...A game of catch-up The shift in economic power from West to East is accelerating, says John O’Sullivan. The rich world will lose some of its privileges Sep 24th 2011 | from the print edition * * QUARRY BANK MILL is a handsome five-storey brick building set in the valley of the river Bollin at Styal, a small English village a few miles south of Manchester. It was built in 1784 by Samuel Greg, a merchant, who found profit in supplying cotton thread to Lancashire’s weavers. The raw cotton shipped from America’s slave plantations was processed on the latest machinery, Richard Arkwright’s water frame. Later Greg extended the factory and installed coal-fired steam engines to add to the water power from the Bollin. All this gave a huge boost to productivity. In 1700 a spinster with a pedal-driven spinning wheel might take 200 hours to produce a pound of yarn. By the 1820s it would take her around an hour. Greg’s mill was part of a revolution in industry that would profoundly alter the world’s pecking order. The new technologies—labour-saving inventions, factory production, engines powered by fossil fuels—spread to other parts of western Europe and later to America. The early industrialisers (along with a few late developers, such as Japan) were able to lock in and build on their lead in technology and living standards. The “great divergence” between the West and the rest lasted for two centuries. The mill at Styal, once one of the world’s largest, has become a museum...
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...blo gs.lse .ac.uk http://blo gs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewo fbo o ks/2013/08/01/bo o k-review-emerging-po wers-in-a-co mparative-perspective-thepo litical-and-eco no mic-rise-o f-the-bric-co untries/ Book Review: Emerging Powers in a Comparative Perspective: The Political and Economic Rise of the BRIC Countries Blo g Admin The book examines the rising influence of emerging powers in global politics, with a special focus on the BRIC countries. The book aims provide a detailed analysis of political, economic, security, and foreign policy trends in the BRIC countries to address such questions as to whether they will seek to revise the international order or work within it, and how they will deal with transnational global problems. Reviewed by Carlos Carrasco Farré. Emerging Powers in a Comparative Perspective: T he Political and Economic Rise of the BRIC Countries. Vidya Nadkarni and Norma C. Noonan. Bloomsbury. February 2013. Find this book: T he contrast during the Cold War between a coercive Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and a cooperative American hegemony in Western Europe started a new line of research in international politics. T he end of this conf lict, and the main core of this research topic, seems to come f rom what Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci noted: “a hegemonic social order that rests on a f oundation of moral and intellectual authority and voluntary acceptance is more enduring because it is seen as legitimate”. In just two decades the international order...
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...magnitudes with this sub-construct can analyzed: complexity, flow, and presence. At last, they offer refused construct definition and concluded with implications for research and practice. INTRODUCTION A United States Weakens under the weight of endless bipartisan bickering and decline of social and civil infrastructures, that either India or china will assume economic dominance on world stage. They ultimately emerge the top economic power by the year 2030? The recent deterioration in Western economies and the rapid economic growth in emerging economics are shifting global industrial centre of gravity away from north Atlantic and raising importance of natural resource-poor Asian economies in World output and trade. The old Generation x-ers by moving out of work and their golden years, by Millennials are fully entrenched and influential in global economic cycle. 2030 as points are in reference? The pivotal year in history which is the largest demographic group in world history, the baby boomers, they have nearly depleted Social Security trust fund and will shifted away from global economic stream. The turn is increasing the demand for exports from natural resources-rich economies. The continuation of process begun in Japan in 1950’s and followed by Korea and Taiwan from late 1960s by some Southeast Asian Countries. Recently it has involved for more populous China and India. The earlier Northeast Asian group represents 3 percent of world’s population and rapid...
