Policy Tools Research Articles

The Turkish Government’s Ambivalent Policy Response to the New Influx of Afghan Migrants through the Public Policy Tools

Turkey has been a hub for migrants since the Syrian crisis and has been home to 3.7 million refugees. The literature on migration focusses largely on Turkey’s response to refugees from Syria, host country citizens’ attitudes towards Syrians and their integration challenges, the EU–Turkey refugee deal, and its political implications for the EU and Turkey. Nonetheless, there has been a sharp rise in the number of Afghan migrants to Turkey since the complete withdrawal of US military forces from Afghanistan in 2020. Both scholarly and grey literature highlights that Turkey has recently been an attractive hub for Afghan migrants and other ethnic minorities, following Pakistan and Iran. Nonetheless, this literature has not substantially explored the Turkish government’s attitude towards the new influx of migrants. For this purpose, the article draws upon qualitative research based on secondary and grey literature (including semi-structured interviews with representatives from migration-related NGOs in Turkey). The article underpins its findings from the public policy framework of NATO (nodality, authority, treasure, organisation) by demonstrating how Turkey’s ambivalent response to the refugee inflow is shaped by limited information (nodality), weak legal mechanisms (authority), exploitation of new inflow as cheap labour (treasure), and migration system restructuring (organisation, treasure) after the withdrawal of external actors like the EU and UNHCR.

Indigenous Cultural Landscapes: Decolonizing Landscape Within Settler Colonial Societies

Geographic scholarship on landscape and colonialism has not substantially engaged with the specific logics of settler colonialism, propelling recent calls to “unlearn” and “decolonize” landscape studies. This article highlights the Indigenous cultural landscape (ICL), a policy tool used since the 1990s to protect aboriginal landscapes globally, as a vital resource for geographers interested in decolonizing both material landscapes and landscape studies. I analyze six ICL studies conducted by the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, a unit of the U.S. National Park Service, in robust partnership with Indigenous nations, academics, and conservationists between 2013 and 2022. In their approaches to scale, mobility, temporality, visuality, and modes of relationship, the ICLs documented and mapped in these collaborative studies fundamentally challenge settler colonial histories and conceptions of landscape. These conceptual distinctions have clear material impacts, as I demonstrate: In Virginia, the Rappahannock River ICL study facilitated the return of land along Fones Cliffs to the Rappahannock Tribe. Considering the processes, conceptual interventions, and material impacts of the Chesapeake ICL studies together, I argue that the ICL concept can generate and expand Indigenous relational space amid ongoing settler occupation, despite the tensions and limitations of working with the settler state to do so.

Качество жизни населения Мурманской области: субъективные оценки и объективные характеристики

The assessment of the population's quality of life is an important analytical tool of the state socio-economic policy, which allows analyzing the current level of regional development, the population's satis-faction with living conditions, making interregional comparisons, determining shortcomings and prospec-tive directions of public administration. At the same time, objective statistical indicators, on which the state management is based, in many respects may not coincide with the subjectively perceived quality of life of the population. In this context, the presented research is particularly relevant and practically significant. The purpose of the research is to identify the problems of development of the Murmansk Oblast, the most industrially and territorially developed region of the Arctic zone of Russia, on the basis of the comparison of subjectively perceived assessments of the quality of life and objective socio-economic characteristics, and to outline ways to solve them. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: the methodology for assessing the subjectively perceived and statistically determined quality of life of the population on the basis of indicators characterizing personal well-being and the quality of the living environment was developed; the subjectively perceived quality of life was assessed on the basis of the author’s methodology including the results of surveys of the population of cities and towns in the Murmansk Oblast; the quality of life of the population of the Murmansk Oblast was assessed on the basis of statistical data of socio-economic development; the data of the obtained assessments were compared, similarities and differences in the satisfaction of the population with personal well-being (as well as with the living environment) and statistical characteristics were revealed; the most important problems of socio-economic development, the resolution of which will improve the quality of life of the population of the Arctic region, were identified.

Effect of Technical NTMs on Indian Exports to ASEAN: What Role Do Logistics and Governance Capabilities Play?

