Positive-sum Game Research Articles

FDI Inflows, Export Expansion and Competitive Cooperation Between U.S. and China

Foreign Direct investment is identified as generating direct benefits of capital accumulation, export expansion, employment creation and labour training, all of which establish FDI as an engine of economic growth of host countries. FDI also contributes to growth indirectly through productivity gains created by increased competition in the domestic market. As regards the potential benefits of FDI to a host country- the main focus of this paper is that of increased exports.The point is made in this paper that since FDI leads to direct benefits to host countries like export-expansion it is a positive sum game. Second, because FDI is a positive growth indicator FDI has become a commercial link to build political bridges between the North and South, particularly U.S. and China, and thereby is a potential source that furthers competitive cooperation.

A Faustian bargain or just a good bargain? Chinese foreign direct investment and politics in Europe

This article explores the political challenges posed by the recent influx of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into the European Union (EU), which has become in 2011 the top destination for Chinese investment in the world. The central political question facing European states welcoming the influx of Chinese capital is whether this is a good bargain—a positive-sum game where both investor and investee benefit—or instead a Faustian bargain—a zero-sum game in the long term where capital is accompanied by implicit conditionality affecting European norms and policies, from human rights to labor laws. The novelty of Chinese FDI has the potential to affect politics in Europe in three different venues: inside European countries, between European countries, and between Europe and third countries. This article, whose main goal is to launch a research agenda on the political implications of Chinese FDI, explores in turn its potential impact on foreign and domestic policy, institutional process within the EU, and transatlantic relations.

A Spatial Analysis of Entrepreneurship and Institutional Quality: Evidence from U.S. Metropolitan Areas

This paper uses the Stansel (2013) economic freedom index for a maximum of 375 U.S. metropolitan areas to estimate the effect of economic freedom on entrepreneurship while controlling for spatial dependence. This paper finds positive and statistically significant evidence that increases in economic freedom in one area result in increases in entrepreneurial activity in neighboring areas. Furthermore, the total (direct plus indirect) effects of an increase in economic freedom on entrepreneurship are positive and statistically significant, indicating that a positive-sum game is present. However, these effects are small in magnitude. In order to explain a cumulative one standard deviation increase in either one of the entrepreneurial measures presented in this paper, there would have to be an increase in the freedom index equivalent to moving from the least free area to the most free area.

Intelligent Transport Systems: The propensity for environmental and economic benefits

Whilst the economic and efficiency benefits of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are well established, the goal of this research is to demonstrate the simultaneous propensity for low carbon benefits through the deployment of ITS. The foundation of this paper is therefore that the deployment of these technology measures contributes to the positive-sum game of both economic and environmental sustainability. Two research questions are addressed: firstly whether the evidence supports the notion that ITS systems can be implemented and operated in such a way to generate environmental benefits; and secondly whether policy priorities amongst national and international stakeholders reflect a propensity for ITS deployment in order to yield those benefits. The first question is addressed using a rationale based upon both underlying drivers and a synthesis of the empirical evidence. The second is addressed by the development of novel propensity models using primary research on international stakeholders' perceptions of ITS as a priority solution to deliver climate and environmental goals. The research shows that Vehicle Density and High Technology exports were found to be significant variables in determining the propensity for ITS to feature as a high priority policy tool in future transport strategies. The research holds further value in positioning ITS as a policy tool able to deliver both economic and sustainability gains. It holds relevance for both policy analysts and transport strategists at international, national and regional tiers.

Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: Toward a Policy Consensus

Like all politics, all entrepreneurship is local. Individuals launch firms and, if successful, expand their enterprises to other locations. But new firms must start somewhere, even if their businesses are conducted largely or exclusively on the Internet. Likewise, policymakers at local and state levels increasingly recognize that entrepreneurship is the key to building and sustaining their economies' growth. Although this is a seemingly obvious proposition, it represents something of a departure from past thinking about how local, state, or regional economies grow. Historically, state and local policymakers have put their energies into trying to attract existing firms from somewhere else, either to relocate to a particular area or to build new facilities there. Such smokestack chasing - or, in this cleaner era, simply firm chasing - often has degenerated into what is essentially a zero-sum game for the national economy. When one city or state offers tax breaks or other financial inducements to encourage firms to locate new plants or headquarters, and succeeds, some other city or state loses out in the process. Local, state, and regional economic development centered on entrepreneurship, however, is a fundamentally different phenomenon. The formation and growth of new firms, especially those built around new products or ways of doing things, wherever this occurs, is clearly a positive sum game, not just for the locality, but for the nation as a whole. This essay provides a guide to policymakers and citizens to what is known about the effects of various local and state policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurially driven growth. There is also much we do not know; thus, the essay identifies subjects that require further research.

