Trade Figures Research Articles

Transfer of Know-How for Small and Mid-Size Businesses (SMEs) in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. White Paper: Moldova

The report focuses on the potential of the development of small and mid-size businesses in Moldova. It provides an economic overview of the country, and then analyzes various best practices and lessons learned from the development of SMEs in the Visegrad countries, especially Hungary. The report provides a description of economic developments, main trade figures, relevant labor developments, migration and the role of remittances and defines the bottlenecks for SME development in the country. The authors built their analysis on available literature and statistics as well as their own survey and interview series. The study highlights six case studies relevant for SME development selected for deeper investigation such as simplified tax schemes, online tax reporting, entrepreneurship education, agriculture and producers’ organizations, the wine industry and issues of measurement of the SME sector. Finally the report draws up potential intervention schemes for Moldovan stakeholders and provides further recommendations for longer term initiatives and actions taken for the support of economic and SME development.

Tesco in Korea: Regulation and Retail Change

AbstractIn South Korea, rising resistance has slowed the advance of global retailer Tesco to the advantage of traditional shopping locations. In 2013, Tesco claimed that retrospectively‐applied Korean Sunday trading regulations reduced its trading there by 8 per cent. We utilised secondary sources and also conducted an empirical survey of 1,092 consumers in 22 Korean cities to assess reactions to this regulatory change and found evidence of spatial switching back to traditional locations. Our Korean respondents supported the new Sunday trading restraint. Such an outcome would not be expected in those Western countries where further liberalisation is still promoted. Also, the poor trading figures announced by Tesco‐Homeplus in 2013 imply that Homeplus never fully adjusted to the Korean market. Issues of society and culture continue to challenge commercial innovations: with spatial implications.

Фактор евро во внешней торговле стран еврозоны

The author investigates the influence of the single European currency on the external trade performance of particular members of the Eurozone. It is analyzed on the basis of IMF’s statistics on real effective exchange rates of the Euro for every Eurozone’s member and their external trade dynamics in the periods before and after introduction of the Euro. The author points out that, even though with the national governments lost an ability to pursue own exchange rate policy, they still implement independent financial, economic and labor policies. The discrepancies in these policies determine the value of the Euro’s real effective exchange rate calculation for particular members. Respectively, the modern days’ external trade competitiveness of a particular member state is predicated upon the effectiveness of the above-mentioned policies and their succession with the pre-Euro era policies. The author concludes that widespread idea that Germany is the only beneficiary from the Euro’s introduction while other Eurozone members are the losers is ill-based. Also, while researching statistical data for this article it was discovered that the figures of mutual trade between the Eurozone member states are not quite compatible despite the fact that there are no trade barriers and that the customs statistics methodology has been harmonized inside the Eurozone. According to available statistics, in many cases the exports from one member state substantially exceeded respective imports of another member. According to statistical methodology the situation should look vice versa due to exports’ valuation in fob prices and imports’ – in cif ones that normally exceed them. This circumstance makes extremely difficult a persuasive statistical verification of any hypothesis about influence of the Euro on the external trade of the Eurozone members.

Akaha, Tsuneo and Vassilieva, Anna (eds). Russia and East Asia: Informal and Gradual Integration (review)