Technical non-tariff measures (NTMs) represent a commonly employed set of trade policy tools with well-documented implications for international trade. However, this study seeks to delve deeper into the underlying factors shaping these trade effects, focusing specifically on Indian exports to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This study posits that domestic institutional and infrastructural conditions play a pivotal role in influencing the impact of regulatory measures such as technical NTMs. By leveraging logistics and governance indicators to assess these conditions, the research adopts a novel two-stage analysis approach. Initially, the study quantifies the trade effects of technical NTMs, which subsequently serve as the dependent variable in the second stage. The findings uncover nuanced patterns specific to indicators and NTM categories, with a notable emphasis on the significance of importer (ASEAN) indicators over exporter (India) indicators. Moreover, this article introduces an innovative methodological framework that transcends conventional analyses of technical NTMs, aiming to pinpoint the precise factors driving their effects for targeted improvement strategies.

What helps improve outcomes of industrial policy in developing countries? Evidence from Russia

ABSTRACT In developing countries, implementing effective industrial policies faces challenges due to capacity and governance constraints, hindering accumulation of recognised success stories. This impedes our understanding of effective industrial policy tools in countries with accountability deficits. This article explores Russia’s Industrial Development Fund (IDF) support programmes, initiated since 2014, aimed at promoting import substitution through low-interest loans to industrial firms. These IDF programmes appeared to be more effective than most of Russia’s other industrial policy instruments. The article shows that they have resulted in statistically significant sales growth for supported businesses. It highlights institutional features contributing to programme effectiveness, ensuring the integrity of beneficiary selection and project support. It offers valuable insights for organisations implementing state support programmes in challenging governance conditions. Additionally, the recent emergence of more effective industrial policy tools like the IDF may partly explain Russia’s increased economic resilience against international sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine.

Impact of carbon emission trading on urban green innovation: empirical evidence from China’s carbon emission trading pilot policy

In the face of global climate change challenges, China’s implementation of the carbon emission trading (CET) pilot policy has provided new empirical research opportunities. Based on a dataset covering 281 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2021, this paper employs econometric models to conduct an in-depth analysis of the policy’s impact on urban green innovation (UGI). The findings indicate that the CET pilot policy has significantly promoted green innovation activities in affected cities, with positive effects observed both directly in pilot cities and indirectly in non-pilot cities through spatial spillover effects. In addition, the policy has been found to encourage technological investment and enhance public environmental awareness (PEA), further advancing green innovation. The paper also unveils comprehensive policy effects, indicating that the Big Data Comprehensive Test Zone policy and the New Energy Demonstration City policy work synergistically with the CET pilot policy in advancing green innovation. These findings provide valuable experiences and insights for designing environmental policy tools at the national level, promoting green development, and constructing climate change response strategies.

Out of sight, out of mind? The bipartisan Australian foreign policy on irregular migration

ABSTRACT Australian foreign policy traditionally claims middle power and good international citizenship credentials, although it also resorts to unilateral actions due to its deep-rooted condition of ‘frightened country’. This article argues that the country's irregular migration governance embodies this tension, and thus seeks to shed light on this increasingly-neglected aspect of Australian external engagement. Following a theoretical understanding of Australian foreign policy, it investigates the country's irregular migration policies between 2000 and 2024. The article finds that there is a strong continuity in such policies irrespective of the type of government in power, supported by foreign policy bipartisanship, resulting in specific foreign policy tools to stem seaborne arrivals. These include military missions; territorial excisions from the migration zone; offshore processing and/or externalisation agreements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka; pushback manoeuvres, and at-sea processing of asylum claims. Inevitably, such measures complicate Australia's international status as they emphasise the uneasy coexistence of both the globalist middle power and the self-interested nation images in its foreign policy, therefore warranting new research on this under-examined condition.

