China's absorptive State: research, innovation and the prospects for China-UK collaboration

China's innovation system is advancing so rapidly in multiple directions that the UK needs to develop a more ambitious and tailored strategy, able to maximise opportunities and minimise risks across the diversity of its innovation links to China. For the UK, the choice is not whether to engage more deeply with the Chinese system, but how. This report analyses the policies, prospects and dilemmas for Chinese research and innovation over the next decade. It is designed to inform a more strategic approach to supporting China-UK collaboration

Dynamics and constraints of state-led global city formation in emerging economies: The case of Shanghai

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the role of the state in influencing the formation of global cities in emerging economies, and highlights the complexity of this role due to challenging external environment, divergent interests of the state actors, and the socio-economic and institutional constraints that these actors are under. At an empirical level, it examines the progress of Shanghai in its state-led development as an emerging global city and the respective roles of the nationalcentral and local states in this process

From iron rice bowl to the world's biggest sweatshop: globalization, institutional constraints, and the rights of Chinese workers

This article discusses how China's institutional constraints combine with its integration into the global economy to suppress its workers' rights. The rapid expansion of China's market economy is the consequence of the government's active embrace of global capitalism and global capitalists' ongoing search for new markets and lower production costs. China's traditional socialist labor relationships collapsed as a result of state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform and the emergence of private enterprises. In the wake of these events, China's leaders promulgated new labor legislation and social insurance schemes, but these initiatives fail to safeguard workers' rights effectively. This is because the SOEs fail to compensate their workers properly, local authorities do not actively monitor labor abuses, the judicial system cannot effectively defend workers' rights, and the Chinese government suppresses efforts to organize independent labor unions. In short, global capitalism together with China's authoritarian polity have limited workers' rights and undermined their well-being

Financing Capture Ready Coal-Fired Power Plants in China by Issuing Capture Options

‘Capture Ready’ is a design concept enabling fossil fuel plants to be retrofitted more economically with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies, however financing the cost of capture ready can be problematic, especially in the developing world. We propose that fossil fuel plants issue tradable Capture Options to acquire financing. The Capture Option concept could move CCS forward politically in countries such as China, speed up CCS technology development, help Capture Ready investors diversify risk, and offer global warming investors an alternative investment opportunity. As a detailed case study, we assess the value of a Capture Option and Capture Ready plant for a 600 MW supercritical pulverized coal power plant in China, using a cash flow model with Monte-Carlo simulations. The gross value of Capture Ready varies from CNY3m ($0.4m) to CNY633m ($84.4m) at an 8% discount rate and the Capture Option is valued at CNY113m ($15.1m) to CNY1255m ($167.3m) for two of the four scenarios analyzed

China's Engagement With African Countries: Key Findings and Recommendations

Summarizes findings on China's engagement with Africa and implications for the latter's social and economic conditions. Makes recommendations for African policy makers to ensure the engagement is mutually beneficial, broadly distributed, and monitored

THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN AND AFRICAN ECONOMY – RECENT TRENDS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) is crucial in spurring economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries, especially in the context of globalization and liberalization. For that reason there is in existence, intense competition among developed and developing countries to attract FDI (IFC, 2007). According to the World Bank, while 2007 was a record year for FDI to developing economies, the credit crunch will greatly impede this progress as foreign direct investment (FDI) and equity investment are come under pressure. The impact of the crisis on developing countries of Africa will affect different types of international resource flows: private capital flows such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), portfolio flows and international lending; official flows such as development finance institutions; and capital and current transfers such as official development assistance and remittances. The global economic crisis has tested the strength and reliance of many economies around the globe particularly in Africa, resulting in the collapse of large financial institutions, the “bail out†of banks by national governments and downturns in stock markets around the world. The current study seeks to investigate the impact the wake of ongoing global Economic downturn on the FDIs to Africa with a particular focus on Namibia. Namibia currently struggles with the problem of high unemployment rates and the current global economic crisis is likely to worsen the situation.global economy, Africa, Namibia, foreign direct investment, economic growth, stock market

The political economy of rural development in China: reflections on current rural policy

The paper examines some of the main political economy dynamics of the policy initiatives on rural development that have been taken since 2003, and provides an overview of the main issues that they are addressing. The paper first outlines the major agrarian problems that have emerged over the recent decade and more, indicating their main political-economy causations, and then systematically analyses the prospects of the new policy initiatives to deal with them. Among the new policies the initiatives to reorganise the finance system through a reform of the roles of the county and a development of town and township governments to become points of delivery of public goods and social services are highlighted as particularly potent. Further importance is associated with reforms that strengthen the role of rural residents as citizens. The impact of the Chinese government's economic stimulus package in response to the ongoing global financial crisis is yet to become visible, but it is clear that the changes must be backed up with very substantial political and financial commitments. --rural policy,political economy,rural-urban relations

Lower Mekong Portfolio: Interim Evaluation

This report summarizes a portfolio evaluation of the MacArthur Foundation's conservation investments in the Lower Mekong region since 2011. It is explicitly a portfolio-level evaluation, focusing on common themes rather than individual grants. The evaluation involved understanding the portfolio context through reviewing relevant documents and speaking with donor partners; gathering data from MacArthur grantees; calibrating initial evaluation findings through consultations with independent regional experts and donor partner grantees; improving future evaluation ability by cooperating with NatureServe to improve the Lower Mekong Dashboard; and presenting results in this evaluation report and to MacArthur directly

The Case for Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China

This program statement was developed to influence the important debate on U.S.-China economic relations. The statement presents a clear and simple case for Congressional approval of the PNTR legislation, which would benefit U.S. exporters and help foster long-term political and social change in China. It argues that China's entry into the WTO will require policy changes within China that will support the country's economic and social advancement, including its attitudes towards human rights, political liberalization, and environmental protection. A failure to undertake permanent normal trade relations, however, would impose economic costs on the United States, as other WTO members displace U.S. investment and trade in China. The statement was approved by CED's Program Committe