Trade policy and leapfrogging.

The recent extensive study of vertical product differentiation models has allowed for the analysis of international trade issues in the presence of country asymmetries in terms of product qualities, technology, cost, market size and income. In the presence of such asymmetries, national industries will either be market leaders or lagging behind in the international market place in terms of their product qualities. The resulting asymmetry in profits creates powerful incentives for lagging industries as well as their national Governments to reverse this situation to their advantage, i.e., to induce "leapfrogging" in terms of product qualities. This paper presents an overview of existing research on leapfrogging as well as several new results and questions.Product qualities; International trade; Trade policy;

Internationalising to create Firm Specific Advantages: Leapfrogging strategies of U.S. Pharmaceutical firms in the 1930s and 1940s & Indian Pharmaceutical firms in the 1990s and 2000s

Internationalisation is a useful strategy to gain firm specific advantages during periods of technological discontinuity. The pharmaceutical industry offers us two such episodes as examples: when the antibiotics revolution was beginning and when the possibilities of genetic routes to new drug discovery were realised. This paper compares the strategies adopted by laggard U.S. firms scrambling to gain capabilities in antibiotics, and Indian firms equally eager to acquire positions in new biotechnology based drugs and shows that both groups used internationalisation strategies to gain technological advantages and build up their firm specific advantages.Technological leapfrogging, Internationalisation Strategies, Indian Pharmaceutical industry, Antibiotics revolution, US Pharmaceuticals

Leapfrogging into hydrogen technology: China's 1990-2000 energy balance

As a country beginning its motorization process, China must confront the problems attached to an oil-based car society. In adopting conventional automobile technology, the country would aggravate an already unstable oil balance while pushing up carbon dioxide levels. Not only would domestic problems emerge, but international concerns regarding oil shortage, global pollution, and the energy security balance would also result from erecting a traditional automotive infrastructure. One viable alternative the country can consider is a leapfrog towards hydrogen technology. By using hydrogen as the fuel source and investing in a hydrogen-based car society, China could overstep the problems created by an oil-based infrastructure. When examining China's potential for undertaking this technology leapfrog, China's energy past and future must be considered. China's energy balance and energy resources play a crucial role in determining the country's leapfrogging possibility. This paper analyzes one facet in China's energy balance by scrutinizing energy expenditures between 1990-2000. By looking at data compiled from major international and academic sources, an overview of China's past energy consumption and production activities is presented. Patterns and discrepancies in Chinese coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear production are unveiled and the trends considered in relation to the country's energy balance. Each energy sector is analyzed separately for consumption and production trends. Because implementation of hydrogen technology is governed by energy resource availability and energy use patterns, such an energy analysis provides an appropriate background from which China's leapfrogging potential can be evaluated. -- Der in China beginnende Motorisierungsprozess führt zwangsläufig zu einer Konfrontation mit den Umwelt- und Ressourcenkonflikten, die mit der erdölbasierten Automobiltech-nologie des vergangenen Jahrhunderts Hand in Hand gehen. Dadurch würde sich zum einen die gegenwärtig problematische Erdölenergiebilanz des Landes durch erhöhten CO2 Ausstoß verschärfen. Zum Anderen würde der Aufbau einer chinesischen automobilen Infrastruktur auf Erdölbasis, die Ressourcenknappheit in diesem Sektor, die globalen Umweltprobleme und die Sicherung der weltweiten Energiebilanz negativ beeinflussen. Eine realistische Alternative für China ist ein Quantensprung auf dem Gebiet der Auto-mobiltechnologie zu vollziehen und in Wasserstoffmotoren zu investieren. China kann mit einer Automobilwirtschaft auf der Basis einer Wasserstofftechnologie die durch Erdöl-verbrennung geschaffenen Umweltprobleme umgehen. Dieser Artikel untersucht das Potential Chinas zu einem solchen Quantensprung in der Automobiltechnologie. Ein wesentlicher Aspekt ist die Prüfung der Energiebilanz Chinas in den Jahren 1990-2000, die es ermöglicht den Energieverbrauch und die Produktion auf Quellenbasis internationaler Organisationen und wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten, zueinander in ein Verhältnis zu setzen. Die Energiebilanz der einzelnen Sektoren Atomkraft, Kohle, Erdöl und Erdgas wird analysiert und vergleichend werden die zukünftigen Trends prognostiziert. Für die Implementation von Wasserstofftech-nologie ist die Verfügbarkeit und Nutzung von Energieressourcen von zentraler Bedeutung. Eine Analyse der Energiebilanz ist daher die Grundlage für eine wissenschaftlich fundierte Einschätzung des Potentials Chinas zu einem solchen technologischen Quantensprung.