Remote Prediction of Soybean Yield Using UAV-Based Hyperspectral Imaging and Machine Learning Models

Early soybean yield estimation has become a fundamental tool for market policy and food security. Considering a heterogeneous crop, this study investigates the spatial and spectral variability in soybean canopy reflectance to achieve grain yield estimation. Besides allowing crop mapping, remote sensing data also provide spectral evidence that can be used as a priori knowledge to guide sample collection for prediction models. In this context, this study proposes a sampling design method that distributes sample plots based on the spatial and spectral variability in vegetation spectral indices observed in the field. Random forest (RF) and multiple linear regression (MLR) approaches were applied to a set of spectral bands and six vegetation indices to assess their contributions to the soybean yield estimates. Experiments were conducted with a hyperspectral sensor of 25 contiguous spectral bands, ranging from 500 to 900 nm, carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to collect images during the R5 soybean growth stage. The tests showed that spectral indices specially designed from some bands could be adopted instead of using multiple bands with MLR. However, the best result was obtained with RF using spectral bands and the height attribute extracted from the photogrammetric height model. In this case, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.91. The difference between the grain yield productivity estimated with the RF model and the weight collected at harvest was 1.5%, indicating high accuracy for yield prediction.

Innovation in the territorial impact assessment: an application to large infrastructure projects of the Italian recovery and resilience facility

ABSTRACT The Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) has evolved significantly over the past two decades, becoming a pivotal tool in shaping European public policy. Initially, TIA aimed to tailor investments to the specific needs of various territories, ensuring allignement with broader EU and national objectives. The assessment of European Cohesion Policy 2014–20 highligthed the TIA’s utility in guiding sustainable development decisions. The integration of TIA into the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) marks a notable shift, emphasising sustainability in policy planning and the allocation of funds. This paper outlined how TIA can be embedded within the RRF’s planning and evaluation mechanisms, using Italian large infrastructure projects as an example. The incorporation of TIA into a multifaceted evaluation framework, which encompasses both economic-financial and sustainability considerations utilising the Sustainable Environmental/Economic Management Approach (STeMA) model, demonstrates its effective integration. This approach balances economic viability with environmental and social sustainability aligning with the EU Green Deal pillars and the Territorial Agenda 2030. It also ensures adherence to economic and financial considerations coming from cost-benefit analysis, while also upholding sustainability under the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. This match thus could foster a more resilient and sustainable future for EU territories.

The impact of monetary policy interventions on economic stability during global pandemics; a case study of the United States’ monetary policy initiatives in the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic

The study assesses the importance of monetary policy in the fight against global pandemics. Specifically, the study delves into United State’s monetary policy responses to the unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic; a global pandemic that pushed governments across the globe to institute strict measures as well as impose restrictions in their quest to contain the virus and ultimately minimize its economic ramifications. As such, the study compares the impact of monetary policy on economic growth (Real GDP) during the pandemic as against the pre-pandemic periods with the goal of assessing its relative impact on ensuring economic stability. The research shows that the impact of traditional monetary policy tools on economic stability and growth diminished during the Covid 19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. The pandemic, therefore, introduced a novel economic dynamic, one that various world economies were evidently not ready for. The result of the study calls for a holistic and adaptive monetary policy in periods that engender major economic uncertainties, such as global pandemics. The study shall add to the discourse regarding the limitation of monetary policy during pandemics. It shall provide suggestions that seek to enhance economic resilience and provide pertinent information that could potentially be incorporated into designing strategies that minimize the economic impact of pandemics in the future. Keywords: Pandemic, GDP, Economic Stability, Monetary Policy, COVID 19, Intervention, Economic Growth.

THE IMPACT OF TAXATION ON INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE AND EXCHANGE RATE ON IMPORTS

The globalization of capital markets has accelerated capital movements, turning the world into one large marketplace. International trade has become an important tool in shaping the financial structure of countries. However, elements such as customs duties and import quotas play a decisive role in trade between countries. Taxes, which are a financial policy tool of countries, are used to influence foreign trade, particularly imports. One of the determining factors in foreign trade activities is the exchange rate. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of taxes on imports and the change in the nominal exchange rate on the import volume of goods and services. In this study, which examined 20 Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries with data for the period 1999-2021 taken from the World Bank official website, the model was analyzed with the help of AR (1) Residual Random Effects Generalized Least Squares Regression Model Estimator. The analysis revealed that increases in international trade taxes and exchange rate increases reduce the import volume. This result empirically supports the conclusion that taxes on international trade and reductions in exchange rates increase import volume.

