Deep Reforms Research Articles

Policy Lessons From Medical Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

This article discusses the medical/therapeutical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their political economy context. First, the very quick development of several vaccines highlights the richness of the basic knowledge waiting for therapeutical exploitation. Such knowledge has largely originated in public or non-profit institutions. Second, symmetrically, there is longer-term evidence that the private sector (essentially big pharma) has decreased its investment in basic research in general and has long been uninterested in vaccines in particular. Only when flooded with an enormous amount of public money did it become eager to undertake applied research, production scale-up and testing. Third, the political economy of the underlying public-private relationship reveals a profound dysfunctionality with the public being unable to determine the rates and direction of innovation, but at the same time confined to the role of payer of first and last resort, with dire consequences for both advanced, and more so developing countries. Fourth, on normative grounds, measures like ad hoc patent waivers are certainly welcome, but this will not address the fundamental challenge, involving a deep reform of the intellectual property rights regimes and their international protection.

From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory

The prophet Zoroaster founded the first monotheistic religion in history, which once rose to great imperial status and still survives unchanged today despite centuries of Muslim pressure. Unlike the founders of other monotheistic religions after him, he achieved this not through the overthrow of the original Iranian polytheism but through its deep reform—a strategy that made acceptance easier and ensured a continuing role for the priests. Monotheistic reform is thus a third way out of ancient Indo-European polytheism, besides extinction in the Greco-Roman case and mutation into sectarian theism in the Indian case. This paper surveys the Iranian story and offers two economic models to account for the two key factors that made the transition to monotheism possible: the theological structure and the role of the priesthood.

Momentum vs. Labour’s Bureaucracy

The creation of Corbynist organization Momentum was the way in which the wave of socialist revival in the UK tried to take an organizational form and work toward the transformation of the Labour party. The first-past-the-post system meant that the only realistic option for socialists was working within the existing mainstream left party, while at the same time developing a parallel structure to mobilize youth supporters suspicious of bureaucratic structures. However, as I argue in this article, ultimately the stubbornness of the Labour party bureaucracy used as a defensive redoubt by party centrists managed to successfully fend off attempts for deep party reforms, and once Corbyn resigned it was easy for centrists to undo the change in the internal balance of forces. The failure of the Corbyn movement in overcoming these difficulties highlights how party organization constitutes a strategic bottleneck for all transformative movements, and that the only way to reclaim existing parties is to radically reshape them as a matter of priority.

Institutional Influence of Academics in Argentinean Public Universities in a Context of External Control

The paper studies the institutional influence of academics in Argentina within a context of increasing external control as a consequence of deep public reforms in the Higher Education system. Drawing on data from the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) survey, the aim is to analyse how much and in what sense the recent changes on the public policy level and the intermediate level of the state agencies have affected the academic profession in Argentina over teaching, research and social engagement activities, and its effects over the perception of institutional influence. Although we assume that academic power has been reduced within the new scenario, we believe that not all academics have responded in the same manner.

Beyond the diffusion of neoliberalism: Embedded reasoning and policy innovation in the origins of Argentinian currency board

Suffering from high rates of inflation since the 1940’s and having experienced two hyperinflations at the end of the 1980s, Argentina faced in 2019 an increase of prices of more than 50%. But in the 1990s, Argentina achieved at once prices stability and growth. Which were the sources of such an immediate change? Which lessons can be drawn from this experience? As in the 1990s Argentina adopted deep market reforms, stability could be considered an achievement of neoliberal diffusion. Not only international forces were driving forces for the change; the International Monetary Found (IMF) celebrated the success and invited other emerging nations to imitate it. Nevertheless, this perspective underestimates the importance of local context in the history of neoliberal reforms and overestimates the coherence of external forces. Through the analyses of testimonies of Argentine and foreign officials and the study of declassified documents from the IMF, this paper argues that stability was only archived after the adoption of a currency board, which was against the recommendation of most foreign officials. Instead of a simple top-down transposition of ideas, the Argentinian case reveals the importance of technocrats’ agency. Their local innovation not only made the diffusion of neoliberalism possible, it also turned currency board into one of the global anti-inflationist recipes recommended to other countries, despise its heavy consequences.

The Accounting Reform in Russia. How to Teach Economists?