REVIEWS 793 Akaha, Tsuneo and Vassilieva, Anna (eds). Russia and East Asia: Informal and Gradual Integration. Routledge Contemporary Russia and East Europe Series, 51. Routledge, London and New York, 2014. xxi + 293 pp. Maps. Figures. Tables. Notes. Index. £95.00. This collection brings together eleven studies of varying lengths on Russia’s integration into Asian regional structures with a focus on politics, diplomacy, economics and security. A section on bilateral relations analyses in depth Moscow’s ties with China and Japan, as well as both Korean states, but it is a theme that recurs throughout the book. Also playing a prominent role are issues related to oil and gas exports to the region, developments in Siberia and the Russian Far East and the much-debated construction of the gas pipeline to China and/or Japan. The volume’s conclusion provides a concise and useful overview of the regional organizations which Russia has joined since the 1990s, although it says surprisingly little about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The editors explain that Moscow is keen on being involved in the region and is gradually being accepted into its existing structures, but they also point out that the country’s ‘potential as a significant partner in regional integration remains largely untapped’ (p. 282). While this is a sensible conclusion, which draws together the findings of the preceding chapters, it is somewhat at odds with the book’s title, which suggests that it was ‘informal and gradual integration’ that has been taking place. There are a number of other issues which cause confusion. For example, part three is entitled ‘Energy and Immigration’, but it is not made clear anywhere how these issues are related, if at all. This part contains two chapters about cooperation and developments in the oil and gas sector, which at first sight seem to tackle very much the same topic. As it turns out, they approach it from opposing standpoints. The chapter by Kenji Horiuchi takes the point of view of Russia’s Asian customers, whereas the chapter by Boris Saneev and Dmitrii Sokolov is written from a Russian perspective and suggests that the country is a reliable energy supplier. It would have been helpful if these differences had been more clearly indicated in the chapter’s titles. Also, it would have been useful to have converted the trade figures stated in rubles (p. 198) into Euros or US dollars to make this chapter more accessible to an international audience and to facilitate international comparisons. The long chapter about immigration by Zhanna Zaionchkovskaia, Nikitia Mkrtchian and Elena Tyuryukanova contains interesting and detailed information about the immigrants who have come to Russia since 1991 and discusses some of the ways in which the state and society have responded to them. The chapter also addresses the issue of Russian emigration and seeks to predict future trends in both fields. As most of the immigrants have come from SEER, 92, 4, OCTOBER 2014 794 Central Asia, the chapter focuses mainly on this former Soviet region and only contains a relatively short section on Chinese immigrants, which seems at odds with the stated aims of the book. By contrast, Natasha Kuhrt’s chapter on Russo-Chinese relations, which considers whether they are based on a strategic partnership or asymmetrical dependence, is faithful to the book’s geographic focus and makes a useful contribution to the protracted and complex debate on this topic. Based on analysis of the material which informed Russia’s foreign policy doctrines of 2008 and 2013 it highlights that, in the international arena, ‘Russia does not wish to be viewed as a partner in containing China’ (p. 103). Kuhrt concludes that Russia’s problems with China are qualitatively different from those experienced by the USA which, she argues, is primarily concerned with Beijing’s challenge to its global superpower status. For Moscow, the threat posed by China is ‘most obvious in the border regions of the Russian Far East where Chinese migration and Chinese economic power present a worrying picture of asymmetry’ (p. 103). Beom-Shik Shin’s chapter on Russia’s policies towards the Korean peninsula, and Christian Wirth’s chapter which discusses Moscow’s relations with Japan and China...

An Analysis of Core Factors Contributing U.S – China Trade Imbalance

This paper aims to highlight the trade imbalance between the United States and China based on the analysis of core factors contributing to the imbalance. These factors are comprised of trade inequality, exchange rate issues, differences in the basic economic structure of both countries, and the methodology of calculating trade figures. This paper also highlights where both the countries differ in their point of view on their bilateral trade and why? Without a doubt, this imbalance leads the United States to face a huge deficit and China to enjoy a giant surplus in mutual trade. Now, how can we adjust the figures and narrow down the differences? The paper is also discussing the other issues which have reasonable implications for the U.S -China's trade relations. It also enumerates the future consequences on their bilateral trade keeping in view the current scenario. The importance of this paper is further enhanced as the trade imbalance is also counted as one of the factors of the 2008 recession which is not yet fully over because there is a very slow recovery in developed countries and relatively faster in developing countries. The analysis is based on the U.S trade data from 2001 to 2010.

Issues connected on the trade of flowers in Romania

The paper has been intended to analyze trade of flowers in Romania. The study was focused on dynamics of the supplier countries for importations and destination countries for exportations. In order to design a framework for the international trade there have been assessed several indicators. Further, highlighting the trade of flowers sector, we have chosen to pay attention on the average rate of growth and links among trade figures from data series of the four main categories of flowers. This was done on destination countries and the countries suppliers for the products come from. The data has been provided by the National Statistics Institute (INS), and the Ministry of Agriculture in Romania, and has spread over a period of 10 years, starting in 2002. The results have shown that among the variables analyzed, it was detected an active trend. According to the correlation coefficients, it was stated that pairs of variables analyzed are relatively strongly correlated. The variables that have showed no significant correlation coefficients were the exchange rates for the two main currencies (Euros and the American dollars). The conclusions were that there are real connections among the considered pairs of variables, except the exchange rates which have had their own dynamics and their influence was not found on the other variables analyzed in this study.

