IMF reform in the aftermath of the global financial crisis: Let the IMF speak truth to power.

Internationales Währungssystem; Reform; Finanzmarktkrise; Internationaler Finanzmarkt; Regulierung; Welt;

The diffusion of process innovations in industrialized and developing countries: a case study of the world textile and steel industries

This paper tests the hypothesis that industrial process innovations diffuse more slowly in developing countries than in industrialized countries. The focus of the analysis is on four innovations in the textile and steel industries, selected according to data availability. The analysis uses a variable coefficient regression model, based on an S-shaped diffusion curve. It is found that, overall, the level of economic development had only a modest impact on the adoption of innovations. At a more disaggregated level of analysis, its (limited) impact was related to both the characteristics of the technology, and to the firm structure of the respective industry.

Sectoral Value Added Prices, TFP Growth, and the Low-Skilled Wage in High-Income Countries

This econometric analysis investigates the impact of changes in sectoral value-added prices and total factor productivity (TFP) on the equilibrium relative wage of low-skilled workers in eleven high-income countries. The key finding is that TFP growth mandated an increase in the unskilled wage, relative to the remuneration of human capital, during the 1970s, but a decrease during the 1980s. This is consistent with the observation that, in most sample countries, the relative wage and employment opportunities of low-skilled workers tended to improve until about 1980, but have deteriorated since then. While the regression results suggest that technological change played a large role in shifting labour demand against low-skilled workers, this conclusion is qualified because the empirical evidence is also compatible with product upgrading and outsourcing of low-skill intensive production activities to low-income countries.

The diffusion of innovations in the world textile industry: does a country's level of economic development matter?

This paper provides empirical evidence on how the international diffusion of industrial process innovations is affected by a country's level of economic development. It analyses annual data on newly installed machinery in the spinning and weaving industries, where open-end rotors and shuttleless looms, respectively, represent easily identifiable innovations. A variable coefficient model, based on an S-shaped diffusion curve, is estimated from pooled data to assess the impact of the level of economic development on the diffusion of each innovation. It is found that the level of economic development affected the timing of the start of the diffusion process, but not the speed of diffusion within each country.

Technical progress and the pattern of specialization in world trade in manufactures, 1965 to 1987

It has been hypothesized that technical progress will erode the competitiveness of the manufactured exports of developing countries. The paper tests two assumptions underlying this hypothesis. First, limited technological competence might prevent developing countries from competing effectively in industries with rapid technological change. Secondly, increases in labour productivity might reduce the importance of low labour costs as a determinant of competitiveness. This paper presents a crosscountry, cross-industry econometric analysis of the determinants of specialization in trade in manufactures, covering 3 7 industrialized and developing countries. Neither hypothesized relationship is supported by the data.

Liberalizing international trade in services: Challenges and opportunities for developing countries

Several developments in international trade in services impact strongly on developing countries: First, the world-wide diffusion of information technologies (IT) has created new export opportunities for developing countries in IT services. Second, the recently proclaimed Millennium Development Goals for poverty reduction can only be attained if key services are provided more efficiently in developing countries - particularly through the liberalization of service imports. Third, in the ongoing Doha Development Round (DR) of trade negotiations, developing countries are asked to formally commit to liberalizing their service imports under the terms of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Developing countries will benefit from liberalizing service imports if liberalization enhances competition on the supply side. This is typically the case for producer services, such as domestic and international transport, financial services, and telecommunications. The lifting of restrictions on the market access by foreigners (including through direct investment) will often improve service quality or lower prices and thereby enhance the international competitiveness of downstream industries. In Doha Development Round negotiations, therefore, developing countries may find it useful to commit to liberalizing imports of producer services. By contrast, the benefits of import liberalization are less clear for some consumer services where supply is subject to network monopolies (e.g., water and energy distribution) or demand is constrained by poverty (health care, education). Here, achieving a socially optimal level of supply may require carefully calibrated government policies, possibly with international donor support. For developing countries, such sectors should not be priority areas for commitments on service imports under the GATS. Most service exports by developing countries, especially IT services transmitted electronically, face few import barriers in industrialized countries. However, under the GATS, service exports may also be delivered through temporary movement of natural persons, e.g., developing country nationals working in industrialized countries without becoming residents there. If Doha Development Round negotiations were to increase opportunities for such temporary labor migration, the benefits to developing countries could be huge. --