Political and Economic Opening as a Post-Crisis Strategy for Japan

In economics literature, the sources of economic growth in general and in Japan in particular have been appraised either from the supply-side, with the emphasis on capital accumulation, labour, total factor productivity and – given the advent of the new growth models – on technological change, or from the demand side. The study on Japanese growth by Chenery et al. (1962) was an early demand-based study that looked at the drivers of economic growth and structural change over the period 1914-1954. Using input-output methods and taking into account the contribution of technological change11 over this long-time period, the authors found two distinct early sub-periods of economic growth: the 1914-1935 and the 1935-1954 sub-periods. The first (1914-1935) is characterised by a rise in domestic income (by 4.5 per cent per annum) with large increases in exports. The second (1935-1954) is marked by the loss of colonial supplies of raw materials and by a substantial fall in exports; this second sub-period is also marked by import substitution policies and by the rising importance of technological change. The findings for the first sub-period mirror Japan’s emergence as an economic and geostrategic power, affirming first its colonial ambitions in East-Asia through the development of its many manufacturing networks, in the region as a whole and in Korea in particular (Inkster, 2001)

Long-term Cereal Price Changes: How Important is the Speculative Element?

The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of the relationship existing between cereal prices and several variables such as population, income, exports, the exchange rate, and speculation, by using a linear regression analysis. Specific emphasis is placed on the speculative dimension. The methodology used helps us explore the forms of relationships between the different variables, and, more specifically, it gives an insight into the extent of speculation during the recent critical time period. Our results show that speculation (defined by the long position of traders) has played a crucial role during the period June 2001 – December 2009. According to our analysis, speculation is the most relevant independent variable that affects cereal prices. Exports, in some ways connected to the former variable, occupy second place, in terms of significance. However, their impact on cereal prices is less relevant than that of biofuel production. Population growth does not have an impact in a positive way on cereal prices; it acts in the opposite direction due to the change in diets, implying that population increases would tend to affect primarily other agricultural markets. Excessive volatility in food prices, as that observed in the last years is a dramatic question. From a demand point of view, consumers in developing countries and vulnerable income groups in other countries (farmers) have to be protected. More than one policy on both international markets and domestic markets has to be introduced so as to lessen food/cereal lower price volatility

The Korea FTA: New Prospect and for Patterns od Agricultural and Agrifood Trade?

If a preferential trade agreement is a spatially confined form of economic integration between countries aiming at reducing tariffs for certain products and services in their bilateral or multilateral trade, it can affect trade flows and resource allocation. The Korea-EU free trade area agreement is rather comprehensive, since only a few agricultural products would avail of some specific treatments. The aims of this paper are: to evaluate the effects on agricultural and agrifood trade; to analyse whether this agreement inserts itself in the current trade structure by consolidating it, or whether it will enable a diversification of two-way trade and to verify if the agreement is able to solve some disputes. It will compare the Korea-EU FTA with other similar agreements, and, moreover, by using a number of statistical indicators, the prospective impact of the agreement is assessed at a refined level of analysis. In the case of the Korea-EU FTA, even if the main stakes are in the services sector, and in the machinery and chemical industries, agricultural and food products are strategic, today more than never because of the food security issue and because of climate change effects

The evolving model of capitalism in Ireland: an insight into enterprise development and policy

Contemporary capitalism in Ireland took off in the late 1950s and affirmed itself as an inward investment-focused model of development. With enterprise development at the core of the policy (as a way of developing the economy and society and ending emigration), all other policy domains - financial, governance, industrial relations, welfare and education - became subservient to the industrialization-by-invitation' strategy. This article examines and characterizes the Irish model of development, using the lens of the varieties of capitalism literature (VoC) as a starting point. The article also examines whether a stage theory of capitalism perspective can capture changes which the VoC perspective might obscure. The collapse of the Irish banking system since 2008 and the subsequent recession raises major challenges for Ireland's variety of capitalism and may represent a critical juncture