Losing Control: Policy Space to Prevent and Mitigate Financial Crises in Trade and Investment Agreements

This article examines the extent to which measures to mitigate the current financial crisis and prevent future crises are permissible under a variety of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade and investment agreements. US trade and investment agreements, and, to a lesser extent, the World Trade Organization, leave little room to manoeuvre with capital controls, despite increasing evidence that certain controls can prevent or mitigate crises. Investment rules under the treaties of most capital‐exporting nations allow for at least the use of temporary controls as a safeguard measure. The article offers a range of policies that could be deployed to improve US investment rules.     

Parties with Policy Preferences and Uncertainty over Voter Behavior

The equilibrium redistributive policy proposals of two parties with policy preferences are studied. Each party’s ideal policy coincides with that of citizens having a particular income level, and the party’s utility function reflects its attitude to the trade-off between the choice of preferred policy and the likelihood of victory. When parties face uncertainty about citizens’ abstention from voting, divergent equilibrium proposals are derived which are more moderate than their contrasting ideal policies. Political equilibria under different prior beliefs on abstention are then compared. It is shown that a lower likelihood of abstention in a particular income group induces both parties to make proposals catering to that group, in equilibrium.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Change and Continuity in Australian International Migration Policy

Almost half Australia's population are an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. This paper traces changes in Australia's immigration policy over the postwar period and relates them to changing global and national developments. While Australian postwar immigration policy changes are similar in many ways to those in other “traditional” migration countries there are a number of distinctive elements. The effectiveness of those policies in achieving government goals is assessed and it is concluded that most objectives of policy have been successfully achieved. Nevertheless there are a number of challenges which Australian policy makers face over the next decade.     

长三角自贸试验区航运政策联动与创新

长三角航运政策一体化是一次挑战,更是一次机遇.通过港口与港口之间的差异化发展,借助港口与企业之间的利益分享机制,建立长三角自贸试验区议事协调机制,有利于凸显上海的差异化优势,避免无谓内耗与无序竞争,提升上海作为"国际航运中心"的竞争力.     

Uncertainty and International Migration: An Option Cum Portfolio Model

Real option theory suggests that individual migration may be delayed beyond the Marshallian trigger since the option value to waiting may be sufficiently positive in the face of uncertainty. In this paper we present a model where a multi-member family is the decision- making unit. Therefore, migration may now be partly driven by the desire to diversify the location of family members in order to reduce income risk. Our two-period model incorporates both the option and the portfolio motive as the triggers determining family’s optimum timing of migration. The optimum delay before migration is shown to depend on the uncertainty parameters of the model including risk aversion and income volatility. We use aggregate Canadian data on immigrant visa issuance and landing to capture average waiting period for migrants from Hong Kong.

上海国际航运中心与特殊经济功能区联动发展研究

洋山特殊综合保税区是将临港新片区打造为特殊经济功能区的集中承载区,是我国目前开放程度最高、改革力度最大的海关特殊监管区.上海国际航运中心与特殊经济功能区联动发展,需要以洋山特殊综合保税区为核心区域,充分发挥临港新片区开放型经济优势,充分挖掘临港交通、区位等优势,持续提高对国内国际人流、物流、价值流、信息流等资源的集聚和配置能力.     

International Policy Perspectives on Independence in Old Age

The promotion of independence in old age has become a common principle in aging policies internationally. The term independence, however, has a variety of meanings that are shaped by social/political/economic contexts and the values and attitudes toward older people. Interpretations of independence affect the ways in which policies are translated into strategies and services. The promotion of independence features prominently in the aging policies of the United Nations and the World Health Organization but does not fit well with the cultural values and social contexts of some countries. A comparison of aging policies in four countries—Australia, Denmark, India, and United Kingdom—found that the principle of promoting independence is not universally adopted. The author proposes that the profile and meaning of independence in policy is shaped by values surrounding individual, family, and social responsibilities. Consideration is given to the limitations and culturally bound nature of independence as a policy principle.     

