Electricity reform experiences in Asia, Pacific Region, GATS and privatisation of the industry

This paper examines the package of reforms often applied to the electricity industry and discusses its relevance to Sri Lanka. It examines experience in other Asian countries with these reforms. It also looks at the status of GATS in the electricity sector

STATISTICS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN BANKING SERVICES: REQUIREMENTS, AVAILABILITY AND PROSPECTS

This paper addresses the availability of statistical data for international trade in banking services. Such data are required for WTO negotiations and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Following a discussion of areas of work for which data on international trade in banking services are required and of the outcome so far of international initiatives directed at the development of statistics for international trade in services, the availability of statistics relevant to the different GATS Modes of Supply of banking services of the GATS is reviewed. None of the currently available statistics under these headings provides a satisfactory measure of trade in banking services under Modes of Delivery 1 and 3 of the GATS. Thus the paper focuses on two other more promising categories of information, namely the income statements of banks, which depend on data already generated by private-sector entities, and data on trading in financial markets. In particular, the paper shows how information in the income statements can be approximately matched to the activities specified in the definition of financial services in the Annex on Financial Services of the GATS, exemplifying the argument with recent income statements of Jordanian banks.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and regulating capital flows: recommendations for strengthening proposed safeguards in the leaked TPP investment chapter

This repository item contains a policy brief from the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative. The Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) is a research program of the Center for Finance, Law & Policy, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. It was founded in 2008 to advance policy-relevant knowledge about governance for financial stability, human development, and the environment.The leaked text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement’s investment chapter reveals that negotiators are giving serious consideration to a safeguard intended to allow nations to regulate capital flows. It is critical that the safeguard be drafted in such a way that governments have sufficient policy flexibility to prevent and mitigate financial instability

Optimizing Urban Distribution Routes for Perishable Foods Considering Carbon Emission Reduction

The increasing demand for urban distribution increases the number of transportation vehicles which intensifies the congestion of urban traffic and leads to a lot of carbon emissions. This paper focuses on carbon emission reduction in urban distribution, taking perishable foods as the object. It carries out optimization analysis of urban distribution routes to explore the impact of low carbon policy on urban distribution routes planning. On the base of analysis of the cost components and corresponding constraints of urban distribution, two optimization models of urban distribution route with and without carbon emissions cost are constructed, and fuel quantity related to cost and carbon emissions in the model is calculated based on traffic speed, vehicle fuel quantity and passable time period of distribution. Then an improved algorithm which combines genetic algorithm and tabu search algorithm is designed to solve models. Moreover, an analysis of the influence of carbon tax price is also carried out. It is concluded that in the process of urban distribution based on the actual network information, the path optimization considering the low carbon factor can effectively reduce the distribution process of CO2, and reduce the total cost of the enterprise and society, thus achieving greater social benefits at a lower cost. In addition, the government can encourage low-carbon distribution by rationally adjusting the price of carbon tax to achieve a higher social benefit

Evaluating the Contributions of Regional Trade Agreements to Governance of Services Trade

Since the early 1990s, regional trade agreements (RTAs) covering trade in services have proliferated, with 95 RTAs on services notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), as of June 2011. This paper discusses how RTAs support or debilitate the GATS in its governance function as the keeper of rules and liberalization commitments on services trade for WTO members. It addresses this question and its implications for governance by focusing on four different issues: architecture; compliance; ability to promote reforms; and actual impact of RTAs in fostering services trade.regional trade agreements; gats; political economy; trade in services; wto; multilateralizing regionalism

Does Domestic Regulation Promote Globally Competitive Filipino Professionals and Educational Services?

Almost every country has its own set of domestic regulations that determine how easy or difficult it is to pursue a freer movement in the trade of services. In the Philippine setting, how do the functions and powers of the country's two major regulatory bodies for professional and educational services affect the movement of these services as well as the quality of global competitiveness of Philippine higher education and professionals? This Notes discusses more on this.professional services, domestic regulation, educational services, Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), Commission on Higher Education (CHED)

Increased expression of GABA transporters, GAT-1 and GAT-3, in the deafferented superior colliculus of the rat.

GABA transporters (GATs) play a critical role in the translemmal transport of GABA in neurons and glial cells. Two major brain GATs, GAT-1 and GAT-3, are found in astrocytes in the adult brain. Astroglia demonstrate morphological and molecular changes in response to brain injury and deafferentation. The present study was designed to determine whether the expression of GATs changes after nerve deafferentation using the rat superior colliculus (SC) as a model. The immunoreactivity for GAT-1 and GAT-3, as well as GABA and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)-65 and GAD-67, was studied in the SC of control rats and rats with unilateral optic nerve transections. Immunolabeling for both GAT-1 and GAT-3 was increased in the neuropil of the denervated SC as compared to that for the SC of control rats or for the unaffected SC of experimental rats. In contrast, immunoreactivity for GABA, GAD-65 and GAD-67 was not altered. The change in the immunolabeling of GAT-1 and GAT-3 was detectable at 1 day postlesion and became more evident between 3-30 days postlesion. At the electron microscopic level, immunoreactivity for both GAT-1 and GAT-3 in the unaffected SC was localized to astrocytic processes, whereas GAT-1 immunolabeling was also present in synaptic terminals. In the deafferented SC, immunolabeling for both GATs was elevated in the somata and processes of hypertrophied astrocytes as compared to that in the unaffected SC, whereas GAT-1 labeling in neuronal profiles was largely unchanged. A substantial increase of GAT-1 and GAT-3 in astrocytes following optic nerve transection suggests that these cells play a role in modulating GABA's action in the deafferented SC

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Visas and Work Permits: Possible Global Negotiating Initiatives

We discuss global options for initiatives intended to ameliorate adverse impacts of visa and work permit systems used by national governments around the world. We first describe and document some of their effects, noting the relative lack of other research work on these issues. We then discuss proposals for a new and supplemental global visa structure which have been made as part of the Mode 4 GATS negotiations in the WTO, suggesting that the GATS/WTO may be an imperfect institutional location for negotiating on these matters. We then evaluate other approaches, including what realistically could be possible if a new body specifically created for global negotiation in the area were to be used.