RURAL SHADOW WAGES, LABOUR SUPPLY AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION UNDER IMPERFECT MARKETS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM VIET NAM

Due to market imperfections and sexual division of labour, this paper takes interest in gender specific values of agricultural labour products (or shadow wages) and the problem of aggregating agricultural production activities. The paper analyses two farming systems instead of using an aggregated agricultural harvest under the presumption that households are restricted in choosing crop patterns and consequently limited in their allocation of labour. The farming systems differ in the level of diversification over crops where a limited number of households are able to engage in the more diversified system (two crops: rice and sugar cane) while other households are restricted to cultivate only one of the two (rice). These circumstances are likely to be widespread in developing countries. Since an entry restriction limit the choice of crop pattern, production functions for rice and sugar cane are estimated separately. We find labour returns to differ significantly between farming systems with lower returns for single-crop producers. The paper tests whether non-separability conditions holds and find in general that theoretical predictions cannot be falsified. This implies that over the whole sample households are on average unable to adjust their labour supply at the margin and hence, using shadow wages from an aggregated agricultural production is likely to mislead policy conclusions. We also find that diversified household members do equate returns between the farming systems while households that are restricted to one production activity yield lower returns. Since less diversified households are in general poorer poverty alleviation policies must address the entry restriction but first, policy makers should check whether they need to redraw policy conclusions made on aggregate harvests.Labor and Human Capital,

Environmental Policy and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment in China.

This paper introduces an environmental policy variable, i.e. the provincial pollution levy paid by an average firm, and measure its impact on the foreign investors' location decisions over the 1987 to 1998 period. We argue that less developed regions in China are more inclined to sacrifice environmental policies as an instrument to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). National level results show that stringent environmental policies have insignificant effect on foreign investors' location decision, and that transportation, economic growth, and regional location matters more. At the provincial level, stringent environmental policies reduce FDI in the less developed regions.foreign direct investment, environmental policy

Berlin - Moscow 2005-2008: policy options for German future government

"After the Bundestag elections on the 18th of September, a new Federal Government could be inclined to distance itself from the current 'special' and 'strategic' relationship between Berlin and Moscow, and increasingly engage with the smaller Central and Eastern European states. On the other hand, it can be expected that the undeniable economic boom in Russia will continue to hold German companies in its spell, and politics will follow the strategic interests of the German economy." (Autorenreferat

Between reform and restoration: Putin on the eve of his second term

"The Duma elections of last December marked the beginning of a new period in recent Russian history. Communism suffered its historic defeat. Furthermore, the end of the Western democratic model has been heralded. A one-party system has emerged in the Duma. President Vladimir Putin says that he needs this newly sustained power in order to overcome the barriers on the path to establishing a constitutional state and a market economy. Critics claim that Putin is striving to establish a personal authoritarian rule. Conflicts between Russia and the West are again the daily norm. Both sides need new concepts of partnership, else the current idea of 'common spaces' could regress back to the principle of 'peaceful coexistence' of the Cold War in the past century." (author's abstract

Five years after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine: back to the future?

"The interest of the European public will soon turn again to Ukraine, where presidential elections are scheduled to take place in January 2010. The International Monetary Fund supported Ukraine during the global financial crisis, averting a state bankruptcy with billions in credit. The IMF also effectively paid Ukraine's debt to Russia for natural gas. This defused the conflict with Russia, but came at the cost of deep Ukrainian financial dependence on the West. Will Russia and the EU continue to compete for Ukraine?" (author's abstract

Strategic neighbourhood: EU-Europe versus EU-East

"Russia and the EU are the strongest actors on the European continent of the 21st century. Will the strategic partnership between the EU and Russia unite the entire continent under a 'common European home' or will the continent be split in two? Russia joining the rest of Europe is set to proceed initially through the Energy Alliance." (author's abstract

Russian ambitions in the energy sphere and the global financial crisis

"For the time being, the current financial crisis has halted the Russian economic boom. The government is compelled to invest $100 billion for the bail-out of the banking system, money that comes from the Kremlin's foreign-currency reserves totalling$ 600 billion. Currently, capital outflow exceeds the inflow. Having financed their acquisitions with Western money, Russian oligarchs feel the pain too, as credits, due to the liquidity crisis, are not granted anymore. The reform and modernization programme, proposed by Russian president Medvedev earlier this year seems to have been postponed. The state appears to be gaining ground again. If the global price of oil continues to fall, Moscow will not be able to implement the ambitious budget set for 2009. As yet, however, it is too early to issue an obituary to Russia's economy. Speaking at the 'Russia Breakfast' on the implications of the financial crisis for Russian energy policy, Tatiana Mitrova, head of the Centre for International Energy Market Studies at the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences emphasized that the current condition represents a serious test case for the Russian economic system." (author's abstract