The Effect of International Trade on Rule of Law

In this paper, we look at the relationship between international trade and the rule of law, using the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, which include index figures on human rights, limits on government powers, transparency and regulatory efficiency. Based on regression analyses using the rule of law index figures and international trade figures (merchandise trade, service trade, exports and imports as percentage of GDP,) international trade and basic human rights seem to have little relationship; but trade has a close positive relationship with strong order and security. Somewhat surprisingly, regulatory transparency and effective implementation seems to have little or no effect on international trade and vice versa. International trade shows a clear positive relationship with the country’s criminal justice system, but the relationship with the civil justice system is not as clear as such. For regulatory implementation and civil justice, services trade positively affect these institutions, but these institutions in turn affect exports more strongly than services trade. Finally, the effect of trade on rule of law is stronger on a medium to long term (10-20 year) time horizon.

Becoming a Regional Power While Pursuing Material Gains

The case of Turkish interest in AfricaIn August 20U the Turkish prime minister Tayyib Erdogan arrived in Somalia with a substantial delegation consisting of his family, ministers, and civil society activists, along with Turkish celebrities, to highlight the need for greater famine relief. In Mogadishu, Erdogan declared that the tragedy of Somalia is a test of civilization and contemporary values.' For any long-term observer of Turkish interest in Africa, this visit seemed natural-an upshot of Turkey's aspiration to become a regional power that displays a superiority in terms of power capabilities and exerts influence on shaping the regional order.2 Turkey's interest in becoming a regional power in Africa and its strategy in the region warrant analysis. As Tom Wheeler notes, factors shape the development of Turkey-Africa relations, including for example, the assistance to African countries by Turkish government agencies and nongovernmental Turkish religious and development-focused organizations.3 In addition to Turkey's relations with Africa, we are interested generally in theories of the strategies regional powers employ to advance their interests in proximate countries. Thus we view the abovementioned factors in the context of these strategies to shed light on Turkey's growing visibility in Africa.In this article we examine two research questions. The first is how states use their membership in international organizations to attain foreign policy goals, enhance their political visibility, exercise strategic influence in global political affairs, and obtain advantageous policy outcomes. Recently Turkey successfully sought to use international fora, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the African Union (AU), with which Turkey has a strategic partnership, to launch initiatives with African states to galvanize action on policy matters of common concern among Turkey and African countries. It would be wrong, however, to claim that Turkey seeks a form of hegemony in Africa, as is widely stated about China, India, and other regional powers in the continent.4 Instead, following Sandra Destradi, we prefer to view Turkey's presence in Africa as an effort to involve African states in Turkey's pursuit of material gains by convincing those states of their shared values and goals with Turkey.5 Material gains consist broadly of economic advantages, such as increased trade opportunities and investments, as well as political visibility in global affairs. Economic advantages are easily demonstrable through trade figures, which we present. Political visibility can be qualified on a case-by-case basis, and we examine two such cases. The first is the role of Turkey in the Cotton Forum of the OIC since 2007; the second is Turkey's recent establishment of multilateral and bilateral relations with African states.We believe that there is a clear relationship between an international actor's ideas and interests and its forthcoming policies. Thus the second research question we examine in this article is how state actors deliberately package and frame policy ideas to convince each other, as well as the general public, that particular policy proposals are plausible and acceptable. We apply John Campbell's study of the role of political ideas to the study of the political economy of international relations. Campbell states that many scholars agree that an analytic distinction should be drawn between ideas and interests as determinants of policy, but what they mean by ideas has varied widely from broad notions of culture, shared belief systems, and world views to specific strategies of action and policy programs.6 Campbell therefore argues that whether either interests or ideas are the chief determinants of policy outcomes is a misleading way to pose the issue because it neglects the possibility that it is the interaction between the two that counts.7 We endorse Campbell's suggestion that ideas influenced by policy struggles in which interests, resources, and power loom large are endogenous to the policymaking process. …

