Indicators of security of natural gas supply in Asia

Natural gas has become an increasingly valuable resource and a global commodity. The demand for it has significantly increased. Japan, Korea and Taiwan heavily rely on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports for their gas supplies from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Australia and the Middle East. On the other hand, countries like Thailand and Singapore import gas via trans-border pipelines. Gas supply interruptions, volatile gas prices, transportation and distribution bottlenecks, and a growing reliance on imports over longer distances have renewed interest on gas security in Asia. This paper examines the relative vulnerability to natural gas supply disruptions of seven gas-importing countries in Asia for year 2008. Based on four indicators of security of gas supply, a composite gas supply security index is estimated as an overall indication of gas vulnerability for our sample countries. The results demonstrate that there are differences in the values of the overall indicator of gas vulnerability among countries and the assessment is useful in developing an effective strategy of natural gas supply security in countries in the Asian region

Modeling the Effects of the MFA Liberalization on Philippine Clothing Trade

Opinions about the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) vary not only between importers and exporters but also within these groups depending on the costs and benefits accorded to each. This paper attempts to quantify the effects of MFA liberalization on developing countries with a focus on the Philippines. A review of the existing literature on effects of MFA measurement is conducted. The effects of MFA removal on the importing and exporting countries included in the model are also discussed.trade sector, liberalization, import commodities, export commodities

Modeling the Effects of the MFA Liberalization on Philippine Clothing Trade

Opinions about the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) vary not only between importers and exporters but also within these groups depending on the costs and benefits accorded to each. This paper attempts to quantify the effects of MFA liberalization on developing countries with a focus on the Philippines. A review of the existing literature on effects of MFA measurement is conducted. The effects of MFA removal on the importing and exporting countries included in the model are also discussed.trade sector, liberalization, import commodities, export commodities

Supply vulnerability of natural gas?importing countries in Asia

Gas supply interruptions, increasing gas prices, transportation and distribution bottlenecks, and a growing reliance on imports over longer distances have renewed interest on gas vulnerability in Asia. Japan, Korea and Taiwan are heavily reliant on LNG imports for their gas supplies from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Australia and the Middle East. Countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore import gas via trans-border pipelines. This paper examines the relative vulnerability of eight gas-importing countries in Asia for the year 2006 using four market risk indicators (ratio of value of gas imports to GDP; ratio of gas consumed to GDP; ratio of gas consumed in an economy to population; and ratio of gas consumption to total primary energy consumption) and two supply risk indicators (ratio of domestic gas production to total domestic gas consumption and geopolitical risk). Using principal component analysis, a composite index of gas vulnerability is estimated by combining the individual indicators. The results demonstrate that there are significant differences in the values of individual and overall indicators of gas vulnerability among countries. Two individual indicators? ratio of value of gas imports to GDP and ratio of domestic gas production to total domestic gas consumption were more significant than the others in influencing the overall gas vulnerability results

Innovation policy in resource-rich economies

This paper, reviews the literature dealing with innovation policy for the following jurisdictions: the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia; the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Norway and Sweden; South Africa, Chile and Brazil as representative sample of resource-rich economies. In each case, innovation strategies that deal with the development of capabilities to enhance existing resource industries and provide for economic development beyond the life of existing non-renewable resources have been identified.Innovation policy and performance in the selected countries offer a diverse set of innovative capabilities and national contexts. The analysis highlights countries? strengths and weaknesses in innovation as well as the effectiveness of their innovation systems and policies in driving economic performance. It aims to create an understanding of how countries act to develop and improve their capability for innovation. The report also compares policies and identifies commonalities and good practice in the sample countries with the view of providing innovation policy makers some ?lessons?

Analyzing the Share Composition of CO2 Emissions in Asian Countries

This paper is concerned with the fossil fuel composition of carbon emissions in 10 selected Asian countries. It assesses how economic development may affect this composition through various channels. This paper contributes to the debate on the EKC (environmental Kuznets curve) puzzle, which hypothesizes an inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and pollution. The paper examines the EKC hypothesis in an empirical analysis of channels that may allow for this effect. In particular, a specific subset of this general paradigm is investigated using a fractional multinomial logit model to assess how indicators associated