EU-India free trade agreement : a quantitative assessment

This report analyses the effects of a regional trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and India, for which negotiations are underway. The study starts with abrief overview of the key insights from the existing literature on FTAs and their relationship with multilateral negotiations. The remainder of the study is devoted to analysing the impact of tariff slashes under an FTA on merchandise trade between the EU and India. Of particular interest are the implications for agricultural markets, given the tension between agricultural liberalisation and India's policy goals relating to self-sufficiency in food grains and poverty reduction. The analysis employs GTAP, a global general equilibrium model using a recent database which has 2004 as its reference year. The results suggest that India's interests in a regional trade agreement with the EU are downplayed by the fact that India's economy is not well integrated in global markets. Impacts on the EU are minor and further reduced if a Doha agreement is in place when the FTA is implemented. Results indicate the rationale for a strongly asymmetric arrangement: it would be in the interest of both partners if the EU provides large concessions to India for market access, while India maintains the bulk of current border protection. An EU - India FTA delivers little scope for achieving efficiency gains via adjustments to the pattern of international specialisation. An EU - India agreement on merchandise trade is unlikely to embody substantial preferential treatment with regard to market access. Probably, India can find more suitable FTA partners. Agriculture is a key sector for India in the consideration of equity and growth purposes of a FTA with EU

East African governments' responses to high cereal prices

This study analyses the responses of governments in four East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) with respect to price formation and price transmission in the cereal sector. All four countries were confronted with high cereal prices in 2008. Government policies applied largely pursued consumer price reduction, but such short-term price policies did not encourage farmers to respond with increasing production, the more so because farmers were facing very high fertiliser prices. The report concludes by discussing policy options to help improve market functioning which supports agricultural productivity growt

Testing a model of variability of X-ray reprocessing features in Active Galactic Nuclei

A number of recent results from X-ray observations of Active Galactic Nuclei involving the Fe K alpha line (reduction of line variability compared to the X-ray continuum variability, the X-ray ``Baldwin effect'') were attributed to a presence of a hot, ionized skin of an accretion disc, suppressing emission of the line. The ionized skin appears as a result of the thermal instability of X-ray irradiated plasma. We test this hypothesis by computing the Thomson thickness of the hot skin on top of the 'alpha P_tot' Shakura-Sunyaev disc, by simultaneously solving the vertical structure of both the hot skin and the disc. We then compute a number of relations between observable quantities, e.g. the hard X-ray flux, amplitude of the observed reprocessed component, relativistic smearing of the K alpha line, the r.m.s. variability of the hard X-rays. These relations can be compared to present and future observations. We point out that this mechanism is unlikely to explain the behaviour of the X-ray source in MCG-6-30-15, where there is a number of arguments against the existence of a thick hot skin, but it can work for some other Seyfert 1 galaxies.Comment: 12 pages. MNRAS, accepte

Dunia Forensik itu Lucu: sebuah Rekam Jejak Dr. Abdul Mun‟im Idries, Sp.F

Buku dengan judul Dunia Forensik Itu Lucu: Sebuah Rekam Jejak dr. Abdul Mun\u27im Idries, Sp.F merupakan buku yang men-jelaskan berbagai cerita tentang kiprah dokter forensik terkemuka Indonesia dr. Mun‟im Idries dalam rentang waktu 40 tahun pengab-diannya. Buku ini mengisahkan banyak cerita yang belum pernah diungkapkan ke publik. Buku yang bergenre semibiografi ini memiliki mutu yang tinggi karena ditulis sebelum dr. Mun‟im Idries menghadap sang Khalik

Plattelandsbeleid: Europees of nationaal?; Subsidiariteitstoets van de tweede pijler van het GLB

Dit rapport belicht het Europese plattelandsbeleid (de tweede pijler van het GLB) aan de hand van het subsidiariteitsbeginsel, één van de grondbeginselen van de Europese Unie. Na een algemene introductie over het beginsel en een overzicht van de ontwikkelingen in het Europese plattelandsbeleid door de jaren heen gaat het rapport in op de argumenten voor een communautair plattelandsbeleid en een renationalisatie van het plattelandsbeleid. Ook de positie van Nederland in het debat over het plattelandsbeleid wordt kort besproken. Het rapport eindigt met een weging van argumenten voor en tegen een communautair plattelandsbeleid. This report focuses on the European rural development policy (the second pillar of the CAP) on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, one of the fundamental principles of the European Union. Following a general introduction on the principle and an overview of the developments in the European rural development policy over the years, the report addresses the arguments for a common rural development policy and the renationalisation of the rural development policy. The position of the Netherlands in the debate on the rural development policy is also discussed briefly. The report concludes with the weighing up of arguments for and against a common rural development policy