The impact of petroleum exporting countries’ membership of the World Trade Organisation on their economic development with an emphasis on the export dependency of these nations on crude oil

In the mid-1990s, most nations, including some major oil exporting countries, joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to create a global trading system that was more integrated than ever before. The basic motive behind membership of this organisation was economic growth and industrialisation based on international trade. The theoretical underpinnings which support the idea can be found in the literature review, yet despite these considerable efforts, the trade-development or industrialisation relationship still remains quite ambiguous. In this research we study industrialisation in selected oil exporting nations after they became members of the WTO based on a two-phase analysis approach. In the first stage, we investigate the change in crude oil share in the total annual exports of these nations as the crude oil export ratio (CER) which has been very high, and in the second phase we study export portfolio diversification as an industrialisation index. In fact, the considerable share of crude petroleum in the export portfolio of these countries persuades us to ask whether or not they have successfully changed their comparative advantage from primary to manufactured goods after WTO membership to maximise their benefits from international trade. To examine the change in the industrialisation level in oil exporting countries in two different time periods before and after membership of the WTO, we utilise the crude oil export ratio (CER) for the first phase and a variant of the Balassa revealed comparative advantage (RCA) measure for the second. The CER, tells us to what extent these nations have reduced (or may have increased) their economic dependency on crude petroleum exports after their membership of the WTO. Indeed, a high rate of such a dependency would not only create a more risky export portfolio in international trade but also could be considered as an important characteristic of underdeveloped or even non-industrialised economies. In simple terms, a meaningful shift in the comparative advantage from primary to complex commodities’ production could be revealed in the shape of export diversification in these nations. This shift may enable these nations to be industrialised mostly when such activities are accompanied by a meaningful decrease in the CER as a consequence of WTO-led trade liberalisation. Although it is difficult to change the export specialisation pattern in a nation, it initially could be affected by technology absorption, especially when the level of education and institutions created for the purpose of absorbing internationally diffused knowledge are high in a nation. Therefore, the key contribution of this study is to measure the impact of WTO membership using a new – and a much more comprehensive – method for the very first time. This research consists of seven chapters. The first chapter provides a brief explanation of the goals and objectives of the present study. This chapter also includes the methods which will be utilised to investigate the research questions. The history of trade development and industrialisation studies is discussed in the second chapter – as the literature review – to provide the background for the present research. Chapter three focuses on the methodology and its basic foundations to clarify the way which we investigate the research questions. In the fourth chapter we discuss the essential data and also the related data sources which have been utilised to analyse the economic dependency of the countries in the research population on crude petroleum exports. Chapter Five provides the results of CER analyses which indicate what really happened to economic dependency on crude oil in petroleum exporting nations after their membership of the WTO. Initial and terminal revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) has been analysed systematically based on a Galtonian regression in the sixth chapter to compare the distribution of the RSCA for each nation at two points before and after WTO membership. Finally, with regard to the results of the analyses, the research presents some recommendations in the last chapter

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

In this chapter, Richard Harris points out that a traditional view has been that there is an inherent conflict between economic efficiency and social equality, a view neatly summarized in the title of Okun's famous book, Equality and Efficiency: The Big Trade-off (1975). This view gained renewed currency in the policy debates of the 1990s, as commentators contrasted the economic performance of Europe and the U.S. in that decade. This view has been challenged both by cross-national empirical studies and by theoretical advances. Recent research seems to suggest that there is no efficiency-equity trade-off and that social policy and greater equality may actually contribute to higher productivity growth. Richard Harris surveys two streams of recent research that point in this direction. The chapter also examines new theoretical literature, especially the new endogenous growth theory that suggests that increases in inequality can hurt growth.Equity, Efficiency, Productivity, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Growth, Income, Inequality, Equality, Social Policy, Education, Health, Welfare, Redistribution, Social Cohesion, Cohesion, Investment, Innovation, Competition, Living Standards

Comparative analysis of the existing and proposed ETS

Emissions trading schemes (ETS) have been operational to control greenhouse gas emissions in European Union since 2005. Under the EU ETS, the governments of the Member States agree on national emission caps, allocate allowances to industrial operators, track and validate the actual emissions and retire allowances at the end of each year. ETS have been proposed to be introduced in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, US, Canada, Korea, India and two Chinese provinces in the near future. The main idea of the ETS is to create the market for pollution which will provide economic agents with incentives to reduce their emissions ( Stavins, et al., 2003). The design of ETS plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting environmental and economic sustainability. There are several designs of ETS including cap-and-trade, baseline-and-credit and hybrid, however, cap-and-trade scheme is the most popular among the proposed ETS. The purpose of this paper is to perform a comprehensive review of the existing and the proposed ETS focusing on design issues. Findings of this research will be useful for countries with existing and proposed ETS and for countries intending to adopt ETS in the future.Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), Sustainability, Cap-and-trade, Baseline-and-credit, Hybrid

