Audiovisual policy transfer between Mercosur and the European Union has gone offtrack

This article analyses the Audiovisual Mercosur Program as a case of policy transfer between Mercosur and the European Union. A qualitative document analysis, expert interviews and the use of policy transfer theory and its constraints made possible the critical evaluation of the program and its impacts. By focusing on the constraints that led to an incomplete and uninformed transfer, we were able to identify an alignment between the underlying ideas of audiovisual policies in Mercosur and the European Union, but also inadequate governance within Mercosur, unbalanced interests between the two trade blocks, and a lack of policy learning. As a result, the transfer of European Union policies reproduced well-documented failures of the European Union's internal market policies relating to the audiovisual sector.

JUSTIFICATION OF TRANSPORT WORKS IN THE CONDITIONS OF A BLOCK QUARRY

The increase in oil prices, consumables and tools is necessitate the re–equipment of mining enterprises in Ukraine. The share of automobile transport reaches 35–50 % in the dimension blocks production costs. The purpose of the work is to determine transportation costs (TC) of 1 m3 of blocks depending on the volume and transportation distance within the quarry; improving the transportation plan by solving transportation problems of linear programming. Fuel consumption and dimension block TC for three models of front–end loaders (FEL) were newly calculated on the basis of a comprehensive study. A comparison of the economic feasibility of FEL and dump truck (DT) use in certain mining conditions have been made. The rationalization plan (RP) of dimension blocks transportation within the quarry was newly proposed. The research was performed at the dimension gabbro quarry, blocks transportation in which is performed using FEL CAT 988F (1) and DT KrAZ–256B. FELs CAT 988H (2) and CAT 986H (3) were adopted for comparison. The average annual fuel consumption is determined: among the FELs considered in the research, the (3) consumes the least, and the (1) currently used at the enterprise consumes 22.7 % and 9.7 % more fuel compared to the (3) and the (2), respectively, in similar conditions. Trade blocks transportation using FEL is economically more expedient in comparison with the DT at transportation distance up to 300–400 m. It is determined that the trade blocks TC using the (2) and the (3) is 5.3 % and 12.6 % lower, respectively, compared to the (1). This paper also considers the transportation problem for FELs, in which blocks from several banks must be distributed between several storage areas, provided to minimize TC. According to the proposed RP of transportation, the savings will be up to 13 % compared to the initial conditions, which in monetary terms is 41538–48639 UAH/year depending on the FEL model. The replacement of the (1) for the (3) will reduce block TC by 12.6 % (47000 UAH/year) in the current conditions. The TC using the (3) will be 285303.5 UAH according to the proposed RP, which is 23.7 % (88476 UAH/year) less than the (1) application before the rationalization. Keywords: dimension stone; front–end loader; commercial blocks transportation costs; transportation problem; cargo traffic rationalization; fuel consumption; haul road gradient.

Productivity Convergence and Asian Trade Blocks

The present chapter tries to examine the trend of productivity growth and the process of convergence of productivity among the countries within three blocks viz., ASEAN, APEC and SAARC, using the data compiled by R. Summers and A. Heston in Penn World Table -Mark 5.6 and 7.1. Applying Galton model of the growth process it indicates that the countries within ASEAN and SAARC block do not show any convergence of productivity during the period 1960 to 2010. However, the countries within APEC show the sign of convergence of productivity. Standard tests for convergence show that only the APEC group of countries satisfies the test of absolute convergence that is significant whereas ASEAN and SAARC fail to satisfy the test of absolute convergence. The application of the test of conditional convergence on the ASEAN group of countries does not satisfy the criteria of convergence conditioned by the volume of investment but it shows strong tendency of conditional convergence of productivity among the countries of SAARC trade block.

Foreign direct investment and natural resources in Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of natural resources on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa. Decomposing the measures of natural resource, in terms of contribution to GDP (oil rent (OR), mineral rent (MR) and forest rents (FRs)) and export drive (fuel exports (FE) and minerals export), with the objective of obtaining quantitative estimates of their relationship with FDI, we considered the effect of regional or trade blocks on the continent and control for trade openness, financial market development and infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach – Using annual panel data of 49 African countries over the period 1980-2011 and employing the system GMM estimation technique. Findings – The authors show that after allowing for effect of trade or regional block formation, natural resources in its composite form (ORs, MRs, forest rents (FRs), FEs and minerals export) influences FDI in Africa. Quantitatively, we demonstrate that though natural resources (compositely) influences FDI, the different measures of natural resource differ significantly in terms of their marginal contribution in attracting FDI to the continent especially to different trade blocks. The authors provide that in the presence of certain type of natural resources, trade openness or banking sector credit expansion or infrastructural development is less desirable whilst regional or trade blocks strongly moderate the effect of financial market development and infrastructural development on FDI flow on the continent. Originality/value – The authors employed a broad data set to provide evidence of the association between natural resources in its composite form and well as its various component and FDI to African after accounting for regional/trade blocks.

Trade Blocks and the Gravity Model: Evidence from Western Hemispheric Countries

We analyze the major trade blocks in Western Hemisphere and their effects on intra-regional trade flows using data for the period 1980-2006. We use an augmented gravity model to estimate the effect of various trade blocks on trade flows within and across membership other Western Hemispheric countries. The findings of this study are consistent with findings of previous studies on Western Hemisphere trade flows and shed some light on whether the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas is beneficial or not for Western Hemispheric countries.