The first scholarly work to focus exclusively on the roles of pan-regional and worldwide labor organizations in the labor movements across the nations of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. With a career that covers over a half century, Robert J. Alexander is perhaps our foremost authority on Latin American history and politics. In International Labor Organizations and Organized Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean: A History, Alexander explores one of the most fascinating and often overlooked aspects of the Latin American labor scene he has so meticulously chronicled: the relationships between labor unions within specific nations, region wide organizations, and organized labor around the world. Alexander has written many of the cornerstone works on labor movements within the nations of Latin America, and this is his first volume to focus on the impact of international unions on Latin American labor issues. Coverage includes the AFL-offshoot Pan American Federation of Labor and the CIA-backed AIFLD; the role of the Russian Union, Profintern; European-based unions like the anti-Communist/anti-Fascist Postal Telegraph and Telephone International; and intraregional organizations like the Confederacion de Trabajadores de America Latina (CTAL)-the first attempt to form a multinational labor organization exclusively for the region. Numerous original documents from the various organizations covered in the book Wide-ranging bibliographic materials, including original interviews by the author with numerous people who participated in the various institutions that are written about in this volume

The research papers and cases in The Changing Dynamics of International Business in Africa provide multi-disciplinary insights on the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Africa, as well as on the changing competitive dynamics in the region, as Western, BRIC and African multinationals intensify their fight for market dominance.

In 2000, the European Union set out to shape itself into the world's most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy within a decade. But how great is the capacity of the EU to orchestrate 'competitiveness'? Can common policy instruments produce consistent effects across diverse varieties of capitalism? Has substantial policy learning taken place in response to the successes and failures of the Lisbon agenda? Europe and National Economic Transformation identifies the nature and limits of the transformative capacities of the EU's push for economic gains. The book does so by examining the consequences of the decade-long Lisbon process and its successor, Europe 2020. It explores a broad range of economic outcomes and consequences for an array of policy areas, including innovation financing, employment services, labor migration policy and pension reform.

The contributors investigate processes of international conflict transformation and peaceful cooperation. They highlight how critical intermediary-level components have proved more conducive to promoting rapprochement between rival states than interstate diplomatic engagement through incremental identity-change.

Tariff Rate Quotas are an important, though controversial instrument of international agricultural trade policy. They are meant to provide market access, but can be designed to be as restrictive as important quotas. In the political and academic discussion, quota administration is blamed to cause extra inefficiencies. However, little research exists on how different methods of quota administration compare to each other. This question is approached by an econometric model for censored panel data, which was applied to the EU's tariff rate quotas. Furthermore, this work analyses how tariff rate quotas are governed by WTO rules, how they are applied in practice by the EU and US, and how they could be reformed in the ongoing agricultural trade negotiations.

With contributions from leading thinkers such as J. Bhagwati and Robert Solow, this edited collection examines some hotly debated issues in today's world. The significance of globalization and its effects on welfare states is discussed and analyzed. A special chapter is devoted to terrorism, and it is explained why some people are willing to sacrifice their lives to gain 'heavenly goods'. The role of multinationals in the globalization process is examined as is the importance of changing and evolving social norms regarding work and leisure for the survival of today's welfare states.

This book contains selected papers first presented at the "Canada-United States Business Conference" held at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, on April 11-12, 2003.
The set of 18 chapters in this book are grouped into three major sections. Part I deals with regional economic integration in North America, including papers on the strategies of multinational enterprises and exporting firms. In Part II, five chapters deal with financial integration in North America and the issues of a common currency. Finally, specific industry sectors and issues of public policy across the Canada-U.S. border are examined in Part III. They include: - agriculture; softwood lumber; transportation; and electricity.
Key issues of current interest and concern examined include: - cross border trade and security - of particular importance in the post-9/11 environment; NAFTA at age ten; and the impact of the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) on NAFTA; the FTAA and civil society. Key policy areas discussed included regulation, labor mobility, productivity, and specific sectoral issues (energy, transportation, etc.). In addition to this examination of key research issues, authors also explore managerial and public policy implications of their findings.

With China's eminent entry into the World Trade Organization, past speculations of China becoming a world economic power in the 21st century is a reality with which few would disagree. We are witnessing the awakening of many sleepy giants, such as the successful reformed state-owned as well as township and village enterprises. We are also witnessing the birth and growth of a significant private sector, along with ever-increasing foreign investments. In this development process, there is a critical need to document and theorize about the management process by firms in this changing and dynamic context.
The Management of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China aims to contribute to the knowledge base of management within the Chinese context. The book begins with a mapping of research on management in PRC, and offers theoretical insights for cross-context, institutional, and behavioral studies. It then reports the results of fourteen empirical studies of management issues in the PRC firms. The issues studied include SOE transformation, globalization, governance, employment relationships, managerial networks, corporate culture and leadership. Also included are studies on the knowledge management process and management team characteristics of high technology firms. The methods of study include large-scale surveys, case studies, and interviews. The contributors are international experts in Chinese management research. Finally, we offer executive perspectives on several successful firms operating in China through interviews with their CEOs.

