Changes In Economic Policy Research Articles

Why North Korea Chooses Self-Sufficiency: Changes in the North Korean Economy in the First Quarter of 2021

Aiming to discuss the changes in North Korea's economic strategies and policies, and the reasons why North Korea suddenly resumed trade with China in March 2021, this article is largely composed of two parts. The second section introduces the debate between South Ko-rean economists about North Korea's economic strategy and policy changes. The last section attempts to analyze the reasons why North Korea has suddenly resumed imports.The COVID-19 pandemic and recent sanctions against North Korea are causing rapid chang-es in the North Korean economy. In the academic community studying the North Korean economy in South Korea, various topics are being discussed about these changes in the North Korean economy. The first topic is how the North Korean economy is seeing rapid changes in its economic strategy. The second topic is why North Korea's economic management system is showing horizontal centralization. The last topic is why North Korea does not resume imports to China despite increasing eco-nomic difficulties.Why North Korea suddenly resumed trade with China in March 2021. North Korea resumed trade with China on a small scale in March 2021. Trade has reportedly been resumed, but exports have been negligible and only a small amount of goods have been imported. Imports were completely suspended for six months from mid-September 2020 to mid-March 2021, and then imports were abruptly resumed in March 2021. Imports from Chi-na totaled $12.98 million, and exports to China totaled $4.55 million from January to March. The imports conducted in March were non-commercial in nature and led by the authorities. Most of the imports came from the necessities required for industrial production, especially in the agricultural sector. Agricultural materials, that is, fertilizer raw materials (urea, ammonium phosphate, organic sulfur compounds ‒ 71.0%), agricultural vinyl (8.2%), pesticides (insecti-cides, herbicides ‒ 5.4%), etc. were mainly imported. Other imported goods included news-papers and printing paper (8.3%), detergent raw materials (sodium hydroxide ‒ 2.7%), and low flash point fuel for steel production.

The Nepal’s Political Relationship with India: Under the Lens of Path Dependency Theory

The recent developments in Nepal’s politics from the abolition of autocratic monarchy, promulgation of a new constitution to successful completion of local, provincial, and federal level elections can be perceived as Nepal’s politics achieving miraculous success in forming democracy. Throughout the history, heavy reliance on the Indian economy has been considered as a major hurdle to Nepal’s sovereignty. This paper analyzes the Nepal-India relationship through path-dependent theory and argues that with series of above mentioned democratic success, the contemporary Nepali foreign policy towards India is at a critical juncture where Nepal can incorporate new changes to make its policies independent and uninfluenced by the Indian government. Analyzing the series of political and democratic events and foreign policies implemented to date, this paper aims to understand how the Nepali leadership can utilize these recent series of democratic successes as a turning point to break the traditional approach of forming policies to appease the Indian government and receive political and economic support and implement new policy changes leveraging on the multilateral organizations and developmental partners for its support economically and politically.

Key Vectors of Regional Economic Policy: Expectations and Reality

The article investigates the structure of regional economic policy in historical context, from first years of market economy development in Russia to the current period of passing-over to digital economy. On the basis of dialectical method, system approach, practical analytical instruments, method of experts’ estimation reasons and consequences of evolution changes in regional economic policy were analyzed. Factors influencing the nature of social and economic processes on sub-national level were studied. The article shows today’s trends of space development characterized by the objective global process of raising the role of agglomeration in speeding-up economic growth, increasing labour productivity, incomes and standard of living of the population. Long-term prospects of development and functioning of rural territories were not evaluated adequately, though they play one of the key roles in growing geo-political influence of Russia in the world. Detail study of the theoretical base of regional economics allowed us to substantiate the issue of shifting the focus in managing the territorial development to macro-regional level and in this connection to renew instruments used for analytical purposes. By analyzing the home practice of state regulation a conclusion was drawn about the necessity to set up a specialized state structure for observing the process of strengthening the role of macro-regions and efficiency of shaping the adequate bodies of power to manage the space social and economic development.