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...associations can be traced as far back as the 11th century when Jewish and Muslim merchants set up trade associations. After centuries of evolution, stock markets have become the symbol of commerce in the modern world. It operates in various countries and trades a range of securities. The world stock market capitalisation is estimated to be about $ 36.6 Trillion. The stock market has various functions such as capital mobilisation, investing opportunities, risk distribution etc. The major stock exchanges in the world today include New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Italian Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange. There have been various stock market crashes in the past such as the Wall Street crash of 1929, the crash of 1973/74, the 1987 crash; called black Monday, the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the more recent crash in 2008 caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in America. The economic crisis of 2008 which originated in America spread to various economies in the world and their stock markets were affected. It reduced the value of stocks around the world by as much as 41% and affected both major and emerging stock markets. The Nigerian stock market is an emerging market in Africa. After attaining the position of one of the most profitable, efficient and fastest growing equity market in the world, with a return on investment of up to 78% in 2007 the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was seen as an investment haven. On reaching...
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...associations can be traced as far back as the 11th century when Jewish and Muslim merchants set up trade associations. After centuries of evolution, stock markets have become the symbol of commerce in the modern world. It operates in various countries and trades a range of securities. The world stock market capitalisation is estimated to be about $ 36.6 Trillion. The stock market has various functions such as capital mobilisation, investing opportunities, risk distribution etc. The major stock exchanges in the world today include New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Italian Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange. There have been various stock market crashes in the past such as the Wall Street crash of 1929, the crash of 1973/74, the 1987 crash; called black Monday, the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the more recent crash in 2008 caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in America. The economic crisis of 2008 which originated in America spread to various economies in the world and their stock markets were affected. It reduced the value of stocks around the world by as much as 41% and affected both major and emerging stock markets. The Nigerian stock market is an emerging market in Africa. After attaining the position of one of the most profitable, efficient and fastest growing equity market in the world, with a return on investment of up to 78% in 2007 the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was seen as an investment haven. On reaching...
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...Globalization According to Held and McGrew, ‘Globalization denotes the expanding scale, growing magnitude, speeding up, and deepening impact of interregional flows and patterns of social interactions’. It has been called upon to account for developments as diverse as the value of euro, world-wide popularity of ‘Harry Potter’, and the rise of Third Way politics and religious fundamentalism. The concept of ‘Globalization’ came to be used in the 1960s and early 1970s, which has been recognised as the ‘golden age’ of rapidly expanding political and economic interdependence – mostly between Western states. In this inter-dependent world, events abroad readily acquired impacts at home, while developments at home had consequences abroad. The world was fast becoming a shared social and economic space, at least for its most affluent inhabitants. Globalization has been variously conceived as ‘actions at distance’, whereby actions of social agents is one location have significant consequences for distance others; time-space compressions, where the way electronic communication erodes the constraints of time and distance; accelerated interdependence among countries; a shrinking world, with an erosion of boarders and geographical boundaries through socio-economic activity. The ‘flows and interactions’ of globalization are not confined to economic trade, capitals, and spread of MNCs. There is a growing emphasis on the need for broaden approach, including communication (internet)...
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...associations can be traced as far back as the 11th century when Jewish and Muslim merchants set up trade associations. After centuries of evolution, stock markets have become the symbol of commerce in the modern world. It operates in various countries and trades a range of securities. The world stock market capitalisation is estimated to be about $ 36.6 Trillion. The stock market has various functions such as capital mobilisation, investing opportunities, risk distribution etc. The major stock exchanges in the world today include New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Italian Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange. There have been various stock market crashes in the past such as the Wall Street crash of 1929, the crash of 1973/74, the 1987 crash; called black Monday, the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the more recent crash in 2008 caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in America. The economic crisis of 2008 which originated in America spread to various economies in the world and their stock markets were affected. It reduced the value of stocks around the world by as much as 41% and affected both major and emerging stock markets. The Nigerian stock market is an emerging market in Africa. After attaining the position of one of the most profitable, efficient and fastest growing equity market in the world, with a return on investment of up to 78% in 2007 the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was seen as an investment haven. On reaching...
