China’s reformed economy

Wirtschaftsreform, Wirtschaftspolitik, Politische Reform, China, Economic reform, Economic policy, Political reform

The Rural Economy Research Centre

End of project report ENARPRIThe economic impact of trade policy reform receives less attention than the impact of trade policy on the environment. In part this may be due to the secondary importance attributed to environmental issues when economic consequences take centre stage. However, another consideration may be the difficulties of bringing together models which examine the economic impact of trade policy reform and models which can provide measures of environmental indicators. This study combines a partial equilibrium economic commodity model with a model for the estimation of agricultural input usage and GHG emissions. The paper examines one aspect of the relationship between trade policy and the environment, namely that between agricultural trade policy reform and indicators relating to emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) from agriculture. The paper examines the impact of agricultural production levels and production practices on the level of GHG emissions from agriculture in Ireland under a Baseline of the recent reform of EU agricultural policy and an alternate scenario where trade policy reforms resulting from a future World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round agreement to reveal the extent to which there are significant environmental impacts which should be considered in addition to the conventional economic considerations.FAPRI-Ireland Partnershi

The Public's Health Care Agenda for the New President and Congress

Presents survey results, by party affiliation, ranking healthcare reform among policy priorities in an economic downturn. Examines federal healthcare spending, ways of financing reform, and priorities among reform goals, including regulation

Foreign aid and market-liberalizing reform

Market-oriented economic policies-reflected in limited economic activity by government, protection of private property rights, sound monetary policy, outward orientation regarding trade and efficient tax and regulatory policy-have been strongly linked to faster rates of economic growth. Foreign aid is often provided in the belief that it encourages liberalizing reforms in these areas. This paper analyzes the impact of aid on market-liberalizing policy reform, correcting for the possible endogeneity of aid. Results indicate that higher aid slowed reform over the 1980-2000 period, as measured by a broad index of policies. Disaggregating policy into five areas, aid is significantly linked to slower reform in some policy areas but not in others. Disaggregating by decade, aid's adverse impact on policy reform is much more pronounced for the 1980s than for the 1990s.Achieving Shared Growth,Governance Indicators,Environmental Economics&Policies,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,School Health

Acceleration of Economic Reform in Japan and the Role of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy

Creation of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) made Japans economic and fiscal policy making more transparent, consistent and coherent. This new institutional arrangement accelerated structural reform and improved economic and fiscal policy making in general, thus contributing to the recent economic recovery.Success of this new institutional arrangement is, at least in part, attributable to a couple of virtues of CEFPs decision making process :transparency, an economy-wide view and an integrated approach.However, the CEFP is a new institutional setting and not deeply rooted in Japanese political system.In post-Koizumi era, further efforts should be made to make more use of the CEFP as a tool to improve policy making and an engine of economic reform.CEFP, Fiscal Policy, Japan, economic reform

Developing country experience in trade reform

During the 1980's, many developing countries received financial and policy support for trade policy reform. There has been major reform in exchange rate policy, in the reduction of export restrictions, and in removing impediments to the imports of inputs needed by exporters. Import regimes in many countries have been improved by substituting tariffs for quantitative restrictions. The lowering of import protection has been more modest in the face of foreign exchange constraints. Through adjustment lending, the World Bank has supported trade reform in more than 40 countries. Considering this emphasis, one might expect stronger reforms. Four factors that have constrained reform action are: (a) macroeconomic instability; (b) inadequate conviction about the benefits of reform; (c) weak implementation capacity; and (d) conflicts in design. When considering the impact of policy reform on growth performance, the evidence supports the need for continued stronger efforts to reform trade regimes and complementary policies as part of adjustment lending.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Economic Stabilization

Challenging the economic reform paradigm: policy and politics in the early 1980s collapse of the rural cooperative medical system

Over the last two decades an economic reform paradigm has dominated social security and health research: economic reform policies have defined its parameters, established its premises, generated its questions and even furnished its answers. This paradigm has been particularly influential in accounts of the early 1980s collapse of China’s rural cooperative medical system (CMS), which is depicted almost exclusively as the outcome of the post-Mao economic policies that decollectivized agriculture. This paper draws primarily on government documents and newspaper reports from the late 1970s and early 1980s to argue that CMS collapse is better explained by a change in health policy. It shows that this policy change was in turn shaped both by post-Mao elite politics and by CMS institutions dating back to the late 1960s. The paper concludes by discussing how an explanation of CMS collapse that is centred on health policy and politics reveals the limitations of the economic reform paradigm and contributes to a fuller understanding of the post-Mao period

Potential WTO Trade Reform: Multifunctionality Impacts for Ireland?. CEPS ENARPRI Working Papers No. 16, 7 June 2006

The economic impact of trade policy reforms on various sectors of the economy receives more attention than the effects on the environment. This may be partly owing to the secondary importance attributed to environmental or multifunctionality issues when economic consequences take centre stage. An additional consideration, however, may be the practical difficulties of bringing together models that examine the economic impact of trade policy reforms and models that can measure environmental or multifunctionality indicators. This paper examines one aspect of the relationship between trade policy and the environment, namely that between agricultural trade policy reform and emissions from the agricultural sector. The paper analyses the impact of agricultural production levels and practices on the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia emissions from this sector in Ireland. The study combines an economic, partial equilibrium, agricultural commodity and inputs model (the FAPRI-Ireland model) with a model for the estimation of GHG and ammonia emissions from agriculture. The paper considers a potential reform of agricultural trade policy under a possible World Trade Organisation agreement, to reveal the extent to which there are environmental effects associated with such a reform that need to be considered in addition to the conventional economic ones

On the measurement of market-oriented reforms

This paper presents policy- and outcome-based ways of measuring the progress of market-oriented reforms in both traditional areas of first-generation reform and the areas of institutional reform that have been emphasized lately. These policy areas are the domestic financial system; international financial markets; international trade; the labor market; the tax system; public infrastructure and public firms; the legal and regulatory framework; and governance. For each of them, first, we discuss the general principles underlying market-oriented reform; second, we present various indicators of the policy stance in the area in question; and third, we present various outcome indicators of the policy stance.Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT

Macroeconomic policy reforms and agriculture: towards equitable growth in Zimbabwe

"This report investigates the income and equity effects of macroeconomic policy reforms in Zimbabwe, emphasizing linkages between macroeconomic policies and agricultural performance and agriculture's influence on aggregate income and its distribution. Analyses focus on reform of the foreign trade regime, public expenditure, and tax policy, along with the potential benefits of combining these structural changes with various land reform scenarios. The study uses a CGE model that provides a policy simulation laboratory in which exogenous policy changes are analyzed for their economywide income and equity effects. The report highlights the need for policy complementarities in Zimbabwe that can contribute to equitable growth. It should be of interest not only to those concerned with recent economic developments in Zimbabwe but also to those concerned with the broader issues of macroeconomic reform and its ultimate effects." Author's AbstractMacroeconomics, Structural adjustment (Economic policy), Agriculture Economic aspects Zimbabwe, Agriculture and state,