The Role of the Everything But Arms Trade Preferences Regime in the EU Development Strategy

This study examines the effect of the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade preferences regime on exports from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the European Union (EU). With this aim, an augmented gravity model is estimated for exports from the 79 ACP countries to the EU-15 for the time period 1995 to 2005 using panel data techniques. The model estimates are used to quantify the effect of the EBA preferences on the ACP LDCs export performance and to compare it with the impact of official development assistance. In addition to their separate effects, the combined impact of EBA and aid flows is estimated. The main results show a negative effect of the EBA regime on exports. Otherwise, the combined effect of the EBA and aid on exports is positive, supporting an EU development strategy that includes both sorts of assistance, aid and trade preferences. --development aid,trade preferences,Everything But Arms,panel data

Growth by destination: the role of trade in Africa's recent growth episode

Over the period 1990–2009, Africa has experienced a distinct and favourable reversal in its growth fortunes in stark contrast to its performance in the preceding decades, leading to a variety of hypotheses seeking to explain the phenomenon. This paper presents both cross-country and panel-data evidence on the causal factors driving the recent turnaround in Africa's growth and takes the unique approach of disaggregating the separate growth impacts of Africa's bilateral trade with: China, Europe and America. The empirical analysis presented in this paper suggests that the primary and most robust causal factors driving Africa's recent growth turnaround are private sector- and foreign direct investment. Although empirical evidence of the role of bilateral trade openness in Africa's recent growth emerges within a fixed effect estimation setting, these results are not as robust when endogeneity and other issues are fully accounted for. Among the three major bilateral partners, Africa's bilateral trade with China has been a relatively important factor spurring growth on the continent and especially so in resource-rich, oil producing and non-landlocked countries. The econometric results are not as supportive of growth-inducing effects of foreign aid. These findings emerge after applying a variety of panel data specifications to the data, including the recent fixed Effects Filtered (FEF) estimator introduced by Pesaran and Zhou (2014) and the dynamic panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator, which allows for endogeneity between trade and growth

On the Judicial functions of kadi courts : Glimpses form Sofia in the seventeenth century.

Donated by Klaus KreiserReprinted from in : Wiener zeitschrift zur geschichte der neuzeit / 5. Jg. 2005 Heft 2/15-43

L'illicite et l'informel. Les complémentarités dans le fonctionnement des firmes en Bulgarie

The presence of illicit practices within a company suggests a chain of adjustments in order to function efficiently. To maximise profits at minimum risks the firm needs to use informal mechanisms to manage its internal and external interactions. A survey based on a sample of Bulgarian enterprises demonstrates the complementarities between the illicit practices of official understatement of wages and the informal functioning of three dimensions of the firm: employment patterns, inter-company transactions and financing of operations. Abandoning of use of illicit practices is part of similar chain effects leading away from illicitness towards an open and formal functioning of the firm. Classification JEL : D21, J41, L14, O17

Le contournement des règles contractuelles dans une économie en transition : les salaires non déclarés en Bulgarie

National audienceThe credibility of institutions is an acute problem in "transition" economies. The gap between formal rules and their implementation in Bulgaria is examined in order to account for hidden clauses in employment contracts and fraudulent practices in labor relations. In line with North and Ostrom, several factors are shown to inhibit the internalization of formal rules by economic agents and to provide them with incentives for skirting around the rules. Empirical data from a survey of Bulgarian firms of various size serve as evidence.Les économies dites de transition posent de façon particulièrement aiguë le problème de la crédibilité des institutions. Dans cet article, nous nous intéressons à l'écart entre les règles formelles et les conditions de leur application en vue d'expliquer le développement des clauses cachées et des conduites frauduleuses dans les contrats de travail en Bulgarie. Dans la lignée de North et Ostrom, nous décelons un certain nombre de facteurs empêchant l'intériorisation des règles formelles par les agents et les incitant, au contraire, à les contourner. L'analyse s'appuie en particulier sur une enquête menée auprès d'un échantillon d'entreprises de tailles variées

Firm responses to employment subsidies A regression discontinuity approach to the 2012 Spanish labour market reform. 1970 / October 2016

This study focuses on the employment effect of a hiring subsidy available to firms with less than 50 employees, granted in the context of the 2012 Spanish labour market reform. Exploiting the arbitrary firm size threshold using regression discontinuity design, estimates show on average 2 percentage points higher employment growth for firms that became eligible for the scheme. However, tests and complementary regressions suggest that the higher employment growth for smaller firms in 2013 is driven by a 2010 reform, which imposes more stringent reporting requirements on larger firms. Accounting for this using difference-in-discontinuity regressions, we fail to find any significant t effect of the subsidy on increasing employment of eligible firms. While our study suggests several pitfalls arising from size-contingent regulations, more data are needed to test for beneficial long-term effects from the hiring subsidy in addressing duality of the Spanish labour market