Monetary Policy Efficiency in the Economies of Central Asia

This study examines monetary policy efficiency in Central Asia by investigating the monetary transmission mechanism in the region’s economies. To examine monetary policy efficiency, it is necessary to take into account factors that might impede the transmission, such as high levels of dollarization, weak financial sectors, underdeveloped capital markets, and low monetization of economies. Empirical findings confirm the importance of exchange rate pass-through in transition economies with high dollarization. The findings also provide an empirical case for deepening the local financial sectors to improve the efficiency of monetary policy and to improve resilience to external and other shocks.monetary policy, dollarization, transmission mechanisms, interest rate channel, exchange rate pass-through, bank lending channel

Absorptive capacity in technological learning in clean development mechanism projects

Technology transfer in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects of the Kyoto Protocol has become one of the important issues addressed both in policy agenda and by academic scholars. In many CDM project host countries, technology transfer is among the key provisions of sustainable development objectives of the CDM projects. This study is an effort to investigate CDM projects' related technology transfer process from the organizational learning perspective. The prerequisite for successful technology transfer and organizational technological learning is to foster technological capabilities (TC) of an organization. In this study we used data from our survey of the CDM project host organizations in four largest CDM host countries India, Brazil, Mexico and China. We assessed TC building progress and studied various characteristics of the organizations. The present paper focuses on absorptive capacity related determinants of technological capability building in the CDM projects. Absorptive capacity is a multidimensional concept thus we investigated the effect of the dimensions such as prior knowledge, personnel qualification, and training efforts. A strong positive association was established between prior knowledge and TC building; and less for qualification variable. Besides we proved a curvilinear relationship between prior knowledge and TC building outcomes.Clean Development Mechanism, Technology transfer, technological capability building, technological learning, absorptive capacity

Collecting, Preparing, and Synthesizing Well Log Data for Subsurface Mapping: Example from the Bakken Formation

Late Devonian and Early Mississippian Bakken Formation consists of three distinct members: the upper shale, middle, and lower shale. The upper and lower shales are excellent source rocks, rich in organic content. The organic material in the shales was derived from planktonic algae. Both the upper and lower shales were deposited during a transgressive event in hypoxic to anoxic conditions. The original total organic carbon content in the Bakken shales ranges from 20 to 22 weight percent, however; the content decreases to 10 to 17 weight percent as a result of maturation of hydrocarbons and primary expelling of oil. High contents of total organic carbon are also responsible for high resistivity response on the logs due to oil saturation during organic matter maturation. In order to characterize organic rich source rocks in the Bakken Formation, total organic carbon content can be calculated from the density logs using an empirical equation and resistivity values obtained from the resistivity logs. The objectives of the study was to create a database of well logs and import it into a mapping software and produce a manual that will guide users to obtain and utilize well information from various sources

Decoding

Decoding delves into my personal experience of growing up in a Western educational system as an undiagnosed neurodiverse student. The purpose of this piece spotlights dyslexia – which in my experience included the daily decoding of written assignments, but also the process of decoding what it meant to be classified as having “poor comprehension” of verbal and social settings in the classroom. I want Decoding to challenge how we think about neurodiversity, and how Indigenous teachings honours the understanding of people in a holistic way in contrast to more compartmentalized approaches found in Western systems

Knowledge Base Determinants of Technology Sourcing in the Clean Development Mechanism Projects

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the three greenhouse gas emission reduction and trading instruments of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). The CDM allows governments and business entities from developed countries to offset their emissions liabilities by reducing or avoiding emissions in developing countries, where it is often cheaper to do so. Examples of CDM projects include the installation of various renewable energy producing facilities, cutting the GHG emissions in industry and waste management, or projects focused on improving energy efficiency. From the sustainable development perspectives CDM has been alleged as a new channel of transfer and diffusion of climate friendly technologies (CFT) in developing countries. However we are evidencing that the majority of the CDM projects deploy local sources of technology, which challenges the North- South technology transfer paradigm established under the sustainable development agenda of the KP. This paper is an attempt to explain technology sourcing patterns in CDM projects through employment of knowledge base determinants. On the basis of an empirical analysis we conclude that in countries with a stronger knowledge base in CFT, CDM project implementers tend to go for local and combined technologies and less for foreign technologies.Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, Kyoto Protocol, Technology

Currency substitution in the economies of Central Asia: How much does it cost?

Underdeveloped financial markets and periods of high inflation have stimulated dollarization and currency substitution in the economies of Central Asia. Some authors argue that the latter can pose serious obstacles for the effective conduct of monetary policy and can affect households' welfare. This study uses a model with money-in-the-utility function to estimate the elasticity of substitution between domestic and foreign currencies in three economies of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. Utility derived from holding money balances is represented by a CES function with money holdings denominated in two currencies. The residents are assumed to diversify their monetary holdings due to instability of the domestic currency. The steady state analysis reveals that though currency substitution decreases governments' seigniorage revenue, holding foreign money can be welfare generating if domestic currency depreciates vis-à-vis the currencies in which households' foreign balances holdings are denominated. De-dollarization can only be achieved through further macroeconomic stabilization that will bring price and exchange rate stability. Financial sector development will also decrease currency substitution through the provision of reliable financial instruments and the gaining of public confidence.currency substitution, dollarization, monetary policy, seigniorage, welfare, transition economies

Beyond the emission market: Kyoto and the international expansion of waste management firms

This paper analyses the participation of firms without GHG emission liabilities as technology providers in CDM and JI projects, the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. It argues that the motivations for those firms to engaging in CDM and JI projects is based on market stimuli beyond those related to the emission market itself. Instead, their motivations are largely associated with search for new markets where their technological resources and expertise can be exploited. The analysis is based on three firms from the Dutch waste management industry. These cases suggest that the Kyoto's mechanisms compensate to some extent the weakness of the underdeveloped waste management sector in developing and transition economies.Waste Management Industry, Kyoto Protocol, International Expansion, Firm-specific advantages

Social mobilisations, politics and society in contemporary Kyrgyzstan

This dissertation is about social mobilizations in rural Kyrgyzstan from 2010-2015. Following a constructivist approach, I aim to answer a puzzling question in regard to multiple but rarely sustainable protests in this global periphery: Under what conditions can provisional episodes of mobilization be transformed into sustained mobilization? In particularly, I consider Eric Hirsch’s insight that the commitment of participants of mobilization to the cause is formed within collective instances, i.e. ‘group processes’, and I employ it in the Kyrgyzstani context of generalized distrust and discredited corrupt politics. I explore the conditions in which participants of episodes of mobilization create trust in organizers and into the cause of mobilization. I investigate these conditions in two case studies: one concerns a fragmented labour force at a state-owned gas and oil company in which, in the course of four years, workers succeeded to empower themselves as a collective actor within the group processes of collective learning and collective decision-making. The second tells a story about a fragmented rural community that goes against mining operations but sees the decline of an initially successful mobilization within group processes of monitoring. These findings point to the presence of a specific ‘pre-condition’ for any lasting mobilization: trust between organizers and participants of episodes of mobilization must be established in the process of monitoring the commitment to collective interests. With this insight I contribute to the literature on social movements and mobilizations that tends to take commitment and trust as pre-established resources. Furthermore, this work intervenes in the ongoing discussion on social change in the former Soviet Union. First, my observations of the difficult formation of protest groups lead, surprisingly, to the conclusion that the weak state produces a weak society. Second, due to the fragmented and localized nature of these mobilizations, social and political change in Kyrgyzstan is most likely to occur at the local level.University of Central Asia University of Exete