The role of IT in Korea’s economic development

Korea, once a typical post-war underdeveloped country, has achieved significant economic growth, becoming one of the G20 economies. In particular, during the past decades, the information technology (IT) sector (including telecommunications, consumer electronics, and computer games) has occupied a great portion of Korea’s economy and the use of IT in non-IT sectors (such as manufacturing, logistics, banking, non-profit sectors, and retail services including e-commerce and m-commerce) has grown substantially [3]. Korea’s early economic success in 1970s and 1980s were mainly due to the development in heavy industries. In early 1990s, Korea experienced 80–10 % GDP growth rates. Then, the Asian financial crisis initiated in Thailand in the mid-1990s affected the Korean economy significantly. The unemployment rate reached up to 6.8 % in 1998 as several large Korean conglomerates including Hanbo, Sammi, Jinro, and Halla went bankrupt and financial sectors reported large loses. As a result of the crisis, the nominal GDP of Korea fell from USD 532.3 billion in 1997 to USD 358.2 billion in 1998. Korea’s real GDP also decreased 5.7 % in 1998. Since then, however, Korean economy has been growing again at a steady rate of around 6 % except in 2008 and 2009 when Korea’s real GDP decreased due to the global financial crisis (See Fig. 1). Korea’s international trade figures support Korea’s GDP trend since 1998. The trade balance has swung back to a surplus since 1998 as exports jumped substantially. In 1998, Korea had a trade surplus of USD 39.0 billion in contrast to 1997s USD 8.5 billion trade deficit. Though Korea experienced difficulties due to the global financial crisis in 2008, the trade balance moved from a deficit of USD 13.3 billion in 2008 to surpluses of USD 40.4 billion in 2009, and USD 41.2 billion in 2010 (See Fig. 2). Moreover, Korea’s trade volume exceeded the USD 1 trillion in 2010. It was the world’s 8th largest economy in the trade volume. Such fast economic growth of Korea has been due increased exports of IT equipment, electronics, shipbuildings, chemicals, and automobiles. In particular, the IT industry has grown tremendously since the 1990s. The Korean government has consistently introduced policies promoting the IT industry such as Cyber Korea 21, e-Korea Vision 2006, Broadband IT Korea 2007, and many others in order to create new growth initiatives [2] (See Table 1). As the results of the government’s policies and firms’ research and development in IT, Korea achieved the highest figure in the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Development Index in 2010. Korea was ranked the first in the ICT usage category, the second in the ICT competency category, and the tenth in ICT accessibility category. Korea’s government-driven ICT policies have promoted the innovative development of IT products such as semiconductors, LCD panels, and mobile phones. Korea has currently become an important player in the global IT market. For example, the global DRAM market share of Korean Y. U. Ryu School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA e-mail: ryoung@utdallas.edu

Japanese imports of Brazilian raw cotton in the second half of the 1930s: the beginning of significant Japanese-Brazilian trade and investment relations

The kind of evidences offered in this paper to support the argument is in the first place quantitative. Sections one and two provide simple quantitative overviews of Japan's foreign trade in 1928 and 1934. The other sections are more qualitative. A third section, for instance, explains the reality behind the 1934 foreign trade figures. It shows that, in 1934, Japan was a country under tremendous export pressure. A following section explains which strategies Japan adopted to deal with this export pressure. A final section explains how Brazil fitted into this strategic framework. It must be emphasized that this paper is on how trade with Brazil met Japanese foreign trade objectives. It is not about how trade with Japan met Brazilian foreign trade objectives. This paper also does not provide details on Brazil's growth as a producer of raw cotton. This is already a well documented historical reality.

An analysis of the economic integration of China and the European Union: the role of European trade policy

Building a stable industrial relationship with the main emergent countries has become a priority for developed nations. In order to measure the advances that have taken place in the commercial and industrial integration between China and the EU, the present study analyses bilateral processing trade figures. The results reveal a lack of increased industrial bilateral cooperation in comparison with other world regions and, therefore, the need for gradual changes in commercial policy to avoid conflict in this bilateral relationship. The EU considers that China has obtained more benefits from their bilateral cooperation. Nevertheless, European authorities should understand that China is neither the problem of nor the solution to European competitiveness difficulties. New cooperation channels must be sought in order to arrive at a better mutual understanding in the future.

Managing the Marine Aquarium Trade: Revealing the Data Gaps Using Ornamental Polychaetes

The marine aquarium industry has great potential to generate jobs in low-income coastal communities creating incentives for the maintenance of a healthy coral reef, if effectively managed. In the absence of current monitoring or legislation to govern the trade, baseline information regarding the species, number and source location of animals traded is missing despite being critical for its successful management and sustainability. An industry assessment to establish the number and provenance of species of ornamental polychaetes (sabellids and serpulids) traded was undertaken across UK wholesalers and retailers. Six geographical regions exporting fan worms were identified. Singapore contributed the highest percentage of imports, but of only one worm “type” whereas Bali, the second largest source, supplied five different worm “types”. Over 50% of UK retailers were supplied by one wholesaler while the remainder were stocked by a mixture of one other wholesaler and/or direct imports from the source country. We estimate that up to 18,500 ornamental polychaetes (16,980 sabellids and 1,018 serpulids) are sold annually in the UK revealing a drastic underestimation of currently accepted trade figures. Incorrect identification (based on exporting region or visual characteristics) of traded animals exacerbates the inaccuracy in market quantification, although identification of preserved sabellids using published keys proved just as inconclusive with high within-species variability and the potential for new or cryptic species. A re-description of the polychaete groups traded using a combination of molecular and morphological techniques is necessary for effective identification and market quantification. This study provides the first assessment of ornamental polychaetes but more importantly highlights the issues surrounding the collection of baseline information necessary to manage the aquarium trade. We recommend that future management should be community based and site-specific with financial and educational support from NGOs, local governments and industry members.

