworks can lead to collapse of the industry. One of the major threats identified is the low price at which milk is sold by the farmer despite there being high consumer prices. Such low returns to the farmer adversely affect the welfare of the affected communities. The paper attributed the problem of low prices to the oligopolistic tendencies in the sector that have resulted in monopolization of prices. Dumping of milk products was also identified as a major threat which has also contributed to low prices of milk to the farmer. The paper recognizes that the elaborate legal protection frameworks in place can be utilized to regulate such restrictive trade practices and further protect the dairy sector which is still developing.

Effect of Aid for Trade Unpredictability on Trade Policy in Recipient-Countries

This article examines the effect of the unpredictability of Aid for Trade (AfT) flows on trade policy in 124 recipient-countries, of which 42 are least developed countries (LDCs), over the period 2002–2016. The analysis shows that while AfT flows exert a positive effect on trade policy liberalisation, AfT unpredictability induces the adoption of restrictive trade policies. These results apply to LDCs and other countries, although the magnitude of the negative effect of AfT unpredictability on trade policy liberalisation is higher for LDCs than for other countries. Furthermore, AfT unpredictability reduces the positive trade policy liberalisation effect of AfT flows. JEL: F13, F14, F35

Evaluating the Trade, Revenue and Welfare Implication of Plantation Crops under ASEAN–India FTA

This article examines the impact of ASEAN–India Free Trade Agreement on India’s special products categories, namely, coffee, tea and pepper based on partial equilibrium model. The Software for Market Analysis and Restrictive Trade (SMART) model has been used to estimate the trade creation (TC) and trade diversion (TD) effect, revenue effect and welfare effect for the above-mentioned commodities. The results from the SMART simulation analysis indicate that the increase in trade for both the scenarios is mainly driven by TC rather than TD. Further, the study also assesses how the total trade effect is distributed across the major ASEAN countries for each commodity and found that Indonesia and Vietnam are the biggest gainers in terms of TC effect in both the scenarios. JEL Classification: F13, F15, Q1