Free Market Orientation Research Articles

Restoration and Development of the Altai Industry: the Experience of the NEP

The article examines the main directions of the development of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the Altai industry, highlights the features of its implementation associated with regional specifics, which largely determined the features of the NEP formation in the industrial sector. At the same time, the restoration of industry is considered in the context of partial liberalization of the economy during the period of the NEP, it is concluded that there are conditions for the development of the industrial sector. Along with the characteristics of different forms of ownership, a comparative analysis of public, private and leased enterprises is given. It is indicated that regarding industry, the Soviet government limited itself only to the rejection of the state monopoly and free market orientation for industrial enterprises. Restrictive and often contradictory measures of the Soviet government concerning to the private sector led to a change in the forms and methods of activity of the Nepmans, hindered the concentration of capital in industry. Nevertheless, private enterprises, the bulk of which in Altai were small, artisanal enterprises, played an important role in saturating the market with everyday goods.

Free market mechanism as a tool of economic authority in overcoming society and state institutions

The paper critically analyzes the negative consequences of free market orientation, as a key mechanism for organizing and regulating the economy, as a tool which by itself can meet the full range of social needs, including the development of scientific and technological progress, economic modernization, social justice, effective use of natural resource potential, preservation of natural environment, reproduction of labor force and ensuring the solution of other acute socio-economic problems. The mechanism of disorientation of economic interaction participants through imposing on society the ideas of economy liberalization is revealed, This mechanism keeps out of sight the technology of carrying out economic wars by the most powerful subjects of economic competitions for the purpose of conquest of the markets, actives or other resources contributing to the growth of social contrasts in society, as well as the concentration of money and power in the growing circle of participants in economic competition. It is determined that the goals and strategies of economic competitors are in conflict with the interests of society, because the means of realization of their aspirations are subjected to the law of energy conservation, but not to public morality or even existing laws, if there are no effective coercive mechanisms. The crucial role played by state institutions in the process of organizing economic entities in order to achieve socially significant goals and implement important strategies for society are investigated. The importance of the subjectivity of the state in the process of functioning and development of the economy is substantiated. The analysis of achieving positive results in the economy due to purposeful and systematic work of state institutions in the countries that have succeeded in ensuring stable development, reducing social contrasts, revolutionary transformations in their own economic complex, relying on effective organization of innovation in their countries is carried out.

Why Does the U.S. Have the Best Research Universities? Incentives, Resources, and Virtuous Circles

Around 1870 the U.S. had no research universities of note, while today it accounts for the largest number in the world. Many accounts attribute this transformation to events surrounding World War II. In contrast, this paper traces its origins to reforms that began in the 1870s. We first explain the origins of the American system's weakness at research. We then present an agency theory framework that highlights ingredients necessary for enhanced research performance. These include specialization and meaningful performance metrics. We then discuss reforms that put these ingredients in place. For example: the introduction of specialized and advanced teaching and the ensuing rise of disciplines/departments; the creation of academic journals; the introduction of selective admissions. Throughout, we emphasize the role played by the U.S. university system's free market orientation.

Why Does the U.S. Have the Best Research Universities? Incentives, Resources, and Virtuous Circles

Around 1870 the U.S. had no research universities of note, while today it accounts for the largest number in the world. Many accounts attribute this transformation to events surrounding World War II. In contrast, this paper traces its origins to reforms that began in the 1870s. We first explain the origins of the American system's weakness at research. We then present an agency theory framework that highlights ingredients necessary for enhanced research performance. These include specialization and meaningful performance metrics. We then discuss reforms that put these ingredients in place. For example: the introduction of specialized and advanced teaching and the ensuing rise of disciplines/departments; the creation of academic journals; the introduction of selective admissions. Throughout, we emphasize the role played by the U.S. university system's free market orientation.