The Political Economy of the Crisis: The End of an Era?

The article constitutes a political economy exercise in trying to understand the crisis of the euro area and draw lessons from it. The bursting of the biggest bubble in the Western financial system for decades has led to a big crisis in a currency union without a state, which is the euro area now occupying centre stage in the European political system. The culprits are many, but there have also been colossal failures in markets and institutions. A new modus vivendi between democracies and financial markets needs to be found. Banking and sovereign debt crises are closely intertwined and they both cross national borders. Yet European solutions have proved difficult to reach because of economic divergence and rising populism. The distribution of pain is hardly an easy task, while implementation has been rendered more difficult in an increasingly intergovernmental EU system. There are deep underlying differences over the overall economic strategy. Yet a lively debate has developed as manifestation of an emerging European public forum. The stakes are high. Will the crisis act as a powerful catalyst for further integration in Europe? The alternative would be disintegration at a high cost. Crises provide opportunities for change. This is arguably the end of an era. The article ends with a rallying cry for Europe the broad minded. Policy Implications • European integration needs to turn again into a positive sum game for creditors and debtors, surplus and deficit countries by looking for new ways of distributing the burden of adjustment, recognizing the political boundaries of solidarity with conditionality, and strengthening common institutions. • Europeans need to rethink their model of economic development, redefining the relationship between democracies and financial markets, adopting more environmentally friendly policies and more socially inclusive, while placing more emphasis on qualitative growth. • We need to revise our ways of managing European (and global) interdependence, while deciding how far we want to go in trying to defend common interests and values in a world where size still matters a great deal.

Does free trade result in higher GDP per capita: An International Perspective

The theory of comparative advantage suggests that free trade increases overall world production of goods and services and it is a positive sum game in which all participating countries realise economic gains. The evaluation of data from a number of countries in this study demonstrates a strong correlation between a country’s level of trade freedom (according to its Trade Freedom Index) and its GDP per capita. There are exceptions to this trend in countries that have experienced social or political unrest. This is consistent with research into the relationship between economic freedom and GDP growth which suggest that levels of economic freedom (of which trade freedom is a component) in a country impact upon growth subject to social, economic or political climate in these countries

Prakseologiczna teoria stosunków międzynarodowych

International relations are a form of human action so they should become the object of praxiology as a science oriented to efficiency. The traditional approach however must be changed. As it suggested in this article, human action is divided into three sections – cooperation, struggling and rivalry, which correspond to three types of theories. It should be added that cooperation is a positive-sum game, struggling – a negative-sum game and rivalry – a zero-sum game. The theory of international relations should be focused on the link between principles of cooperation and principles of struggling. This means that theory of foreign policy should be a theory of control in the zero-sum game system.

Cambodia-China Relations: A Positive-Sum Game?

China has re-emerged to become a dominant foreign player in Cambodia. Politically, Cambodia is one of China's oldest and closest allies. Economically, China is Cambodia's top foreign investor, a major donor, and an increasingly important trading partner. Culturally, Chinese values are deeply embedded in many aspects of Cambodian society. However, China's dominance is surrounded by renewed controversies. While the government warmly welcomes Chinese aid, saying that it comes with no strings attached, many experts are concerned that China is providing aid for more nefarious reasons. Critics also accuse Chinese investment and aid of having exacerbated corruption, weakened governance and harmed human rights, and of ruining Cambodia's natural resources and environment. With such controversies, it is relevant and significant to assess the roles that China has played and continues to play in Cambodia's socio-economic development. Using expert interviews, media analysis and an extensive literature review, this paper uniquely contributes to the existing discussion on China–Cambodia relations by closely examining the controversies of China's investment and aid, critically analysing China's interests in Cambodia, and asking if the relationship between the two nations is a positive-sum game.

Ciudadanía democrática: ética, política y religión. XIX Conferencias Aranguren

This article is comprised of two parts, bound together by the concept of democratic citizenship . The first part attempts to design the lines of deliberative democracy as the most appropriate model to embody the actual substance of democracy. That is why it presents the sense of deliberative democracy, its traits, its advantages compared with other models, the conditions for its start-up, its limits and the specific type of deliberative democracy that would be more adequate, and which receives the name of «communicative democracy»; all of this by way of dialogues with its main representatives. The second part addresses the specific questions of the place of religion in societies that understand themselves as deliberative democracies; societies that can be understood as secular, post-secular, or better still, pluralist . Entering into the debate between the defenders of a public-political space and those of a polyphonic public sphere, between the partisans of a secular public reason or simply a public reason, this article proposes a public-social space model as a discovery place, where the diversity of voices guarantees respect for complex citizenship and facilitates positive-sum games.