Economic Relations with the Middle East Under the AKP—Trade, Business Community and Reintegration with Neighboring Zones

This article aims at analyzing Turkey's economic relations with the Middle East during the 2000s. It argues that intensification of Turkey's economic relations with the region is due to the changes in the Turkish economy and the coming to power of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP). It looks at the relationship between the AKP and the business communities and foreign trade in general and elaborates on the trade figures and relations with individual countries. It looks at the economic cooperation projects and the vision presented by the Turkish policy-makers. The article also looks at the drawbacks and possible future developments in the economic relations.

The potential of South African indigenous plants for the international cut flower trade

A broad review is presented of recent developments in the commercialization of southern Africa indigenous flora for the cut flower trade, including potted flowers and foliages (“greens”). The botany, horticultural traits and potential for commercialization of several indigenous plants have been reported in several publications. The contribution of species indigenous and/or endemic to southern Africa in the development of cut flower crop plants is widely acknowledged. These include what is known in the trade as gladiolus, freesia, gerbera, ornithogalum, clivia, agapanthus, strelitzia, plumbago and protea. Despite the wealth of South African flower bulb species, relatively few have become commercially important in the international bulb industry. Trade figures on the international markets also reflect the importance of a few species of southern African origin. The development of new research tools are contributing to the commercialization of South African plants, although propagation, cultivation and post-harvest handling need to be improved. A list of commercially relevant southern African cut flowers (including those used for fresh flowers, dried flowers, foliage and potted flowers) is presented, together with a subjective evaluation of several genera and species with perceived potential for the development of new crops for the florist trade. It is concluded that research should be focused on potential markets rather than on preconceived product concepts. A special national effort is required to maximize the opportunities presented by the rich diversity of the flora and to develop an internationally competitive cut flower industry.

TARIFFS AND IMPORTS MISINVOICING UNDER OLIGOPOLY

Mismatch of trade statistics between developed and developing countries indicate a substantial misinvoicing of trade figures, primarily by developing country traders. This is due to the inflexible exchange rate regimes, severe import restrictions and export subsidies prevailing in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). In this paper, we focus on import underinvoicing due to high tariff barriers in a market where domestic producers compete with importers. Specifically, we examine how tariff levels, market structure and government intervention (in the form of intensity of monitoring and severity of penalties) affect the levels of underinvoicing. We also look at the optimal levels of import tariff and instruments of government intervention in these circumstances.

Global sturgeon aquaculture production: an overview

Summary The over-exploitation both of natural and enhanced sturgeon stocks for caviar production along with serious habitat deteriorations has led to drastic declines in the natural populations. As a consequence, IUCN in 1997 listed all commercially utilised sturgeon species world-wide in Annex II of the CITES regulations, thus requiring internationally agreed quotas for trade in order to promote protection. Demands for caviar on traditional export markets (Europe, US, Japan, Russia, and China) based on trade data from the 1980s and 1990s were extrapolated into the future to range from 300 tonnes to a maximum of 2000 tonnes annually. Historically, international trade comprised 500 tonnes per year with a marked proportion of resale over 2 years following the catch. If these trade figures are a realistic reflection of the market, the future of caviar trade will mainly be determined by demand- driven price structures. The feasibility of caviar production from aquaculture was already assessed in the 1980s, predicting an increasing importance on world markets. Russia, Iran, the European Union, and USA were among the major producers and consumers in the past. New entities in the range states as well as outside are increasingly contributing to the market, resulting in a substantial influence on the structure of the industry. The present total output of about 80–100 tonnes of caviar from aquaculture is now already exceeding the 2006 legal caviar yield from fisheries in the Caspian area (primarily supported by ocean ranching) while being close to the 2007/2008 quotas. Future trends for large scale caviar production are discussed, taking into account some of the scenarios the industry is most likely to face, including uncertainties in the market (e.g. rapid production increase and market sensitivities to overproduction with price structure effects, stress effects in production costs, reduced profit margins, product diversification; growing competition from alternative products) and opportunities (decreasing pressures on natural stocks; improved image) of this relatively new branch of aquaculture.