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...Current Financial Crisis: a review of some of the consequences, policy actions and recent trends1 By Sameer Khatiwada and Emily McGirr, International Institute for Labour Studies2 What is happening? On the heels of the near bankruptcy of a major insurance company and the effective end of all major US investment banks, financial markets around the world sustained severe losses in the first two weeks of October, 2008, accelerating the downward trend that started at the beginning of the year. As a consequence, from New York to Moscow, and London to Sao Paulo, equity prices have fallen sharply – with the major stock indices of the G7 and BRICs losing nearly half of their value since the beginning of the year. This has seriously damaged banks’ balance sheets and restricted their lending capacity. With the cost of short-term credit rising dramatically and liquidity drying up, these events have been dubbed the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression in 1930s. More importantly, the shock waves from the US financial market have spread throughout the globe, with many countries on the brink of recession (see Figure 1, Appendix). How did a “house fire” in America turn into a global banking crisis? Sub-prime mortgages are a financial innovation designed to provide home ownership opportunities to borrowers in the U.S. with a higher risk profile (such as borrowers with low incomes, bad credit histories or limited disposable income). Most of the sub-prime ...
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...segment of the society into financial net, both monetary and fiscal authorities have embarked upon a robust strategy toward addressing the gap. The former (monetary authority) had set out a visible road map necessary for direct effect on savings, investment, rate of interest, pension and general form of financial services. While the later (fiscal authority) have been making a remarkable effort toward achieving sustained economic growth especially in rural areas, this would translate accelerated and friendly society necessary for effective implementation of Financial Inclusion Strategy and thus would stimulate economic development generally, more new jobs would be created, society would also be empowered to generate more wealth and making the economy competitive. Inclusive growth is thus arguably popular with most governments on the global development priorities presently, and Nigeria is not left out of the...
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...growth in Africa? Drawing lessons from the African continent, provide evidence for the emerging consensus on the future role of small-holder farming for Africa’s economic growth. Table of contents 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Definition of inclusive growth 4 1.2 Africa’s economic growth narrative 5 2 The Challenges of Africa’s Agricultural Sector 8 2.1 Issues surrounding Land Tenure and concomitant effects 8 2.2 Low diffusion and absorption of technology 11 3 The Role of Smallholder Farming for Africa’s Economic Growth – Evidence of an Emerging Consensus 13 4 Smallholder Farming Success Narratives 15 4.1 Botswana: Competitiveness of beef smallholder farmers 15 4.2 Ethiopia: Commercialisation of small scale farmers of grain 16 5 Conclusion and Recommendations 17 References 20 Agriculture and its role in inclusive growth in Africa 1. Introduction The purpose of this report is to consider the position of agriculture in Africa, and the potential that it has for improving the lives of the majority of those living on the continent. The report starts off with defining inclusive growth, and highlights how agriculture can contribute towards this phenomena as a consideration. It then talks to agricultural concepts and considerations in the African context, and attempts to identify African specific challenges and provide workable solutions. The paper also reflects on an emerging consensus advocating for the promotion of the productivity of smallholder farmers which...
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...higher than what is required. The country’s reserves stand higher than the adequate level only when one considers the current account aspects of reserves benchmark which is perhaps appropriate for the country as its financial system is still autarkic. The dynamics in its balance of payments account also supports the fact. The paper highlights the fact that Bangladesh’s reserves build-up is the result of an ‘investment drought’ in the country. This is partly due to its underdeveloped financial systems, and partly due to other structural problems in the economy – entailing difficulties in properly channelling national savings to investments. As the Bangladesh central bank’s sterilised intervention increases, so will its cost of reserves accumulation. The reason is the interest rate arbitrage between Bangladesh and the United States. The United States government securities market, that absorbs the lion’s share of developing economies reserves, has been offering lower yields following the collapse in interest rate in the country in recent times. Nevertheless, the apparent spread between the United States Treasury and Bangladesh Treasury rates might be not that high in real terms if one weighs in Bangladesh’s certain benefits of reserves holding, particularly...