Performance evaluation of marine ecological compensation in coastal cities of China via a novel two-stage bargaining game DEA with imprecise data

To alleviate the pressure of economic development on the marine environment, the Marine Ecological Compensation (MEC) has become a major policy tool for the Chinese government to reconcile the contradiction between economic development and the marine environment. In this paper, we propose a novel two-stage bargaining game data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the performance of MEC under the cooperative structure. The proposed model considers the link between marine economic development (MED) and marine environmental protection (MEP). Meanwhile, the equivalent form, Nash equilibrium solution, sensitivity and stability of the model are as well documented to further analyze MED and MEP. Eventually, a case study of 30 coastal cities in China serves to verify the practicable effectiveness of the foregoing model combined with numerical simulation and support key insights as below: (i) According to the results evaluated by the decentralized DEA model, we find that if one party of MED and MEP takes priority, the efficiency score of the other party will be severely affected; (ii) the evaluation results of sensitivity and stability demonstrate that inputs and outputs have different impact degrees on the efficiency scores of MED and MEP, which provide directions for improving the efficiency of both systems; (iii) The proposed model addresses the limitation of the conventional two-stage DEA model that cannot handle uncertain variables, thus revealing the influence of uncertainty on MEC efficiency. The compelling evidence presented in the case study solidifies the effectiveness of the proposed model, establishing its promising prospects for application in evaluating the performance of DMUs with a two-stage structure.

Fostering Coordination to Bridge the UK's Regional Disparities: A Response to Rachel Reeves's Mais Lecture

AbstractThis article discusses different policy approaches to achieving one of the key goals that Rachel Reeves set out in her Mais lecture in 2024: bridging regional inequalities in the UK. If it is agreed that the unfettered free market economic model pursued by successive governments in recent decades has led to an intolerable regional concentration of high value‐added, innovative production, what alternative policy options are there? The article considers two answers to this question. The first option is to promote innovation through top‐down state intervention in key economic sectors. While this approach is becoming increasingly popular among proponents of industrial policy in advanced economies, its potential to reach a wide range of firms and sectors behind the technological frontier is limited. Instead, the article favours a second, comparatively under‐explored policy option: facilitating inter‐firm and public‐private coordination. Three key policy tools are presented for implementing this second approach in the UK context.

Blockchain as a Breakthrough in Technological Innovation: Policy Narratives and Future Imaginaries of China’s Strategies

ABSTRACT This study investigates China’s blockchain strategies through the lens of techno-developmentalism and sociotechnical imaginaries. Discourse analysis on 103 policy documents reveals that China has defined three main storylines of blockchain strategies in terms of usability, legitimacy, and applicability, thereby opening diverse imaginations for policy actors. By constructing a top-down framework for technology adoption, China has integrated blockchain into its established tradition of techno-developmentalism, highlighting the alignment between state-led governance and technological innovation. Furthermore, the appropriation of the blockchain concept by policy actors indicates that blockchain functions both as a technological innovation and a policy tool to promote the interests of specific sectors. These findings provide a reference for technical management and policy planning for various stakeholders in other countries.

Uncovering time-, frequency- and quantile-based impacts of energy, fiscal policy instruments, and economic growth on sustainable development

ABSTRACT Hampering environmental deterioration and limiting global warming has become a significant task for policymakers at the global level in order to achieve sustainable development. Dozens of studies have questioned various policy instruments, but the role of fiscal policy instruments for sustainable development has not yet been extensively examined. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of fiscal policy tools, economic development, and renewable energy (REN) utilization on sustainable development, represented by the load capacity factor (LCF). The study focuses on Germany from 1995Q1 to 2021Q4 using novel wavelet- and quantile-based estimation methods. The empirical evidence shows a time- and frequency-based dependency between fiscal policy tools, economic growth, REN utilization, and sustainable development. Economic growth and REN utilization enhance sustainable development through their positive impacts, especially at higher quantiles. The potential positive impact of REN utilization offers hope for ensuring sustainable development and preserving the ecology for the well-being of future generations. Despite the limited positive impact of a specific tax-based fiscal policy instrument, the overall effect of tax-based policy instruments on sustainable development is negative across all quantiles. Protection-based fiscal policy instruments, namely environmental protection expenditures, promote ecological sustainability in higher quantiles. These findings have significant implications regarding ensuring a sustainable future for German policymakers. In this regard, German policymakers should not rely on tax-based fiscal policies to improve ecological sustainability. Instead, they should consider promoting ecological protection expenditures to strengthen sustainable development.

