Is TRIPS suffering from Big Giant’s Syndrome: Good Economics versus Self Interest?

The paper discusses TRIPS as a protection measure on knowledge and new technologies through property rights and analyses the Southern concern if protection of new technologies by means of TRIPS may mean that South can no longer imitate the North in implementing emerging technologies and concepts as was the case with Newly Industrialized Countries of Asia in 1980s. The paper shows that trade and research and development trends are highly skewed in favor of the North and this means that in any such international economic landscape, TRIPS may advantage the North and restrict the South from trading under a technologically aligned level playing field

Is TRIPS suffering from Big Giant’s Syndrome: Good Economics versus Self Interest?

The paper discusses TRIPS as a protection measure on knowledge and new technologies through property rights and analyses the Southern concern if protection of new technologies by means of TRIPS may mean that South can no longer imitate the North in implementing emerging technologies and concepts as was the case with Newly Industrialized Countries of Asia in 1980s. The paper shows that trade and research and development trends are highly skewed in favor of the North and this means that in any such international economic landscape, TRIPS may advantage the North and restrict the South from trading under a technologically aligned level playing field.Commercial Policy; Protection; Promotion; Trade Negotiations

How Does Democracy fare with Economic Welfare for a Trading Nation?

The paper examines how political institutions in comparison to legal, social and economic institutions fare with different measures of inequality in a cross section framework. The empirical analysis suggests that countries which practice democracy are less prone to unequal outcomes especially when it comes to wage inequality and income inequality whereas autocracy is associated with higher level of wage inequalities but its impact on income inequalities are insignificant. Though under good economic management, even autocracies may redistribute incomes from the richest to the poorest, more generally an autocratic set up violates the median voter hypothesis. The results also show that political stability is more sensitive to inequalities than democracy and autocracy which is to say that the countries which are internally politically stable also form more equal societies.Institutions, Trade Liberalisation, Redistribution, Wage Inequality

Do Schooling Years Improve the Earning Capacity of Lower Income Groups?

The paper analyses the relationship between the popular Barro and Lee (2001) ‘Average years of Schooling’ with income inequality, wage inequality, and income deciles and income percentiles for the sample of developed and developing countries. The results suggest that countries where students complete higher numbers of years of schooling on average also perform better on relative incomes meaning that increase in average income comes from improvements in the earning capacity of the lower income groups or unskilled labor. The paper also finds that an educated population means that there is redistribution of income from the rich to the poor creating thriving middle class.Education, Inequality

Transitioning Democracies are a Risky Business in the South

The paper finds that trade is insignificant in explaining income inequality. The results also suggest institutions are good for inequality mitigation for a larger sample of developed and developing countries. Though, the results do not change for some institutions like rule of law when the sample is restricted to developing countries. However, for other institutions like democracy and autocracy, the author finds that former is positively related with inequality and later is negatively related. The results shed light on the fact that transition to democracies come with higher risks for the developing countries and stable economies even with autocratic setup may have more equal societies when compared to newly adopted democratic set ups.Institutions, Trade, Inequality

Economic Security, Well Functioning Courts and a Good Government

The paper defines economic security as a country’s ability to re distribute incomes through a strong governance structure by practicing rule of law, eliminating corruption and a government that acts as a facilitator by formulating effective fiscal and monetary policy and regulation. The results suggest that courts that implement national laws effectively and punish corruption and a government that has balance budgets and investment friendly monetary policy ensures economic security by means of welfare friendly outcomes that favor the incomes of the poor and middle class. There is also evidence that redistribution takes place from rich to the poor. As a result income and wage inequalities fall down.Governance, Redistribution, Inequality

How May International Trade affect Poverty in a Developing Country Setup? The Inequality Channel

Recently there has been an influx of literature which tries to find out relationship between trade and poverty. Right is of the view that more international trade is good for the poor whereas left is quite skeptical of pro poor effects of trade. The paper provides a comprehensive review of recent literature on the topic in order to reach some neutral grounds. The paper finds out that though trade might carry positive affects for the poor in developing countries through growth, such gains are not equally distributed among the rich and the poor. The paper identifies at least 8 different effects of international trade which result in unequal outcomes and thus defies Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theorem in a developing country set up. Since per decomposition, poverty is affected by growth or inequality, evidence of unequal gains from trade does imply that the relationship between trade and poverty is not as simple as the right seems to suggest. To this effect, the paper calls for more empirical work on trade and inequality especially as single country case studies.Economic Integration; Welfare and Poverty

Skill Premiums of Trading in International Markets and Equity: Some Lessons for Pro Poor Education Policies in Developing Countries

The aim of this paper is to examine whether the human capital accumulation, that is a result of increased trade, further exacerbates industrial wage differentials. We find that level of education is one of the key determinants in explaining wage inequalities. Though countries which have a higher level of human capital do well on the inequality front, our results suggest that post liberalization human capital accumulation is associated with higher premiums to skilled labor thus increasing wage gaps. In this context, governments in developing countries may need to increase the mean level of human capital to achieve equity in labor markets.Integration; Trade Liberalization; Wage Inequality

Education for all is central to Higher Education Reforms in Developing Countries

A successful higher education reform in the South is not limited to improvement in quality and access to higher education but it should directly and indirectly cater to the millennium development goals by ensuring pro poor pro growth outcomes. Once we link higher education reforms with a development agenda or strictly speaking millennium development goals, the reform process in higher education becomes much more than a mere pro growth strategy. The purpose of this paper is to identify ways in which the reform process in higher education is aligned with the larger development agenda of the South. To this effect, we discuss the issue that lie in the peripheries of higher education reform debate- which is to directly link up higher education policy to overall education policy formulation in the South. In the paper, we highlight that generally governments in the South promote higher education at the cost of primary education, and thus indirectly undermine the effectiveness of their development strategies. We have empirically analyzed the effects of higher education focus on economic welfare. As per decomposition, poverty can be either affected by economic growth or unequal distribution of income. In order to investigate whether higher education, as it prevails in the South, is good for the poor, we see the relationship of average years of higher schooling at age of 25 with economic growth and inequality. The paper undertakes regression analysis by utilizing 5 different proxies of economic growth/ economic development and 4 proxies for income inequality as basis for 14 separate IV regression models. Average years of higher schooling have been used as the common regressor. Our results do suggest that higher education is a significant determinant of economic development. However, our inequality regression models suggest that education policies in general and higher education policies in specific do not cater for the lowest income groups in the South and if anything higher education favors the more affluent. The study recommends that higher education policies should not be implemented in isolation with over all education policy frameworks. As a first step to this effect the paper calls for more coordination between higher education commissions and education ministries in the South.Higher Education Reform; Millenium Development Goals;