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...The ‘R’ in BRICs: is Russia an emerging power? S. NEIL MACFARLANE * The notion of emerging powers presupposes a number of characteristics shared by the states in question.1 These include regional preponderance, aspiration to a global role, and the contesting of US hegemony. These characteristics arguably make the group as a whole a useful category in analysis and policy formulation. In particular, cooperation among these states, and possibly with more established powers seemingly equally unhappy with the unipolar configuration of international politics (e.g. France), may create a basis for a coalition having the potential to balance American power.2 There is ample evidence from all of the emerging powers of unhappiness with the existing structure of international politics. There has also been substantial consideration of the potential for cooperation among them and with certain European states to constrain the hegemon—from the suggestion of entente between France, Germany and Russia to the repeated examination of prospects for a SinoRussian–Indian triangle, and the growing Chinese and Russian interest in bilateral cooperation over shared security concerns.3 This article assesses the role of Russia as an ‘emerging power’. How do Russians interpret the international system in which they operate? What kind of system would they prefer? What are they trying to do in the current system and why? How do these considerations affect their relations with the hegemon, with other centres...
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...global economy Paulo Roberto de Almeida In: Cebri-Icone-British Embassy in Brasília: Trade and International Negotiations for Journalists (Rio de Janeiro, 2009, p. 146-154; ISBN: 978-85-89534-05-5). ∗ 1. Where do they come from and what are the Brics? In demographic terms, BRIC holds the world’s two most populated countries and another two with considerable populations. China alone holds a fifth of the world’s population, and is closely followed by India (17.5%) and, by a larger gap Brazil (2.9%) and Russia (2.2%). Despite their large territories – Russia’s 17 million km2, India’s 3.2 million km2, China’s 9.3 million km2 and Brazil’s 8.5 million km2 –, the Brics differ from each other in terms of natural resources, level of industrialization and impact on the global economy. It is important to point out these differences, as definition as a bloc might lead to wrongful assumptions about the four countries’ individual current and future roles in the global economy. In order to be accurate about each country’s actual weight in the world, we should perhaps change the acronym to CIRB (but without the glamour of the name). Let us begin with China, which is the most continuous civilization in history – not strictly in terms of political linearity but rather in terms of cultural continuity. The country has a tragic contemporary history, marked by economic decadence, political instability, military humiliation and social regression caused by a deep degradation of the social fabric...
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...Nestle's Growth Strategy and Business Development Nestle's Growth Strategy and Business Development 1.) Does it make sense for Nestle to focus its growth on emerging markets? As it can be derived from the text, Nestle generates operates worldwide with a focus on European markets, which make up 70 percent of its sales. These markets are in the mature state of life cycle of that industry and additionally demographic changes such as the stagnation of population growth rates make it very hard companies like Nestle to generate higher profits through higher sales. As a matter of fact the western economies are actually facing a downturn in output and growth, thus influencing the consumption patterns of customers, especially in the retail business. Consumer are becoming more price aware and tend to spend less while demanding at the same time for customisation, product differentiation and specialization. Another trend is the shift away from branded food and beverages towards cheap non-branded foods and beverages. Nevertheless, the introduction of non-brand own labelled products such as Food Lion offers only makes sense in a large scale in order to achieve economies of scale. As a result of increasing non-brand cheap products offered by rivals, Nestle find itself in an even more embattled market and needs to develop a new strategy either away from branding or towards a higher degree of international market penetration. Since Nestle stands for high quality and has distinctive competencies...
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...Woods system, a variety of financial domestic and international restrictions facilitated a sharp and rapid reduction or “liquidation” of public debt from the late 1940s to the 1970s. The restrictions or regulatory measures of that era had their origins in what would now come under the heading of “macroprudential” concerns in the wake of the severe banking crises that swept many countries in the early 1930s. The surge in public debts that followed during the Great Depression and through World War II only made the case for stable and low interest rates and directed credit more compelling to policymakers. The resurgence of financial repression in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crises alongside the surge in public debts in advanced economies is documented here. This process of financial “de-globalisation” may have only just begun. * Research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. NB: This paper draws on Reinhart and Sbrancia (2011), Reinhart, Kirkegaard, and Sbrancia (2011) and the chapter by Carmen M. Reinhart and Dani Rodrik from “Rethinking central banking”, published by the Brookings Institution, in the first annual report of the Committee for International Economic Policy and Reform (CIEPR). The author would like to thank Vincent Reinhart for helpful comments and...
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