Política econômica, instituições e classes sociais: os governos do Partido dos Trabalhadores no Brasil

Resumo A partir de uma perspectiva da Economia Política, o artigo analisa os governos de Lula e Dilma Rousseff, enfocando o relacionamento entre a política macroeconômica e seus condicionantes políticos, econômicos e sociais. Mostra que tais governos executaram com relativo êxito um projeto de redistribuição de renda, porém, ao contrário de parte da literatura, defende que os mesmos não podem ser caracterizados, a rigor, nem como neoliberais ou, tampouco, como desenvolvimentistas. Defende, ainda, a hipótese de que a “nova matriz macroeconômica” do governo Rousseff representou mais do que mera alteração na política econômica: constituiu-se em ponto de inflexão nos governos petistas, pois significou o desfazimento de umpacto de coalizão de classesfirmado por Lula com segmentos empresariais, o qual os respaldava desde a “Carta ao Povo Brasileiro” (2002). A partir de 2008, a crise econômica internacional, o processo de desindustrialização em marcha e um conjunto de condições permissivas evidenciaram os limites da coalizão em vigor, dificultando a continuidade do projeto redistributivo.

하노이 북미정상회담 결렬을 전후한 북한경제정책 변화에 대한 분석 -경제제재의 영향을 중심으로-

하노이 북미정상회담 결렬을 전후한 북한경제정책 변화에 대한 분석 -경제제재의 영향을 중심으로-

PER CAPITA INCOME CONVERGENCE AMONG PROVINCES IN CHINA

One increasingly important political and economic challenge of China's economy is income inequality. In the past two decades, a series of regulations and policies were enacted to promote its economic growth and reduce income inequality. In this empirical study, we examine the effectiveness of these regulations and policies on reducing the personal income gap at the provincial level in China and analyze the reasons behind the effectiveness: education expenses, infrastructure investments, and fixed asset investments. We test the per capita income data of 31 provinces over the periods 1999 to 2018 and our results show that the per capita income converges nationally and in most regions. The convergence in per capita income is supported by the convergence in per capita education expenses, infrastructure investments, and fixed asset investments. Without fundamental changes in economic policies, the current economic growth may not be sustainable. Our paper suggests that continuously increase investments in education expenses, infrastructure investments, and fixed asset investments in poor regions are necessary to reduce the income gap between rich and poor regions to foster long-term prosperity.Keywords: Convergence Theory, Per Capita Income, Education Expense, Infrastructure Investments, Fixed Asset InvestmentsJEL Classifications: D31, F63, O47, R11DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.10713

The North Korean Economy: Sustainable or Muddling-Through?

Confronting the continuing economic sanctions, the flood disaster, and the COVID 19, North Korea is now in a critical phase whether the North Korean economy will shift to a sustainable economy or, as it has done in the past three decades, barely manage to maintain at a survival level. To explore the question, this study investigates North Korea’s economic policy changes by extracting the keywords from the North Korean economic journal Economic Research, which is a representative state published document. We use a text mining approach to overcome limitations, such as the lack of objectivity and accuracy of the classification of topics in manual text analysis for North Korean studies. Contrary to the conventional assumption that the North Korean economic policies are driven by dogmatic Juche (self-reliance) ideology, we find that the strategy of economic policies differs depending on the leader and political and economic circumstances at the time. In particular, since Kim Jong-un assumed office in 2011, the topics have diversified, and now cover a wide range of subjects on capitalism. Nevertheless, without North Korea’s decisive reform measures and international cooperation, it will be hard to observe that the North Korean economy can go beyond ‘muddling-through’ for sustainable development.

On the Bright Side: Covid-19, A Perverse Once-in-One-Hundred Year Opportunity

The Covid-19 pandemic, challenging as it is, provides an opportunity to rethink employment relations arrangements in New Zealand in a broader context of economic policy change, in circumstances which echo the challenges of the 1930s. Major transformation will require a combination of political imagination and will, novel economic policy initiatives, and strong commitment from the social partners.

Are family firms in the eyes of economic policy?

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the literature on family firms and actual movements in economic policy and activity. We argue that economic policy changes accordingly to changes in family firms-related literature and employ an econometric analysis to test the assumed association. The outcomes of empirical analysis indicate, as we expected, that an effect of discussions related to family firms in the literature on economic activity indeed exists. The findings would help us have a better understanding of the patterns in the family firms-related literature, and strongly contribute to the policymakers’ perception on family firms. Furthermore, this work also makes an important contribution to the field of entrepreneurship and practitioners. More to the point, entrepreneurs could implement the best entrepreneurship activities at the suitable time by sensing the changes in the family firms-related literature.

