Global Economy Journal

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on income inequality distribution in 60 developed, transitional, and developing countries. Using Kearney's (2002, 2003 and 2004) data and principal component analysis (PCA), two globalization indices are created. One of these indices is the equally weighted index. The other index is derived from the principal component analysis. The Gini coefficient of a country is regressed on each index, respectively, in all 60 test cases.

The main contribution of this paper is its finding of a negative relationship between both globalization indices and the Gini coefficient for all 60 countries under investigation. Furthermore, test results indicate that this relationship is robust. Therefore, the empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the claim that globalization helps reduce income distribution inequality within countries.

During the current episode of globalization, capital has flown primarily to high income countries. Attempts to explain this “Lucas Paradox” have focused on the quality of institutions. We analyze data from a major institutional investor, the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, to estimate the separate effects of income per capita and institutional quality on international capital flows. After controlling for institutional quality, GDP per capita remains the primary determinant of investment.

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze the relationship between RTAs and the MTS by combining the gravity model framework with vector auto-regression analysis. Impulse-response-functions robustly suggest that multilateral trade liberalization responds in a significantly positive way to regional trade liberalization. We also find robust evidence that RTA liberalization Granger-causes GATT/WTO liberalization. Thus, our results indicate that RTAs do not undermine the MTS but serve as building blocks to multilateral trade liberalization.

For decades, Boeing and Airbus have struggled for dominance in the large commercial aircraft market. In 2010 and 2011, the World Trade Organization ruled that each firm has received illegal subsidies from the governments of the United States and the European Union, which have enhanced their competitive positions. This paper considers the nature of these rulings and the future competitive environment in the global jetliner industry.

This article deals with a discussion of the policy perspectives on the past 20 years of economic change in Poland. The article looks at the range of areas (political and economic systems) subject to transition; the evolutionary nature of the change; and the sequence of change. The article calls upon more than 20 years of research into these areas and questions and discusses the nature of change in the stabilization, liberalization and privatization programs. It concludes by providing insights on lessons that may be learned from reform efforts. The authors conclude that the Polish experience proved conclusively that reducing the budget deficit through the elimination of state subsidies, controlling the money supply, and creating a stabilized rate of exchange and a fully convertible currency can be successful even in a state-controlled, state sector-dominated socialist economy as existed in Poland in 1989-1990. The article further asserts that it is also now apparent that only a radical stabilization-liberalization program is capable of abolishing the massive shortages which became the main characteristics of the failed socialist system. Further, the authors argue that the changes initiated in Poland as a result of the implementation of the Balcerowicz Plan fundamentally changed the mentality of economic activity from state-centered to private-centered. It is this change in the dynamic mentality that may be most important in Poland achieving success over the past 20 years.

Non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) are currently the largest global cause of adult mortality, one of the principal burdens of disease in developed and underdeveloped countries. Their main causes are well known, tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. The prevalence of these risk factors is directly related to the activities of transnational corporations (TNCs). For example, just the TNC budgets dedicated to advertising risky consumption are larger than the budget of the World Health Organization.

A literature survey shows that NCDs have important long-term macroeconomic impacts, whose detailed evaluation has only just begun. The sheer burden on the working and aged population implies strong impacts on labor, saving and investment, as well as increased human capital depreciation. These will all impact long-term economic growth. It is a research priority to quantify these impacts. However, in the context of globalization, NCD is developing faster than its rigorous analysis.

Research results show that what is needed is preventive action. This requires a global institutional framework capable of controlling NCD risk factors, which can also promote health and economic growth in general. Developing legal mechanisms to slow the negative impact of the deficient nutrition transition would be a step in that direction. Global markets need to be balanced with global governance holding TNCs responsible for their impact, promoting cooperative solutions when available, and taxing them so that they carry their fair share of social weight.

In this study, we aim to analyse the performance of inflation targeting program named “A Transition Program into a Powerful Economy” in particular since 2002 until the end of 2009 by using Taylor rule in a different way. We divide inflation targeting period in accordance with the governors of the CBRT, Sureyya Serdengecti and Durmus Yilmaz, as a most important element that affects inflation targeting program among other factors.

Results imply that Mr. Serdengecti did not follow a pure Taylor rule while Mr. Yilmaz does. In Serdengecti period, the CBRT does not take in account output gap movements and exchange rate while deciding short term interest rate as said in Taylor rule. But the CBRT takes into account outgap movements and exchange rate movements in Yilmaz period, and these variables have important portion in discussing of short term interest rate while it is not so necessary in Serdengecti period.