Transnational Corporations and Global Governance

Scholars and critics often lament that corporations rule the world, but predominant accounts of global governance imply almost the opposite: With theories populated by national governments and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, it might appear that nearly everyone except corporations writes the rules that govern across borders. This article compiles research on the varied ways in which multinational and transnational corporations have shaped global governance, drawing attention to the contours and limits of corporate power. Corporations can be seen variously as sponsors, inhibitors, and direct providers of global governance. They have, for example, been sponsors of neoliberal trade rules, inhibitors of some labor and environmental regimes, and providers of private standards for finance, safety, sustainability, and human rights. Scholars may be tempted to focus on just one of these roles or to presume unified corporate dominance, but it is important to grapple with all three and to investigate the conditions under which corporate actions are more or less unified and decisive.Introduction National, multinational, and transnational corporations in sociology Sponsors Inhibitors Providers: The rise of private authority Implications Disclosure statement Acknowledgements Literature cite

Tradable Permits

Tradable Permits – a Market-Based Allocation System for the Environment. Tradable Permits and Other Environmental Policy Instruments – Killing one Bird with two Stones. Tradable Permits – Ten Key Design Issues. Tradable Permits with Imperfect Monitoring. Emissions Trading with Greenhouse Gases in the European Union.Umweltzertifikat, Umweltökonomik, Immissionsschutz, Umweltpolitik, Klimaschutz, EU-Umweltpolitik, Wirtschaftspolitische Wirkungsanalyse, EU-Staaten, Vereinigte Staaten, Environmental economics, Emission control, Environmental policy, Climate protection, EU environmental policy, Economic policy analysis, EU countries, United States

Emissions trading : China's practices in a global context

textThis thesis provides an overview of attempts to mitigate climate change through emissions trading systems (ETS) with a focus on China's recent announcement to implement a national ETS. The report begins with a description of climate change and the inherent difficulties of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Popular policy mechanisms that aim to reduce GHG emissions with a goal of mitigating climate change are described, including the United Nations efforts to implement an international ETS through international climate negotiations. The second chapter reports on international, national and regional ETSs, with a focus on a multitude of critical ETS components. The third chapter outlines the theory of linking ETSs, design considerations, benefits, potential barriers and risks of linking. The fourth chapter focuses on air pollution in China and the state’s response to limit pollution through regional pilot ETSs that may transition into a Chinese national ETS based on the pilot programs' results. The conclusion of the thesis focuses on the potential repercussions of the future implementation of China's national ETS. The thesis concludes that China’s selection of an ETS over other policy mechanisms can enhance other nations' confidence in an ETS's ability to reduce emissions without impeding economic growth. The Chinese system can influence future UNFCCC meetings and may facilitate global agreements. The lessons learned from China's ETS has the potential to encourage the development of existing and future ETSs. Asia could become the global center for emissions trading if China considers linking systems with existing and future ETSs.Energy and Earth Resource

Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Toward Realism and Precaution with Endocrine-Disrupting Substances

The histories of selected public and environmental hazards, from the first scientifically based early warnings about potential harm to the subsequent precautionary and preventive measures, have been reviewed by the European Environment Agency. This article relates the “late lessons” from these early warnings to the current debates on the application of the precautionary principle to the hazards posed by endocrine-disrupting substances (EDSs). Here, I summarize some of the definitional and interpretative issues that arise. These issues include the contingent nature of knowledge; the definitions of precaution, prevention, risk, uncertainty, and ignorance; the use of differential levels of proof; and the nature and main direction of the methodological and cultural biases within the environmental health sciences. It is argued that scientific methods need to reflect better the realities of multicausality, mixtures, timing of dose, and system dynamics, which characterize the exposures and impacts of EDSs. This improved science could provide a more robust basis for the wider and wise use of the precautionary principle in the assessment and management of the threats posed by EDSs. The evaluation of such scientific evidence requires assessments that also account for multicausal reality. Two of the often used, and sometimes misused, Bradford Hill “criteria,” consistency and temporality, are critically reviewed in light of multicausality, thereby illustrating the need to review all of the criteria in light of 40 years of progress in science and policymaking

Incentive Compatible Climate Change Mitigation: Moving Beyond the Pledge and Review Model

Climate change represents a global commons problem, where individuals, businesses, and nation-states all lack sufficient incentives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to levels consistent with meeting their collectively agreed upon mitigation goals. The current pledge and review paradigm for global climate change mitigation, which many see as a major breakthrough, relies primarily on moral pressure, reputational incentives, and global public opinion to foster cooperation on mitigation efforts over and above those driven by maximization of narrow conceptions of national interests. Given the scale of the emissions reductions required to meet stated mitigation goals, the substantial economic costs of deep decarbonization, and the central role of fossil fuels in the global economy, these soft factors are likely to prove too weak. Projections based on the pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement indicate that the world is not on a path to avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate, and there is no enforcement mechanism to assure that the commitments made in Paris are kept. These limitations suggest the need for more robust mechanisms to encourage adoption of emissions controls based on the full global costs they generate. This Article discusses four possibilities: (1) strategic emissions abatement policies; (2) linking climate change mitigation with other geopolitical issues, with a particular emphasis on trade; (3) introduction of a globally harmonized carbon price, with design features adjusted to induce reluctant countries to participate; and (4) relaxation of national sovereignty in favor of a sovereign global climate authority. Each of these options presents its own set of risks and challenges, but all must be considered in light of the importance of achieving robust global coordination on climate change mitigation and of the currently dim prospects for doing so