Empowered or Entangled: Agency and Choice in Women’s Employment in India

In India, formation of NGO-aided self-help groups (SHGs) for production was seen as an important step to lift women out of economic marginalisation and, thus, for women’s empowerment. With changes in economic policies, challenges of wage employment for women were also assumed to have been addressed. In this context, this article, drawing from the history of empowerment discourse and its obsession with the economic aspect, examines women’s employment and its multiple dimensions The analysis provides insights into the gender-based inequalities in the labour market which are evident in the concentration of women workers in precariat, feminised jobs either under the control of the family or without any recognition or legal protection. The prevalence of regressive gendered ideologies in employment and in the division of housework raises critical questions about the understanding of the two critical pillars of empowerment, namely, choice and agency.

What factors influence the quality of governance institutions? An Asian perspective

This paper focuses on the process by which the quality of institutions has changed in developing Asia. It is argued that much institutional change is the result of a slow, piecemeal, evolutionary process that is often set in motion via changes in economic policy. Specifically, the quality of particular governance institutions is often dependent on economic policy. Various measures of governance institutional quality, for eleven developing countries in Asia, constructed by the World Bank are used to empirically test the hypothesis. The results of the estimations indicate that policies related to enhancing agricultural labor productivity, reducing dependence on natural resources, and increasing school enrollments have been most important in terms of positively influencing the quality of governance institutions developing Asia.

The impact of institutional distance on sustainable investment: evidence from China’s Belt and Road Initiative

PurposeIn an attempt to satisfy the desire to become a global economic leader, China is working on a series of ambitious deals with several countries. As a major country in a region considered as an emerging market, the immense infrastructure gap that is curtailing trade and accessibility for economic growth has led to major changes in economic policy. The past few decades have seen China invest billions of dollars not only in the developing countries of Africa and Asia but also in other world economic giants of Europe and the USA. China has embarked on a rigorous global effort to close the infrastructure gap through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in partnership with multilateral development banks. China’s BRI brings together several countries in East Asia and the Eurasian mainland into close proximity with China, thereby promoting inland trade between the countries. The investments in this project are estimated to reach US$1tn over a span of ten years. However, the volume of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) from China to the host countries is determined by several factors. Several previous researchers have studied various issues affecting the business activities of China and the given countries. First, the cultural organization, policy approaches and objectives of China as a country create trade barriers with countries involved in the BRI plan. This paper aims to provide a comparative overview of how the institutional distance of the Belt and Road countries from China affects their sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachData on the nature, success and challenges of the BRI (such as the volume of bilateral trade and OFDIs and its financial implications) were extracted from various published studies. The impact of cultural distance and internationalization of the BRI enterprise was analyzed through a comparative research methodology.FindingsA significant relationship exists between institutional distance and sustainable development of the Belt and Road countries. However, the barriers – for example, inhospitable culture and regulations for organizations in participating countries – could become pillars of success once resolved.Originality/valuePrevious studies lacked a standard framework to investigate how institutional distance is related to China’s outbound trade with the Belt and Road countries. The comparative analysis methodology adopted in this study fills this gap.

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Asset Securitization of Banks

Frequent changes in economic policies will bring negative effects on the micro operating environment of banks. In this context, the functional effects of asset securitization create conditions for banks to effectively resist the adverse impact of economic policy uncertainty. In view of this, this paper examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the development of asset securitization of banks based on the related chain of “economic policy uncertainty—bank micro behavior change—asset securitization development”. It is found that the increase of economic policy uncertainty significantly promotes the development of bank asset securitization. Further, this paper discusses the internal mechanism of the positive impact, and finds that the adverse impact of economic policy uncertainty on the term mismatch, risk-taking and profitability of banks is an important motivation for banks to develop asset securitization, which confirms the original logic of the article, that is, the adverse impact of economic policy uncertainty on the micro operating environment of banks constitutes a series of motives for the development of bank asset securitization, and fully explains that the functional system of asset securitization can be an effective way for banks to cope with frequent policy changes. Finally, this paper studies the corresponding heterogeneity characteristics, and finds that economic policy uncertainty promotes the development of bank asset securitization, which is more significant in non-listed banks and small and medium-sized banks, because these banks lack sufficient adjustment means to adapt to the unstable political environment, and they need to use the functional system of asset securitization to deal with economic policy uncertainty. Therefore, it has a stronger impetus for the development of asset securitization.This paper holds that the main purpose of developing asset securitization is to deal with the uncertain external environment and its adverse impact on its own microstructure. Under the background that the outbreak of the COVID-19 Epidemic has led to the increase of economic policy adjustment and policy uncertainty, the regulatory authorities should not only continuously improve the institutional space for the effective function of asset securitization, but also pay attention to the “double-edged sword” feature of asset securitization, and strive to create a transparent and fair policy environment and stabilize the bank’s expectation of future policies. The conclusion of this paper expands the research field of bank asset securitization from the perspective of economic policy uncertainty, and deepens the cognition of the effect of economic policy uncertainty on bank behavior, which provides useful enlightenment for making the development strategy of asset securitization scientifically, and stabilizing bank behavior through the development of asset securitization under the background of the frequent adjustment of policies caused by the COVID-19 Epidemic.