Diversity of scales makes an advantage: The case of the Minority Game

We use the Minority Game as a testing frame for the problem of the emergence of diversity in socio-economic systems. For the MG with heterogeneous impacts, we show that the direct generalisation of the usual agents’ profit does not fit some real-world situations. As a typical example we use the traffic formulation of the MG. Taking into account vehicles of various lengths it can easily happen that one of the roads is crowded by a few long trucks and the other contains more drivers but still is less covered by vehicles. Most drivers are in the shorter queue, so the majority win. To describe such situations, we generalised the formula for agents’ profit by explicitly introducing a utility function depending on an agent’s impact. Then, the overall profit of the system may become positive depending on the actual choice of the utility function. We investigated several choices of the utility function and showed that this variant of the MG may turn into a positive sum game.

Are joint ventures positive sum games? The relative effects of cooperative and noncooperative behavior

AbstractAre joint ventures (JVs) characterized mainly by cooperative behavior or noncooperative behavior? In this research, we address this question by examining the interrelationship between the values created for two partners when they announce a JV. We argue that, on average, if cooperative behavior and common benefits are more influential than noncooperative behavior and private benefits, there will be a positive association between the values created for the two partners. Conversely, if private benefits and noncooperative behavior are more influential, there will be a negative association as partners derive value at the expense of each other rather than by creating new opportunities through the JV. Using a sample of 344 JVs we find evidence of a positive association between the values created for the two partners after controlling for various factors. This suggests that the stock market perceives JVs to be positive sum games rather than zero sum games, and that value creation in JVs is mainly attributable to synergies rather than appropriation of resources. Our analysis also reveals other conditions under which cooperative behavior and noncooperative behavior become dominant, such as the strength of the resources of the two partners, product market competition, and JV experience. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lessons Learned from the Danish National Ph.D. Programme POLFORSK

There are many advantages in establishing National Ph.D. programmes, but so are the challenges in getting them in motion. These challenges are caused by the intensified competition between departmental Ph.D. programmes, which is a product of the emergence of the audit society. The Danish national political science programme POLFORSK has managed to deal with these difficulties and has established a very successful programme that raises the quality of the Ph.D. programmes in Denmark considerably. This has been possible due to governmental funding that has helped to transform the relationship between national and departmental programmes into a positive-sum game, and paved the way for a systematic provision of highly specialised courses with a strong international profile that serve as a valuable supplement to the more basic Ph.D. courses provided by the individual departments.

Why is it so Hard to Govern Higher Education? The University as a Public Corporation

In order to function, higher education has to rely on the sectarian individualism of academics who seek wider intellectual and social reputation as a substitute for the private distribution of residuals. This frames governance as a positive sum game, and makes collective action possible. Since there are no veritable standards of operating performance, the governance process is contingent more on generalized trust and less on administrative fiat. Collegial governance is also required by the nature of the critical assets, represented by human capital. The separation between ownership and control, which represents the hallmark of the public corporation, is untenable in higher education, unless academics are denied the right to self-ownership. The main agency costs of academic autonomy is posturing and intellectual patronage. The managerial impetus has produced debatable results so far. While focus, operating performance, and student satisfaction appear to have improved, the scope for opportunism and expropriation of taxpayers might have also increased.

PROPERTY AND JUSTICE

AbstractWhen we’re trying to articulate principles of justice that we have reason to take seriously in a world like ours, one way to start is with an understanding of what our world is like, and of which institutional frameworks promote our thriving in communities and which do not. If we start this way, we can sort out alleged principles of justice by asking which ones license mutual expectations that promote our thriving and which ones do otherwise. This is an essay in the how and why of nonideal theory: in particular, how and why principles of property come first and principles of justice second. Ownership conventions, and property law as it develops under the pressures of case by case dispute resolution, tend to become touchstones for conflict mediation down through generations. They may be imperfect, retaining vestiges of adaptations to ancient problems that no longer exist, yet still they work, coordinating expectations so as to make it easier for people to live well together.A priorireasons for endorsing principles of justice generally are not good enough. A good enough reason would be something like this: to endorsethisway of applyingthisprinciple inthiskind of circumstance is to support institutional frameworks that position us to play positive sum games.