Policy Economic Analysis of HIV/AIDS Intervention in Indonesian Local Government

Global governance concerns the issue of HIV/AIDS through Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and followed by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the Indonesian context, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been increasing in the last ten years. This paper studies the HIV/AIDS policy intervention in an Indonesian local government context by using policy economic analysis. The finding demonstrates that the policy intervention has been applied through a supply approach such as in welfare states in which the local government provides free access to health facilities for HIV/AIDS-positive persons. This approach differs from the macro policy level of the Indonesian central government who adopts free-market orientation and demand intervention of health economics. The research focuses on a Yogyakarta Special Province case study while the data depend on analysing and interpreting regional and national regulation of HIV/AIDS and policy recommendations of the regional public health department. We argue that the improvement of local intervention emerges as the supply is just for the HIV/AIDS diagnosis test and it does not cover the continued HIV/AIDS health treatments and nursing.

An Overview of the Privatisation Process in Republic of Kosova

Nowadays, elements of privatisation and free-market orientation can be seen in almost every economy in the world. In Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the socialist system in 1989-1990, the privatisation has been seen as the panacea for economic problems. The most important economic goals of post-communist privatisation have been the improvement of corporate governance. Kosova was an autonomous province in the former Yugoslavia which had a centralized economic system. In 1999 Kosova became a separate territory under United Nations administration, and, in 2008, it declared independence. Additionally, starting from mid-2002 the legal framework of the privatisation process in Kosova has been prepared by UNMIK and the process was exercised by the Kosova Trust Agency. This Trust aimed to preserve or enhance the value, viability, and corporate governance of socially owned and public enterprises in Kosova. The paper reviews the privatisation process in the Republic of Kosova from the very early start until today. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the effects of the privatisation process on the economy of Kosova. To achieve the set goal, we have used the integrative review method. The results show that the privatisation process did not yield positive results as expected. The process did not reduce the unemployment rate, which today is among the highest in the region. Also, it was characterized by many problems discussed in the paper. It is hoped that this study will provide a summary of the key points and will shed light on the effects of privatisation on the economy of Kosova. Moreover, it pinpoints the importance of SMEs for the country’s economic development since they represent the largest business sector in any world economy.

Financing high speed rail in the United States and France: The evolution of public-private partnerships

Using cross-national comparative analysis, this paper discusses the reasons why France has succeeded in partially privatizing its most recently constructed high speed line, while the U.S. has not reached this stage. The authors argue that France, with an interventionist government, diverged from the U.S. during the Great Depression by nationalizing its private railways and regulating competition with highway-based transport, thereby establishing favorable conditions for the future development of high speed trains. The U.S., because of its strong free market orientation, delayed nationalization until 1971, by which time passenger railways were severely weakened, so the U.S. lagged far behind France. After accruing a large public debt on its high speed rail program in the 1980s and 1990s, the French government recently took steps to privatize construction and operations on its Tours–Bordeaux line. Similarly, in the U.S., the State of California is trying to attract private participation on its planned high speed line between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Based on French high speed rail history, this paper argues that, to succeed, California must commit both a high level of public borrowing as well as public guarantees on private borrowing. Public credit is the sine qua non of financing high speed trains.

Educational Opportunity and Contentious Politics: The 2011 Chilean Student Movement

The 2011 Chilean student movement was one of the most massive and original processes of social mobilization in Latin America in the last decade. Led by university students, the movement challenged the longstanding free-market orientation of educational policies in Chile, demanding a more active role for the State in the regulation and supply of education. In this article, we study the main educational and social factors that explain the emergence of the movement. We draw upon social movement theory as an analytical framework and use newspaper articles as basic sources of data. Our research suggests that the simultaneous expansion and privatization of the Chilean education system provided students not only with mobilizing grievances (e.g., disparity in access and quality) but also with capabilities and resources (e.g., critical awareness and higher aspirations) to advance political mobilization. We also find that student organizations created effective frames to take advantage of the windows of opportunity opened in Chilean democracy. Implications for comparative international research on education reform and social movements are also discussed.

Straddling For Market Space: Transforming Estonian State-Owned Enterprises Toward A Free-Market Orientation

This paper examines the dynamics of transformation of three Estonian state-owned enterprises Eesti Gaas, Eesti Energia and Eesti Telefon - toward a free market orientation following the Estonias decision to separate from the USSR. The difficulties of such transformation are first examined from a theoretical perspective. It is argued that organizations attempting such transformation are likely to be stuck in a state of dynamic equilibrium between the old static mode and the emerging free-market mode until some key factor causes it to tip over into one or the other of these modes. Four major transformational challenges - strategic orientation, resource and competency acquisition logic, workforce and organizational configuration - are discussed by examining the dynamics of transformation of three Estonian state-owned enterprises.