A consilience-driven approach to land use history in relation to reconstructing forest land use legacies

The importance of societal factors in shaping forest area, structure and composition through economic activity, policy, governance, and population changes is frequently acknowledged in ecologic studies, however the specific socioeconomic factors that lead to land use change through time are rarely articulated. We present a consilience-driven approach for integrating socioeconomic and paleoecologic data to explore land use legacies and interpret causes of past abrupt environmental change. We combine paleoecologic history reconstructed from pollen analysis of lake sediments and contemporary historical narratives of socioeconomic change developed from archival sources illustrated by three case studies from two sites in the Italian Apennines. We found that in the Rieti Basin, central Italy, between 850 and 900 AD (coeval with the beginning of the Medieval Climate Anomaly—MCA), under the new Carolingian rule, the imperially sponsored monastery at Farfa consolidated small landholdings, leading to more active land management and significant forest loss for agricultural activities. In contrast, at Pollino in southern Italy between 1050 and 1100 AD, also during the MCA, Norman conquest helped to convert a deforested landscape into an actively managed fir forest for timber needed for construction. At both sites, depopulation and land management between 1350 and 1400 AD caused by the Black Death, led to forest rewilding, however each site took a different trajectory. The studies presented offer examples of how the integration of detailed historical narratives with high-resolution paleoecologic reconstructions can provide a more nuanced examination of the interrelationship between societal factors and climate forcing in shaping land-use legacies and has the capacity to illuminate the link between specific human pressures and pathways of ecological change over many centuries.

Challenging the dominant Church hegemony in times of risk and promise: Carysfort women resist

ABSTRACT Historically, patriarchy has been as dominant in education in Ireland as elsewhere. In the Irish context, it was promoted through the male-dominated Catholic Church, which controlled either directly or indirectly the vast majority of education institutions in the country. This dominant hegemony was most powerful during the period post-Independence, achieved in 1922, and up until the 1960s. By the 1960s, however, Irish society had begun a process of self-reflection and modernisation triggered by exposure to international ideas, the Second Vatican Council, the democratisation of education and radical changes in economic policy. This article focuses on one manifestation of this process, namely a strike initiated by female students at a female-run teacher training college in Dublin in demand of a greater voice in the nature of the curriculum taught and in the governance of the college. However, these women were protesting not against the male hegemony, rather against the women religious who perpetrated this hegemony. The focus of this study is thus on patriarchy perpetuated by women on women.

Enterprise Sustainability: Economic Policy Uncertainty, Enterprise Investment, and Profitability

Under economic fluctuations, the sustainable development of enterprises is crucial. Currently, there are few studies on the interaction between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and the sustainable development behavior of enterprises. Based on a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model, this paper explores the static and dynamic interactions among EPU, enterprise investment, and enterprise profitability and then analyzes regional heterogeneity in these factors. It finds that EPU has an inhibitory effect on the investment and profitability of enterprises, while the investment and profitability of enterprises also have an inhibitory effect on EPU. In addition, there are contribution differences and regional differences in the degrees of influence of the three factors. In the long run, EPU and the inhibition of enterprise investment and profitability are strongest in China’s central region. The results show that the stronger the certainty of economic policy, the more conducive this policy is to promoting enterprise investment behavior and improving enterprise profitability. Therefore, to ensure normal economic development, the government should limit changes in economic policy as much as possible; doing so is critical for promoting investment behavior and improving the profitability of enterprises.