Most post-socialist countries harmonize national accounting standards with IFRS. Many countries are also characterized by a simultaneous use of both national and international standards. The same goes for Russia. Deep reform of national standards has entered an active phase: annually, starting from 2018, several new standards harmonized with the international ones have been introduced. At the same time, former standards remain in force. In such conditions, the process of teaching students majoring in accounting must consider these peculiar features. In the article, we analyze the existing teaching methods and conclude that they are generally focused only on the study of the existing national accounting standards. However, working at enterprises requires knowledge and ability to apply both the existing standards and the standards which will be introduced in the coming years. It is also necessary to know international standards as a methodological basis applied when a matter is not regulated by the national standards. The article highlights the experience of South Ural State University. Since 2016, it has been creating a methodology of intensive teaching bachelors of economics majoring in “Accounting, Analysis and Audit”. The methodology is based on the development of a set of professional competencies intoa set of learning outcomes as more appropriate for the tasks of such teaching. It is characterized byan emphasis on the students’ research and analytical work. Its implementation results in the appearance of a specialist who is quickly adapted to work in large companies. The methodology is applicable in all university departments teaching accounting to bachelors.

‘Bad Banks’ with Chinese Characteristics: an Ongoing Transformation

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the experience of four asset management companies (AMCs) or ʽbad banks’ established in China in 1999 to address a systemic build-up of non-performing loans (NPLs). It describes the modalities of NPL transfers across several rounds of government interventions. It explains the AMCs evolving asset structure, funding and operations, with particular focus on a significant change in their business model. Overall, AMCs have helped stabilize the Chinese financial sector, albeit at a substantial fiscal cost. While they became permanent features of the financial system, the expansion of non-core activities has reduced their ability to perform their original function and generated additional systemic risk. Recent developments point to a renewed role, although a deeper reform of the NPL market will also be needed.

The upgrade of applied talents cultivation in the background of AI

In the AI age, a series of high technology, like AI technology and information technology, trigger deep reform in industry field. To meet the talents requirements of AI, colleges should promote the mission of talents cultivation. A few forward steps should carry on. They are pedagogy remodeling replacement of teaching technology, arrangement of education resources and extension of learning space.

SOCIAL POLICY MODERNIZATION: CONTROVERSY OF THE HUMANITARIAN AND FINANCIAL DIMENSIONS

Social policy in Ukraine requires a deep reform, a new paradigm in which exercising of the rights to social protection would be considered and function as a mechanism of sustainability support for the social system. Within the general problem of social policy modernization we point out an aspect related to the fact that rather often solving of social problems is replaced with populistic imitation as the result of critical shortage of financial and organizational resources as well as absence of any conceptual vision of the mechanism to be used to mobilize such resources. The goal of the article is to identify the ways of coordinating high humanitarian goals of social policy with real financial opportunities of the Ukrainian state. Realization of the fact that the country cannot afford to implement social programs fixing the current state of arts and creating obstacles on the way to structural changes in the economy should be the starting principle of social policy modernization. Transition from «social costs» policy to «social investment» policy, encouragement of the behavior of citizens that would promote economic effectiveness of the country is required. However, even in case the best, most fair models of national product re-distribution are applied, that will not adequately solve current problems. Since the main issue is what resources will be mobilized by the state to achieve social re-distribution and using what methods it will achieve this. We substantiate that the system of progressive taxation with parallel systemic changes in the fiscal policy, effective campaign against tax evasion could be the most effective tool for expanding budget finance base for the social domain. Another social policy mechanism is the system of social insurance, developed over the years of independence, primarily directed at quick response to numerous available challenges, sometimes, of force majeure nature. Its reform requires a comprehensive social insurance concept, reconciliated with the wage system, tax system, labour market policy, and demographic situation.

Reforms via Katikāvat: Dissension among Buddhist Monks in Sri Lanka over the Code of Conduct Bill

The Theravadi Bhikku Kathikawath (Registration) Bill, presented to the parliament of Sri Lanka in January 2016, is a proposed framework for formulating codes of conduct for Buddhist monks. The bill marked an important moment in the politics of Buddhism, as it led to the emergence of competing views among lay and monastic groups over the question of who could introduce monastic reforms. The paper demonstrates that this effort at monastic reform encountered complexities when attempts were made to incorporate monastic jurisdiction into the state’s legal framework, which in turn led to the failure of the bill. Furthermore, monks from different monastic backgrounds called for deeper reforms of the religious environment itself and the monastic stratum that facilitated it.