An Entropy-Based Inequality Risk Metric to Measure Economic Globalization

Is the economy really globalizing? Economic globalization is not only characterized by increased trade flows but also by increased interweavement of trade flows. To analyze the evolution of globalization in different macro-geographic regions a new inequality measure based on a paradigmatic interpretation of Boltzmann's entropy will be applied.Boltzmann's disorder of a thermodynamic system can be re-interpreted figuratively as risk of an economic system by creating an economy-genotypic risk inequality measure covering the spatial nature of globalization; the greater the disorder (i.e. equality) within the system, the lower the risk within the economic system. By substituting the pole of statistics variance with the inequality measure, we get a new measure of the risk level for the economic trade system.The paper analyzes the WTO trade figures between 2003 and 2009 with regard to the different evolution of globalization within the macro-geographic economic regions. The new economic interpretation of entropy allows not only to quantifying the globalization degree of an economic system, but with its genotypic nature, it also allows to give an explanation to the globalization phenomenon.

The financial crisis: impact on key clothing markets and suppliers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the international financial crisis on key clothing markets and their suppliers.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was undertaken on the basis of trade figures from the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Eurostat over the period 2005‐2009, and in particular over the period July 2007 to July 2009, when the strongest impacts from the crisis can be seen.FindingsThe different markets and suppliers have been impacted rather heterogeneously by the crisis. The key regional suppliers to the EU and the USA – Turkey and Mexico – have seen large falls in their clothing exports, as well as their textiles imports and exports. However, the EU has also seen major reductions in its trade. Others have been less strongly affected in the clothing sector. In textiles, trade fell in both directions everywhere, confirming a general tendency for intermediate product trade to be more affected by the crisis than final trade in goods. The research shows that certain sectors have been less strongly affected than others. However, the impacts have been heterogeneous across countries. The figures for the EU were extracted in euros, but also converted to dollars for comparison. The results vary quite considerably depending on the currency used for analysis.Originality/valueThe paper analyzes, for the first time, the most up to date trade data relating to flows over the period of the crisis. Through analysing the impacts of the economic downturn the potential impacts on the industrial landscape after the crisis can be better seen.

Reported trade figure discrepancy, regulatory arbitrage, and round-tripping: Evidence from the China–Hong Kong trade data

This study uses reported trade figures from China and Hong Kong to examine the relationships among market impediments, trade figure irregularities, and tax-induced regulatory arbitrage. The empirical findings, consistent with our tax-induced regulatory arbitrage models and the round-tripping phenomenon in China (that is, moving funds across the Mainland Chinese border through trade, typically to Hong Kong or an offshore tax haven, before re-entering China as foreign direct investment), provide support for several conclusions. First, the spurious flows of funds to and from China, via the underreporting of exports and the overreporting of imports, closely follow the preferential tax incentives accorded to foreign investors. Second, the underreporting of exports is negatively related to export tax rebates. Third, the overreporting of imports is negatively related to import tariffs. Finally, both of these two appear to be most prevalent in state-owned enterprises.

Snow White in 1930s Britain

The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had its world premiere at the Carthay Circle theatre in Los Angeles on 21 December 1937. Based on a folktale collected by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and first published in 1812 in their collection Kinder und Hausmarchen, this was the first ever feature-length animation film. Its 84 minutes or so of running time was the fruit of several years of costly (and highprofile) planning and execution at Walt Disney’s Burbank studio.1 The production, involving hundreds of artists and other personnel, as well as innovative animation techniques and specially developed film-making equipment, cost a reported $1.5 million. This was an enormous budget for the time, and the project was regarded as a huge gamble on Disney’s part. But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs confounded the doubters and proved an immediate international hit: according to film trade figures it was the world’s best-selling film of 1938, and by 1940 it had grossed an all-time record of $8 million. The film’s early awards included the Special Biennale Art Trophy at the 1938 Venice Film Festival, the New York Film Critics’ Special Award in 1939 and, also in 1939, an Honorary Academy Award for Walt Disney. Over the following five decades, in a carefully orchestrated programme of international theatrical re-releases (in 1943, 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975 and 1983), Snow White was introduced to a series of new generations of cinemagoers. A ‘fully restored’ video version, which included a ‘Making of Snow White’ featurette, appeared in 1994, and the film is currently available as a digitally remastered DVD that comes with an additional disk containing more than three hours of supplementary material. This essay explores the circumstances surrounding Snow White’s initial release in Britain, and considers how the peculiarities of the film’s British reception context interacted with some of its