COVID-19 and the Widening Gap in Health Inequity.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought to light significant health inequities that have existed in our society for decades. Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and immigrants are the populations most likely to experience disparities related to burden of disease, health care, and health outcomes. Increasingly, national and state statistics on COVID-19 report disproportionately higher mortality rates in blacks. There has never been a more pressing time for us to enact progressive and far-reaching changes in social, economic, and political policies that will shape programs aimed at improving the health of all people living in the United States.

Evaluating the forecasting power of foreign Country's income growth: a global analysis

PurposeThe objective of the paper is to explore the out-of-sample forecasting connections in income growth across the globe.Design/methodology/approachAn autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework is employed and the forecasting performance is analyzed across several horizons using different forecast combination techniques.FindingsResults show that the foreign country's income provides superior forecasts beyond what is provided by the country's own past income movements. Superior forecasting power is particularly held by Belgium, Korea, New Zealand, the UK and the US, while these countries' income is rather difficult to predict by global counterparts. Contrary to conventional wisdom, improved forecasts of income can be obtained even for longer horizons using our approach. Results also show that the forecast combination techniques yield higher forecasting gains relative to individual model forecasts, both in magnitude and the number of countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe forecasting paths of income movement across the globe reveal that predictive power greatly differs across countries, regions and forecast horizons. The countries that are difficult to predict in the short run are often seen to be predictable by global income movements in the long run.Practical implicationsEven while it is difficult to predict the income movements at an individual country level, combining information from the income growth of several countries is likely to provide superior forecasting gains. And these gains are higher for long-horizon forecasts as compared to the short-horizon forecast.Social implicationsIn evaluating the forward-looking social implications of economic policy changes, the policymakers should also consider the possible global forecasting connections revealed in the study.Originality/valueEmploying an ARDL model to explore global income forecasting connections across several forecast horizons using different forecast combination techniques.

The Impact of Economic Coercion on Public Opinion: The Case of US–China Currency Relations

In recent years, the United States has increasingly tried to change other governments’ economic policies by threatening to punish those countries if they do not change course. To better understand the political consequences of these tactics, this paper examines how external threats influence public support for policy change in targeted states. We consider three mechanisms through which economic coercion might alter public opinion: by changing individuals’ interests, by activating their national identities, and by providing them with new information about a policy’s distributive effects. To test these rival explanations, we focus on the case of China–US currency relations. Using data from a survey experiment of Chinese internet users, we find strong support for the informational updating theory. Our evidence suggests that economic coercion can reduce support for policy change because it leads individuals to update their beliefs about who wins and loses from economic policy changes.

Сучасний стан фінансування науки в Україні

Annotation. Introduction. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the theoretical foundations and develop mechanisms for financial support for the development of science and scientific and technical work in Ukraine, because the main feature of the processes taking place in the modern world is the global integration of economy, science, education and social welfare. Ukraine, as an independent state, lives in an interconnected, interdependent world. The defining priority of the development of our state is education and science. The most important parameters that characterize the country’s scientific resources, knowledge-intensive economy, include investment in science and education, financing of innovation processes. In today’s rapidly changing conditions of globalization of economic life, highly developed countries, where science plays the role of the main economic and reproductive factor, ensure their development by improving existing technologies, techniques and the use of fundamentally new scientific advances. The analysis of the theoretical basis and state of financial support for the development of science and scientific and technical work of higher education institutions and research institutions of Ukraine allowed us to draw conclusions: the intersectoral mechanism is proposed as a system of elements of organizational, economic forms and levers of allocation, research, creation of scientific developments, transfer, accumulation and greater infusion of private and business funds into science and education, which ensure the development of science and scientific and technical work in general. The priority areas for improving the technological structure of Ukraine’s economy include the following: focusing on increasing the scale and expanding the range of promising technologies in the middle and final stages of the technological cycle, providing increased growth of value added processing of primary resources; elimination of resource losses due to inconsistencies between technology components, which is possible through the modernization of existing technologies on the basis of innovations associated with previous and such technologies; change of economic and investment policy in the direction of creating more investment attractiveness for the middle and final stages of the technological cycle. Keywords: financial support; science; scientific and technical works; institutions of higher education; integration; investments.