Carbon tax: Challenging neoliberal solutions to climate change

Abstract Public policy over the last 25 years has been dominated by neoliberal ideology which has driven solutions to emerging social, political and economic problems. Given this, it is not surprising that emissions trading schemes founded on the core tenets of neoliberalism have emerged as the prevailing response to climate change by developed countries. There have been mounting challenges to the marketization of climate policy and we join this to argue that carbon taxes are alternate policy instruments that are more likely to orient social and economic activity towards carbon pollution mitigation. A carbon tax does not require radical social or political transformation of the economy. However, it does place the state at the centre of regulating and governing solutions to climate change. This presents a challenge to the free market orientation of current neoliberal solutions to climate change.

Emerging Market Efficiencies: New Zealand's Maturation Experience in the Presence of Non‐Linearity, Thin Trading and Asymmetric Information

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the efficiency of New Zealand's stock market by assessing the prevalence of thin trading, non‐linearity and information asymmetry. We find that the efficiency of this emerging market has been enhanced over time due to regulatory changes and the transition of the New Zealand economy to a free market orientation. During the 1970s and 1980s, the stock market appears to have been inefficient with thin trading and non‐linearity as leading causative agents. Our evaluation of non‐linear models, adjusted for thin trading effects, however, strongly suggests that the New Zealand stock market has become more efficient since 1990.

Returns on ADRs and arbitrage in emerging markets

In this paper we compare the distributions of ADR returns and the returns of the locally traded shares between Chile and Argentina. This comparison is interesting because both countries are emerging economies with a similar free market orientation and the trading hours in both countries virtually coincide with the trading hours in New York. Argentina and Chile differ, however, in two important aspects: During our sample period: (1) The Argentinean market was completely under a fixed-exchange rate system, while Chile maintained a flexible exchange rate regime; and (2) Argentina did not impose any restrictions on foreign investments, while Chile did. We find that the return distributions of the Chilean ADRs are significantly different from the distributions of the returns on the respective underlying Chilean shares. While the mean returns are the same, the return's S.D. are significantly different. In contrast, the hypothesis that the distributions of the returns on the Argentinean ADRs and the returns on their respective underlying shares are the same cannot be rejected. We then use a threshold model to estimate the transaction costs of trading the ADRs and the locally traded shares. We find that the transaction costs that must be added to the returns spread before arbitrage is possible were between 100 and 200 basis points for Chilean ADRs. It was between 66 and 165 basis points for the Argentinean ADRs. The daily return spread reversion caused by arbitrage activities was estimated to be approximately 30% for Chilean ADRs and 40% for Argentinean ADRs. Finally, we cannot reject the hypothesis that low liquidity was a major factor in the cost difference between the two countries.

Financial Institutions and Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania

Financial institutions in Tanzania have operated under a competitive financial system between 1961 and 1967. The same institutions faced a turnaround in 1967 into financial repression. It was a highly regulated and specialized financial system with government intervention in the context of a centrally planned system. High inflation and negative interest rates were common. The system was geared to serve more the public sector at the expense of the private sector. With the onset of economic reforms in 1984, the economy's direction began to move away from the tenets of a centrally planned economy towards free-market orientation. In 1991 financial sector reforms became a reality. In their current set up financial institutions are divorced from the strive for poverty alleviation. They are least involved in direct poverty alleviation and only marginally involved in indirect poverty alleviation. Poverty as a broad concept that we adopt involves both income and non-income attributes of human development. Emphasis consists in the ability to meet basic needs and sustain human decency and dignity, which goes together with participation. Financial institutions have tended to serve the urban areas. They have also favored traders rather than producers. They favor short-term to long-term lending. Lending rates for long-term are also too high to be an incentive to productive sectors of the economy. They seem to be so risk averse that, a greater proportion of their investments are in government securities, thus leading to crowding-out effect of private sector investments. This trend has to be reversed by a search for means to reach the poor directly through micro-credit facilities, other micro-credit institutions and NGOs devoted to the cause and indirectly by lending to productive sectors at less than the current rates. African Journal of Finance and Management Vol.12(1) 2003: 83-95