Economic Regress and Niger Delta Grievances

Abstract The epicenter of Nigeria's deadly political violence is the clash for benefits from petroleum, more than 90 percent of which is produced in the Niger Delta (Ibaba, 2005). The sources of conflict in Nigeria include its ruling coalitions facing pressure from economic stagnation and the high-stakes corruption and rent seeking for the control of oil. Delta grievances derive from the lack of community control and land rights, the little revenue for petroleum's producing region, and the environmental degradation and other diseconomies borne by oil-bearing regions. Grievances also come from the lack of democratic accountability, high inequality, and Delta poverty that, while lower than Nigeria generally, is enough to trigger relative deprivation, the perception of social injustices from discrepancies between expectations and actuality. The only approach out of Nigeria's current impasse in the Niger Delta and other regions is to entrust policy to an economic meritocracy (as in Indonesia) that would elicit the fast economic growth that would create a positive-sum game, in which secure regional elites allow the Niger Delta and other regions to exercise decentralized power and land-use rights.

The Politics of Conflict Management in EU Regulation

This article examines how the conflicts latent in EU regulation are managed. First, it looks at how policy issues are framed as positive-sum games, party-political arenas avoided and consensual problem-solving methods of policy-making promoted. Then it addresses the puzzle of the robustness of regulatory conflict management. If challenged in its regulatory endeavour, the EU tends to respond with more regulation. Finally, the article outlines the limitations of regulatory conflict management which are to be found less in outright deadlock than in attenuation of processes, loss of focus, information overload and a tendency to solve small problems while neglecting large ones.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Environmental Economic Geography

environment. Likewise,modern (post-1960) economic geography largely sub-disciplined itself around aninterest in employment (e.g. industrial geography) or in nature (e.g. environmentalgeography). Fortunately, the nature of the debate is changing rapidly andpolitical, business and environmental leaders have recognized that economicdevelopment and environmental sustainability, the two central challenges facingthe world in the twenty-first century, depend on each other as potentially mutuallycompatible imperatives. Recognition that economic evolution is driven byinnovations of all kinds that restructure relations between economy and environmentsupports this view. If these restructurings have been overwhelmingly negative forthe environment in the past, a re-calibration of institutional and technologicalinnovation towards a Green Paradigm that seeks to realize positive sum relationshipsbetween economy and environment is feasible. Moreover, a Green Paradigm needsto be both global in scope and sensitive to geographically uniqueness. Economy–environment relationships are distinctive in particular places and connected acrossspace; climate warming, for example, is a global phenomenon in which processesand outcomes are locally varied. The vital role for environmental economicgeography is to assess how place and space influence economy–environmentrelations that are site-specific, globally interdependent and multi-scalar, and toprescribe (local–global) relations that will realize economic and environmentalvalues. Normatively, with respect to the achievement of economic and environ-mental values: How should innovation systems be organized globally and locally?What is the proper distribution of economic activities? How should cities andresource peripheries be remapped? How should value chains that directly andindirectly link multi-faceted (resource, manufacturing and service activities)activities in the supply of goods and services for consumers best be organizedlocally and globally? These are some of the fascinating questions facing environmentaleconomic geography.

“Institutional design for the Brussels area and values for the Belgian community” by Henry Tulkens, comments of Victor Ginsburgh

How to find a way out of Belgium’s linguistic stalemate? How to guarantee the respect of democratic principles in the use of languages?These two questions, especially crucial to Brussels and its surrounding area, are at the heart of the latest paper that Henry Tulkens, professor emeritus of political economy and public finances at UCL (Université catholique de Louvain), has published in Brussels Studies (“Double vision” collection).According to Prof. Tulkens, prospects to appease linguistic conflicts lie in determining the use of languages at the local level, abandoning the principle of jus soli and embracing the democratic and pragmatic values of bilingualism – rather than unilingualism – in the communes where a sufficient majority so wishes. This will restore a win-win situation – a positive sum game – among the communities where they would no longer be competitors, but partners with an interest in seeing the other language flourish. Brussels is cited as example, where bilingualism and firm guarantees for the Dutch-speaking minority have preserved the importance of this language, where the linguistic debate is less strident than in the city’s outskirts, and where linguistic opening has been an advantage to all, as demonstrated during the recent Citizens Forum of Brussels.As with all topics in the “Double vision” collection, the text published is an invitation for a reflection and dialogue on the many sides of an issue. In this context, we also publish comments by Victor Ginsburgh, professor emeritus of political economy at ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles), in a reply to Henry Tulkens.Prof. Ginsburgh calls on the French-speakers to be realistic and grasp the national scope of the Flemish project. He rejects the idea that part of the population, at a local level, would be able to change the official language applied in the area. Instead he proposes that the minority simply learn the language of the majority, not in view of assimilation but in the interest of developing bilingualism. Lastly, he agrees with the proposal for a win-win situation: each linguistic community has much to gain when the other’s culture thrives, even in “its own territory”. Nonetheless, he feels that bilingualism perhaps must make some headway before such an attitude can truly be envisaged.

Bubbles in credit and currency: how hot markets cool down

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