Improving the Role of Medical Scientific Societies during Health Crises

The COVID-19 crisis is ongoing and there is no clear prospect for overcoming it. This crisis has revealed many problems and deficiencies in different sectors, particularly the health system and more importantly in communication, decision-making, and executive systems not only at the national, but also at the international level. For better confrontation future crises, identifying these pitfalls and resolving them is very important; in this regard, scientific societies play a very fundamental role. Firstly, they should perform deep reforms in their structure for better efficacy, coordination, and impact. It is to be hoped that scientific societies have learned enough from this pandemic to be ready for the next one. There is a need to develop a suitable model for more effective and coordinated approaches in the future, amid to reduce the casualties and more appropriate responses to health crises in a shorter period of time and with greater efficiency. In this manuscript we proposed a model for scientific societies to improve their impacts during health crises. This includes establishing preevent capabilities, in crisis actions, and recommendations to be taken after the current crisis and before the next one.

Blended Teaching Reform of Higher Vocational Education Based on Addie Teaching Design Model

With the rapid development of information technology, computer technology and the popularization of network technology, the field of missionary education is rapidly disintegrating. There are a lot of free excellent teaching resources on the qualified network education platform, which is convenient for students to watch and read. Traditional classroom teaching has adapted to the learning habits and needs of young students. Moreover, in Higher Vocational English class, the phenomenon of students playing with mobile phones can not be stopped. A deep reform of English teaching is imperative. In view of this, the author uses Addie teaching design model, according to the current situation of Higher Vocational Students' English learning in Shandong Vocational College of Industry, applies blended learning in College English class in order to stimulate students' interest in learning, solve the difficulties faced by teachers in English teaching, and provide reference for teachers to improve teaching effect.

A New Definition of Platform Market Dominance for the Platform Economy

In the context of the actual debate about the necessity of a deep reform of competition law, this thesis pretends to update the concept of platform market dominance. The author held that the traditional theoretical abstract framework used in competition law’s analysis does not fit to platform as this is a new type of meta-organization differently from traditional firms and decentralized markets. For the author, in the new platform economy, to find the correct concept of platform market dominance is necessary to differentiate between platform market dominance inside the platform ecosystem and market dominance when occurs competition between platform organizations. This academic work just claims that it is time for antitrust academics to recognize that the traditional conceptualization of monopoly has changed due to the recent technological revolution.

TRADE POLICY RESPONSES TO THE CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES OF THE GLOBAL MARKET

The present paper discusses several new trends in the global trade such as digitalization of trade, regional trade agreements and the emergence of new global players. Based on theoretical research and the study of the available secondary statistical data it analyzes how trade policy can address these changes under the existing world trading system. Trade rules underlying the traditional trading system are still applicable under increasing digital trade and enhanced bilateral and regional trade integration. However, WTO Agreement has nothing to do with those barriers of trade that go beyond traditional trade measures and are very acute for the developing countries. They involve access to the Internet and other telecommunication infrastructure, weak formal institutions and legal protection, lack of awareness about the potential benefits and opportunities in digital trade and lack of IT literacy. In order to overcome these barriers developing countries should incorporate trade policy as a component of deep economic reforms. The pace of development of the multilateral trading rules is slower than required by increasingly flexible business models. Therefore, countries try to find solutions at the bilateral and plurilateral levels. For instance, the EU develops regulations under Digital Single Market as well as within its bilateral trade agreements with non-member states. Georgia is implementing digital economy regulations in accordance to its DCFTA with the EU. Access to information and communication technologies is essential to be engaged in digital trade. For developing countries investments in digital infrastructure is an important policy issue, while developed countries are more focused on balanced trade rules, which ensure the development of digital trade, on the one hand and security and data protection, on the other. Contemporary trade policy goes beyond regulation based on classical trade instruments. It encompasses regulation within regional trade and investment agreements, technical standards and other behind-the-border measures, regulation of services and intellectual property markets and support for sustainable development goals, etc. A large part of the contemporary regional trade agreements covers all these areas. Development of bilateral and regional cooperation by encouraging deep integration can be discussed as an effort to overcome inflexibilities of the multilateral system. Regional integration enables countries to develop selective approach towards their trade partners and maintain certain degree of autonomy by applying different trade rules towards different partners. Elimination of behind the border barriers and enhanced regulatory harmonization leads to reduced trade costs but it also leads to race to the bottom in regulatory facilitation, what might be detrimental to the national policy goals. The effects of deep economic integration cannot be assessed based on the traditional approach of trade creation and trade diversion, because integration as an institutional process affects not only trade flows but also economic and institutional development levels of the countries. Deep regional integration reduces institutional differences within regions and increases them across regions. Besides it, the increasing role of BRICs countries in international trade leads to greater diversity of actors in the world market. New global players ask for greater voice in the process of reforming trade rules. Therefore, global trade rules should reflect the diversity that comes from changes in the patterns as well as the main players of the world market

The end goal of the post-communist transition in Bulgaria: societal transformation or EU membership?