Returns on ADRs and Arbitrage in Emerging Markets

In this paper we compare the distributions of ADR returns and the returns of the locally traded shares between Chile and Argentina. This comparison is interesting because both countries are emerging economies with a similar free market orientation and the trading hours in both countries virtually coincide with the trading hours in New York. Argentina and Chile differ, however, in two important aspects: During our sample period, (1) The Argentinean market was completely under a fixed-exchange rate system, while Chile maintained a flexible exchange rate regime and (2) Argentina did not impose any restrictions on foreign investments, while Chile did. We find that the return distributions of the Chilean ADRs are significantly different from the distributions of the returns on the respective underlying Chilean shares. While the mean returns are the same, the return's standard deviations are significantly different. In contrast, the hypothesis that the distributions of the returns on the Argentinean ADRs and the returns on their respective underlying shares are the same cannot be rejected. We then use a threshold model to estimate the transaction costs of trading the ADRs and the locally traded shares. We find that the transaction costs that must be added to the returns spread before arbitrage is possible were between 100 and 200 basis points for Chilean ADRs. It was between 66 to 165 basis points for the Argentinean ADRs. The daily return spread reversion caused by arbitrage activities was estimated to be around 30% for Chilean ADRs and 40% for Argentinean ADRs. Finally, we cannot reject the hypothesis that low liquidity was a major factor in the cost difference between the two countries.

From Welfare to Work in Denmark: an alternative to free market policies?

English The Labour government’s ‘Welfare to Work’ strategy has been met with criticism on two grounds; the first relates to its free market orientation which is unlikely to reduce labour market inequalities. The second is its capacity to deliver given a stringent macro monetary policy and tight public expenditure constraints which will slow down economic growth and labour demand. In contrast with the UK, Denmark implemented a major reform of its welfare and labour market system in 1994, which essentially retains major elements of the Nordic model. The purpose of this article is to assess critically the development and implementation of the Danish labour market reform programme and consider its relevance for the UK. The article argues that Denmark offers a ‘working alternative’ to free market and neo-liberal policies. As the welfare and labour market reforms are geared towards building a skill base, increasing democracy and accountability and reducing inequality, there are important lessons and guiding principles for the UK.

Prospects for Small Business in Poland's Future

Poland has undergone a dramatic shift in its economy during the 1980s and early 1990s by essentially moving from a command to a free market orientation. To realize the full benefit of this shift, however, Poland will need to do everything possible to exploit its current national competitive advantages. In this paper, we focus on the role small business development can play in this effort in light of the current social, legal, and financial conditions in the country. The paper concludes with a discussion of several intriguing strategic options that could be profitably pursued.

Eisenhower and Agricultural Reform:

Abstract The federal government began to manage American agriculture in the 1930s as a way of alleviating the economic plight of farmers during the Great Depression The various programs of the New Deal set up the mechanism for both curtailing production and storing agricultural surpluses During World War II, these same mechanisms were used to increase the supply of food and fiber Before 1948, the Truman administration sought to cut back federal subsidies, but reversed this policy due to campaign promises The Eisenhower administration initiated a change m farm policy aimed at promoting a free market orientation Subsequent Republican presidents have built upon this by seeking the free trade of agricultural commodities on a world scale

Staff Relations in the Hong Kong Civil Service

Staff Relations in the Hong Kong Civil Service are in a state of flux after a history of relative quiescence. Union organization and activity is gathering momentum against a background of renewed economic growth following the 1974-5 recession. In the context of the Colony as a whole, government employ ment is the only field where industrial relations are "maturing" in the style of the advanced economies. Demands for union recognition and negotiating rights place the management of senior civil servants in a position where procedural reform is viewed as a more attractive option than inertia. The problems of public sector pay determination familiar in the OECD economies are replicated in an economy in transit from "Third World" to "First World" status, and are probably exacerbated by the dominant free market orientation of the Colorty's commerce and industry.