Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

Manufacturers are increasingly being required to adhere to product take-back regulations that require them to manage their products at the end of life. Such regulations seek to internalize products' entire life cycle costs into market prices, with the ultimate objective of reducing their environmental burden. This article provides a framework to evaluate the potential for take-back regulations to actually lead to reduced environmental impacts and to stimulate product design changes. It describes trade-offs associated with several major policy decisions, including whether to hold firms physically or financially responsible for the recovery of their products, when to impose recycling fees, whether to include disposal and hazardous substance bans, and whether to mandate product design features to foster reuse and recycling of components and materials. The framework also addresses policy elements that can significantly affect the cost efficiency and occupational safety hazards of end-of-life product recovery operations. The evaluation framework is illustrated with examples drawn from take-back regulations promulgated in Europe, Japan, and the United States governing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

3rd Annual Conference of the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH), Developing methods in agriculture and health research, London, 13–14 June 2013

Non-PRIFPRI3; ISI; CRP4; B Promoting healthy food systemsPHND; A4NHCGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH

The Impact of Government Policy on Technology Transfer: An Aircraft Industry Case Study

This case study explores the interaction between domestic and foreign governmental policy on technology transfer with the goal of exploring the long-term impacts of technology transfer. Specifically, the impact of successive licensing of fighter aircraft manufacturing and design to Japan in the development of Japan’s aircraft industry is reviewed. Results indicate Japan has built a domestic aircraft industry through sequential learning with foreign technology transfers from the United States, and design and production on domestic fighter aircraft. This process was facilitated by governmental policies in both Japan and the United States

Human security: Concept and practice

In the era of multiplying and escalating risks, both at national and international level, security of individual –popularly known as human security- from pervasive threats and fears become an area of intellectual discourse and policy debate. This is especially significant after the end of cold war, emergence of multi-polarity and proliferation of global terrorism. However, there is no established concept of human security in mainstream social science debates across the world. In the absence of a theory of human security, there exist few quantitative indicators and hence few data base on human security. More recently political theorists tried to develop a concept of human security based on the concept of human development and human rights. Yet, social science theory has not yet come forward with a comprehensive view of what exactly constitute human security. The matter is further complicated by the process of globalization and the high social costs associated with it. Against this context, this article attempts to analyze the concept of human security and its implication in a global context threatened by multiple forces of fear and insecurity. Introductory section gives historical background of human security and its recent interpretations through institutional interventions. The institutional mechanisms include UNDP report of 1994, International Commission on intervention and state sovereignty etc. Section two analyzes theoretical contributions of Amartya Sen, Emma Rothschild, Thomas, King and Murray, Kanti Bajpai, Hampton, and Leaning in popularizing the concept of human security. Section three defines human security from different dimensions and highlights the relevance of broader and inclusive concept of human security in the post cold war era. Section four analyzes positive and negative approaches towards human security in application level. Positive human security is analyzed on the basis of initiatives of Canada, Norway and Japan towards Human Security centric governance and its impact on economic and social security. Negative Approach is evaluated in the context of USA and EU policy in Middle East and other countries.Human Security; Foreign Policy; Security

The future of work: Towards a progressive agenda for all. EPC Issue Paper 9 DECEMBER 2019

Europe’s labour markets and the world of work in general are being transformed by the megatrends of globalisation, the fragmentation of the production and value chain, demographic ageing, new societal aspirations and the digitalisation of the economy. This Issue Paper presents the findings and policy recommendations of “The future of work – Towards a progressive agenda for all”, a European Policy Centre research project. Its main objectives were to expand public knowledge about these profound changes and to reverse the negative narrative often associated with this topic. It aimed to show how human decisions and the right policies can mitigate upcoming disruptions and provide European and national policymakers with a comprehensive toolkit for a progressive agenda for the new world of work

The persistence of media control under consolidated authoritarianism: containing Kazakhstan’s digital media

Citizens of Kazakhstan have greater access to the Internet now than at any time in the past. However, the Nazarbaev regime has systematically cut off the supply of political analysis on the country's web sites while simultaneously shifting popular on-line consumption habits in non-political directions. The result is that the presence of the Internet in Kazakhstan is helping the authoritarian regime remain in power

Foreign Direct Investment in Times of Global Economic Crisis: Spotlight on New Europe

This paper examines the potential impact of the economic crisis, which started in 2008, on the dynamics global foreign direct investment, especially in the new member states of the European Union. The global economic crisis that hit the world in 2008 has forced scholars and policy makers alike to rethink their approaches to the global economy, in particular to financial markets (including stock exchanges and portfolio investment). It can be hypothesised that the crisis has been particularly devastating because it has resulted from the coincidence of three factors: a cyclical downturn in the world economy; a structural change that hit certain industries which used to be star performers in the global economy (especially the automotive industry); and the collapse of the previous model of the financial industry based on excesses. This paper asks how this crisis affects foreign direct investment flows, with special attention being paid to the question of which locations are set to lose the least and which ones are set to lose the most. In this respect, particular attention is paid to the activities of subsidiaries of multinational enterprises. These subsidiaries can follow different scenarios as a response to the global economic turmoil, including a reorganization of their production systems, and a reduction or closure of activities that are deemed to be less necessary for the continuation of activities. Finally, the paper examines the policy implications of the crisis. It challenges the view that rising economic nationalism (in the form of protecting one location against locations in other countries) would be the right answer to the problems created by corporate restructurings.foreign direct investment, credit crunch, foreign subsidiaries, Europe