The Second Great Transformation: Human Rights Leapfrogging in the Era of Globalization

Whether globalization improves or undermines human rights is not a matter that can be observed in the short term. Globalization is the second “great transformation” spreading capitalism over the entire world. Many of its short-term effects will be negative. Nevertheless, its medium and long-term effects may well be positive, as it impels social changes that will result in greater moves to democracy, economic redistribution, the rule of law, and promotion of civil and political rights. Capitalism is a necessary, though hardly sufficient condition for democracy: democracy is the best political system to protect human rights. This does not mean that the non-Western world will follow the exact same path to protection of human rights that the Western world followed. No international law obliged the West to protect human rights during its own era of economic expansion. Thus, the West could practice slavery, expel surplus populations, and colonize other parts of the world. Genocide and ethnic cleaning were not prohibited

Toward Efficient Urban Form in China

Land efficiency in urban China is examined, using Tianjin as a case study, from the perspective of agricultural land conservation; reduction in energy use, conventional pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions; and human time savings. Issues addressed include increased scatter on the periphery, over-consumption of industrial land, over fiscal dependence on land sales, and loss of valuable agricultural and environmental services land. Policy implications discussed include the need for greater variation in urban densities (leveraging already high densities in urban China – one-third the global median), less broad-brush agricultural land conservation policies, higher floor area ratios near rapid transit stations, etc.China, land conversion, land efficiency, land use policy, urban density

Re-Think Russian Investment in Southern Africa

Russia’s direct investment of about USD 3 billon in Southern Africa over the past decade has placed before the country’s government and corporate sector two choices in the accelerating race among foreign investors into Africa. The first choice is to follow the established path of direct investment from developed economies that has, in the words of a famous African leader Walter Rodney, ‘underdeveloped Africa’ and involved a serious negative environmental impact. The second choice is one that corresponds with the former Soviet Union’s policy of mutually advantageous cooperation with Africa. In the current context, this will prove possible only through joint cooperation to achieve environmental sustainability and economic diversification requiring long-term planning and innovation. The purpose of this interdisciplinary empirical research paper is to investigate the current and future state of environmental practices in joint ventures between Russia and Southern Africa as compared with other patterns of cooperation among emerging market economies.Russia, FDI, investment, Southern Africa, SADC, sustainable development, leapfrogging development, natural resources

The state of green technologies in South Africa

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The promise and pitfalls of leapfrogging - The Malaysian experience

In recognising the social significance of IT, Southeast Asian countries have launched a number of ambitious IT infrastructure initiatives. Singapore adopted an IT2000 Master Plan in 1991 to transform the nation into an Intelligent Island . Malaysia launched its Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative in 1996. The Philippines has launched a Smart Philippines IT initiative, while Japan is actively building its Fibre Optic Info-Communication Network connecting every business and household for an Intellectually Creative Society to meet social and economic restructuring in the 21st century (Mansell 1998:190). South Korea, Turkey, Brazil and India are also transforming their telecommunications environment and preparing major policy changes to pave the way for the creation of information infrastructure initiatives and their entry into the information age

Trade policy and leapfrogging

The recent extensive study of vertical product differentiation models has allowed for the analysis of international trade issues in the presence of country asymmetries in terms of product qualities, technology, cost, market size and income. In the presence of such asymmetries, national industries will either be market leaders or lagging behind in the international market place in terms of their product qualities. The resulting asymmetry in profits creates powerful incentives for lagging industries as well as their national Governments to reverse this situation to their advantage, i.e., to induce "leapfrogging" in terms of product qualities. This paper presents an overview of existing research on leapfrogging as well as several new results and questions