Malthus' Revenge

In this paper, we take inspiration from Thomas Malthus' hypothesis that food shortage and hunger would remain "nature's last most dreadful resource" and that "the power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race". We revise and reinterprete it into a modern and thus global version and we elaborate on such a possible new interpretation and what its policy implications might be. In a first section, and somewhat as a parenthesis, we briefly comment on the financial crisis as it has unfolded over the last four months of 2008 and impacted gradually the real economy. In the second section of the paper we review the different policy responses to past Malthusian challenges: how food production succeeded particularly over the second half of the 20th Century to keep pace with rapid population growth. In a third section, we replace the word "population" in the above cited Malthus' quote with "consumption" and illustrate what this might imply for global world growth and Europe's place in the world in 2025. In a fourth and final section, we then draw some initial policy conclusions. The nature of the Malthusian challenges raised today appears both global and local in nature. On the one hand it raises questions with respect to the need for open, international research collaboration. Imposing national, or regional, boundaries with respect to research participation and funding, certainly appears (with respect to some of the most urgent Malthusian research problems) to be the expression of an outdated and wasteful research nationalism. On the other hand, the growing need for local knowledge re-use, adaptation and embedment in many emerging and developing countries involving efforts at local innovation, is in many ways similar to, and reminiscent of the development of the many innovation policy tools in European countries and regions. The first policy challenge, we refer to as "recherche sans frontières"; the second one as "innovation for local development".Thomas Malthus, economic forecasting, population growth, economic growth, resource scarcity, innovation, globalisation, economic development, regional development

Gains from trade and environmental policy under imperfect competition and pollution from transport

Abstract not availableinternational economics and trade ;

Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: what we can learn from the past

The science-technology-innovation system is one that is continuously and rapidly evolving. The dramatic growth over the last twenty years in the use of science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators appears first and foremost the result of a combination between on the one hand the easiness of computerized access to an increasing number of measures of STI and on the other hand the interest in a growing number of public policy and private business circles in such indicators as might be expected in societies which increasingly use organised science and technology to achieve a wide variety of social and economic objectives and in which business competition is increasingly based on innovation. As highlighted on the basis of 40 years of indicators work, frontiers and characteristics that were important last century may well no longer be so relevant today and indeed may even be positively misleading.Technological Change, Science and Technology, Innovation, Statistical Indicators, Measurement of Economic Growth, Policy Making

The "BIT TAX" : the case for further research

Abstract not availableeconomics of technology ;

The Global Challenges of the Knowledge Economy: China and the EU

This paper addresses some of the challenges confronting the European Union and China as they build their knowledge economies, and their on-going and possible future actions to address such challenges. Fifty years after the creation of what became the European Union, we argue that there is an urgent need to develop a new European Lisbon Agenda, preparing the EU for globalization. A new and "outward-looking" Lisbon strategy would focus on three key areas: international trade in services, internationalization of research networking, and access to brains and talent. The paper shows that the success of the Chinese economy over the past three decades can be partially attributed to its ability to absorb globally advanced technology and huge flows of foreign investment, its large pool of knowledge and talent, and its enactment of a policy framework that provides incentives to domestic and foreign firms to innovate - a strategy very much reminiscent of Europe's own internal Lisbon agenda. To move further, China needs to overcome the obstacles of regional disparities, transform its industry and deepen industry-academy linkages, which are also unavoidable tasks for the sustainable development of Europe. We contend that the scope for comparative studies of the EU and China, for mutual learning from each other's experience - even for joint initiatives - is substantial.Knowledge Economy, Industry-University Partnerships, Globalization, Internationalization, Highly Skilled Migration, European Union, China

Globalization, Tax Erosion and the Internet

Electronic commerce and globalization are, and will continue to be a challenge to tax collectors throughout the world. Globalization makes the cross-border movements in goods, capital and labour less transparent. Companies and individuals are therefore able to exploit tax differences between countries. The Internet eliminates borders between countries and furthermore makes businesses virtually invisible. At the consumer end, E-commerce makes the tracing of transactions and thus the taxing of goods and services sold and distributed via the Internet almost impossible. As a result, state and national governments’ tax bases are, or are at risk of, being eroded.public economics ;