The end of the Cold War resulted in an unprecedented geopolitical situation in Europe, presenting a challenge to the security in the continent and the integration achieved so far. The only solution to this geopolitical problem was the integration of the post-communist Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) into the European Union (EU). The CEE countries therefore had to undergo deep societal reforms, while simultaneously pursuing a new foreign policy agenda away from the orbits of Russia. The EU was perceived as a solution to all existing problems. The results of the research conducted in Bulgaria, presented in this article, demonstrate that preparation for meeting the membership criteria which on the surface seemed to correspond to the aims of the transition, substituted the due structural reform. Thus, the EU accession instead of being an instrument for achieving sustainable long-term goals, became an end goal in itself, as if it would be an international testimony of a successful transition. The reforms carried out became a formality, were partial and superficial, and therefore reversible. As a result, the rule of law is deteriorating, and we can observe a facade democracy.

PREFACE

PREFACE

Estado e mercado na reforma da governança corporativa chinesa

Depois de um longo período de exclusão do debate econômico, o estrondoso sucesso da transformação estrutural da China voltou a colocá-la no centro do debate. Na base de tal sucesso, está o processo de reforma econômica, que teve como um dos seus eixos a modernização da governança corporativa das empresas estatais (SOEs). O objetivo do artigo foi discutir as diretrizes de tal modernização e como esta se articula com o Sistema Partido-Estado. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, discutiu-se instituições, governança corporativa moderna e a reforma da governança das SOEs chinesas. Conclui-se que mesmo considerando a opacidade de certas relações informais na governança das SOEs, algumas evidências parecem apontar para efetividade da reforma na melhoria da performance e atração de capitais delas.

Electoral turnovers and the disappointment of enduring presidential power: constitution making in Zambia

ABSTRACT Much has been written about the strength of African presidentialism. This article studies the resilience of presidential power in Zambia in the face of electoral turnover. Opposition election campaigns, conducted by both the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the Patriotic Front (PF), featured deep constitutional reform as prominent campaign pledges. Nevertheless, after winning the presidency, both parties failed to reduce presidential power. We support this conclusion by an analysis of constitution making in Zambia since the early 1990s and an analysis of the latest 2016 amended constitution. We argue that presidential powers become valuable institutional assets for newly elected elites attempting to reduce electoral uncertainty and consolidate power. Consequently, reduction in presidential power is unlikely as long as the executive is able to control the constitution making process.

Policy towards the Judiciary as a symptom the transformation of the Polish political system in years 2015–2020

The article provides an analysis of PiS1. actions with respect to the judiciary. PiS is the ruling party in Poland since 2015. It implemented very deep institutional reforms and took intensive communication measures of propaganda-like discrediting nature which brought significant political consequences. Firstly, the principles of rule of law and separation of powers were breached leading to a departure from standards of liberal democracy. Secondly, very strong polarisation of attitudes occurred in the society and legal elites with respect to the introduced reforms, causing politicisation of the judiciary and confrontation inside the judiciary between those in favour and those against the government’s actions.

DEUDA, PAPELES Y COMPROMISOS EN LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DEL CRÉDITO PÚBLICO. LA CAJA NACIONAL DE FONDOS DE SUD AMÉRICA (BUENOS AIRES, 1818–1821)

ABSTRACTThe South American Funds National Exchequer was established in 1818 to contribute to the consolidation of the public debt of Buenos Aires. It was the first financial innovation since the revolutionary outbreak in Buenos Aires, and its failure allowed the authorities to understand the limits of the fiscal and financial commitment they proposed by means of that institution. Its suppression, in 1821, offered an antecedent to develop a deep reform of the financial institutional matrix of Buenos Aires, based on the Public Credit office, the Amortization Exchequer and the Bank of Buenos Aires. The South American Funds National Exchequer was, thus, the first movement in the negotiation on the terms of the financial commitment assumed by the nascent State. This paper analyzes the 973 accounting entries of the institution, providing an interpretation of that failure and its importance for the course of public finances in Buenos Aires.