International Federation of Social Workers: International Policy on Refugees

The initiators and the advocates of the Australian Assistance Plan claim they are creating a new framework—a framework which is more sensitive to and aware of the needs of the individual and the community. As Knight and Wallace point out in the March issue of Australian Social Work, the key concept is participation.¹ The Social Welfare Commission, who initiated the A.A.P., describe it as:     

International Migration,Immigration Policy and Welfare Spending

Increasing immigration is often linked with the public pressure for lower levels of publicly funded social expenditures. However, the empirical evidence on the effects of increasing immigration on social expenditures is discordant and depends on which countries are studied. This article argues that the employability of new immigrants as well as their entitlement to public benefits explains the observed impacts of immigration on social expenditures. Moreover, these same features can help to explain the increasing stringency of immigration policies.     

Humanitarian Organizations in International Disaster Relief: Understanding the Linkage Between Donors and Recipient Countries

This study explores how humanitarian organizations (HOs) link donors and recipients in a disaster relief coordination mechanism. Based on an analysis of real data collected from the financial tracking service, our results show that disaster assistance through the HO channel greatly exceeds the funding delivered by the non-HO channel. The severity of the disaster is positively correlated with the involvement of HOs. Disaster-stricken countries that belong to the Non-Aligned Movement receive more assistance through the HO channel. The recipients with less international trade may attract more HO-channel funding, but higher international tourism expenditures also may result in more HO-channel funding. We also found that the determinants of the disaster relief coordination path vary greatly in terms of trade openness, political regime, and geographic factors. Based on the analysis of the primary humanitarian relief supply chain, the results show that some countries prefer to donate through large international HOs (e.g., Japan and Canada), and other countries favor national level organizations (e.g., the UK and the USA). Finally, to improve the efficiency of international disaster relief, the paper suggests a coordination platform that involves the main donors, frequent recipients, HOs, and a Global Information Network that can assist in coordinating disaster relief activities.

     

基于国际比较的预约定价机制:中国(上海)自由贸易试验区实施建议

预约定价制度是解决跨国关联企业转移定价问题的重要方法,对稳定税基,促进外商直接投资都具有重要意义.为进一步加强上海自贸试验区对外商直接投资的吸引作用,并发挥其税收政策改革的示范作用,建议上海自贸试验区积极推行预约定价方法的创新,引入更多现实可行的国际定价方法;推动双边/多边预约定价协议的签署;建立完善的价格信息系统,实现信息共享;最后利用人才高地的优势培育专职人才及经济分析团队.     

Career Guidance Policy: An International Review

The Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development, the World Bank, and the European Commission have conducted reviews of the career guidance policies and practices in 37 countries. The 37 country studies, together with the 3 synthesis reports and a number of other commissioned papers, constitute the largest database on career guidance policies that has ever been collected. The present article, based in large part on the 3 synthesis reports, addresses the finding relative to 5 key policy issues: rationale, evidence, delivery, resources, and leadership.     

国际组织的青年就业政策

2000年之后,全球性的国际组织为解决青年就业问题,落实《千年宣言》的目标,提出了一系列的政策建议,开展了诸多的服务活动。本文运用国际组织在青年就业方面的原始材料,在介绍国际组织对青年就业不足或失业代价的认识、基本政策建议和服务活动的基础上,提出了需要重视青年就业知识库建设、开展以青年就业为核心的社会对话、建立连贯和综合的政策途径等观点。     

上海教育国际化的配套政策及服务体系研究

上海教育国际化的核心内涵是通过教育活动国际化、教育者与受教育者的国际化、教学机构国际化以及国际维度与观念融入过程的国际化等途径,推动上海整体教育水平的提高,吸引和培养高素质的国际型人才,服务于上海经济社会可持续发展的大局。上海教育国际化的配套政策要围绕优质教育资源的引入和输出展开：制定“引智”政策,以吸引优秀海外专家、学者,扩大开放现行科研体系,引入教育国际化高端资源;制定教学计划与课程国际化建设、“留学上海”系列服务、优质教育资源引进、“国际化品牌项目”支持、全社会共同参与、服务体系信息化等政策。建立以政府各相关部门为主体的管理体系、以高校及其他办学机构为主体的教学体系及以企业、各类社会组织及市民为主体的社会服务体系。