Assessment of the synergy degree of China's food safety risk governance policy tools based on text mining and machine learning methods

SummaryImplementing proactive and effective policy tools is essential for governments to manage food safety risks. Existing studies have overlooked the synergistic effects among policy tools for governing food safety risks in China. This study uses policy tool synergy to develop a quantitative model to evaluate the degree of synergy among policy tools for food safety risk governance by considering its vertical, horizontal, and temporal dimensions. Using the Top2Vec topic model and text mining techniques, we examined 558 policy documents implemented by the central and six provincial governments. The findings reveal that China's food safety risk governance system has established a collaborative mechanism, with the Administration for Market Regulation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Health Commission playing crucial roles in policy implementation. Vertical and horizontal synergies between the upper and lower levels of government and among departments at the same level are crucial for enhancing comprehensive synergy.

Impact of asymmetry on exchange rate determination: The role of fundamentals

This study tries to take a new look at the exchange rate determination model by employing recent developments in time series estimation methodologies. For this purpose, the validity of the sticky price monetary exchange rate model has been searched for the Turkish lira / US dollar case. Estimation results considering both linear and non–linear modeling approaches highly support the theoretical foundations and reveal explicitly the asymmetric nature of the model. The paper infers that since the nominal exchange rate seems to be determined through the economic fundamentals, it should not be used as a policy tool with a long–term perspective.

Synergy‐as‐principle in global climate regulation

AbstractIsolated policy interventions are unlikely to effectively address a highly complex and cross‐cutting issue such as climate change. Such issues require more integrated or holistic approaches. The concept of searching for synergy across multiple objectives could then achieve better outcomes than a default position of trade‐off and collision. This contribution construes a novel principle of synergy to structure integrated decision‐making in global climate regulation through law. This article grounds its argument theoretically in the analysis of global regulation. It first develops the rationale of a regulatory principle justifying synergetic choices in rule‐design and rule‐application. It then sets out a typology of regulatory synergies – reinforcing, functional, and dormant or connecting – which can be arranged on a sliding scale and delivered with appropriate policy tools. It also suggests pathways for synergy‐as‐principle to advance beyond an effective strategy to acquiring legal bindingness within global regulation through law. Finally, this article tests the workability of this principle in four scenarios where climate protection and adjacent objectives intersect. Beyond this analysis of global climate regulation, this article points to the deeper normative foundations capable of supporting a non‐exclusionary global community.

The Evolution of the Federal Reserve’s Agency MBS Holdings

The Federal Reserve (Fed) utilized its balance sheet as a monetary policy tool in response to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic, acquiring large quantities of Treasury and agency securities. In 2022, the Fed began to reduce the size of its securities portfolio held in the System Open Market Account (SOMA) by allowing securities to roll off its balance sheet in amounts up to specific monthly redemption caps for Treasury securities and agency securities.

Determinants of the choice of exchange rate regime in oil-exporting countries

This study examines the factors that determine exchange rate regime choice in oil-exporting countries. We run ordered logit regressions for an unbalanced panel dataset of 138 countries covering 1974–2021 and confirm that oil-exporting countries are more likely to adopt a fixed exchange rate regime than other countries. The main reason for this is that, given the volatility and uncertainty of oil revenues, traditional monetary policy tools are ineffective, resulting in the exchange rate serving as a nominal anchor. This is supported by our findings on the distinct roles of output volatility, government spending, fiscal cyclicality, and central bank independence in determining exchange rate regimes in oil-exporting countries.