Called the business crime wave of the 21st century, trademark counterfeiting and product piracy are worldwide in scope and cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year. High technology and the globalization of business have made it possible to counterfeit and pirate a seemingly limitless number of products, from t-shirts, designer jeans, films and books to auto and airplane parts, and prescription drugs. The 1995-1996 trade dispute between the U.S. and China shows how serious the problem has become for American business and for U.S. diplomatic relations. Paradise explores the history of counterfeiting and piracy, shows how they are done, and the strategies that U.S. businesses are using to combat them. With interviews, commentary, and anecdotes by corporate attorneys, business leaders, and private investigators, this well-written book is essential for anyone interested in the damage that violations of intellectual property law are inflicting on world trade and what is being done to stop it. Called the business crime wave of the 21st century, trademark counterfeiting and product piracy are worldwide in scope and cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year. High technology and the globalization of business have made it possible to counterfeit and pirate a seemingly limitless number of products, from t-shirts, designer jeans, films and books to auto and airplane parts, and prescription drugs. The 1995-1996 trade dispute between the U.S. and China shows how serious the problem has become for American business and for U.S. diplomatic relations. Paradise explores the history of counterfeiting and piracy, shows how they are done, and the strategies that U.S. businesses are using to combat them. With interviews, commentary, and anecdotes by corporate attorneys, business leaders, and private investigators, this well-written book is essential for anyone interested in the damage that violations of intellectual property law are inflicting on world trade and what is being done to stop it. Paradise lays out the problem in Chapter 1 with a clear explanation of the differences between trademarks, copyrights, and patents, and the laws covering each. In Chapter 2 he looks at the role played by organized crime, gray market goods, the lack of intellectual property laws, and ultimately the threat to U.S. business. He discusses the recent investigations and disputes with China, and its aftermath throughout Southeast Asia. Chapter 4 focuses on the knockoff, chapter 5 on street peddlers and flea markets (and how merchants are retaliating), and chapter 6 on the tracking of counterfeiters. The entertainment industries and the pharmaceutical industries are then closely examined. He follows with equally comprehensive (and chilling) studies of automobile and aircraft parts counterfeiting and piracy in cyberspace. Paradise ends with a look at what is being done to counteract the inroads that piracy and counterfeiting have made into the global economy, and offers a provocative call for more and better efforts in the future.

The economic landscape of Asia has transformed in the past two decades. Regional economies are linked, and have achieved prosperity. The region must now look to the future. This book explores issues in Asia's long-term development, identifying conditions for sustained growth and income convergence.

This is a groundbreaking volume of theory and strategy on political economy and polity of the twenty-first century, which unites domains of economics, politics, international relations, and the environment in an organic whole. Distilled in concrete terms, it elucidates the enigma of oil in view of the centrality of global social relations and with respect to two major exigencies of our time, namely, world peace, and defense of our ecosystem. A Prelude to the Foundation of Political Economy also highlights the need for detachment of US foreign policy from dependence on oil, to reveal rather vividly the illusion of America's power and leadership. This book is a wakeup call to the altered reality in which we live.

This study was motivated by an awareness of the ever-growing importance of technology on productivity and power in the information age. It examines the relationship among national security, economic competition, and technology. An underlying premise is that in an era of diminished military confrontation, economic and technological power are acquiring enhanced importance in national security considerations. Green believes that this is bound to promote closer coordination between government and private industry, but not without tensions. Using both a public policy and an economic focus, his work seeks to clarify the debate on high technology industrial policy and to address the policy question of whether and how government should respond to competitive assaults in strategic industries.

How are global crises responded and dealt with? Are there any links between regionalism and global crises in terms of stimuli, processes, and consequences? This edited volume brings together a range of examples illustrating the development and importance of regional actors in the global governance of the political economy.

This book examines the need for cooperation between Europe and Asia, particularly in view of China's accession to the WTO. It looks at the cultural implications for closer cooperation between the two parts of the world, exploring corporate culture and leadership in integration management through mergers and acquisitions. It then goes onto discuss whether the world is big enough for several cultures or whether further integration will result in homogenization.

Building on the New Economic Foundation and Jubilee 2000's experience of making complex economic issues interesting and attractive to a mass audience, and publishing alternative reports, the Real World Economic Outlook provides an overview and reviews the global economy from a different and radical perspective. This first report looks at globalization and debt deflation.

The advances in transportation and communications have caused and supported the emergence of a global economy. The small economies are especially attractive to multinational companies for siting of production facilities because of lower costs and friendlier governmental attitudes. The emerging international economy has had an impact on third world countries in many ways. In general, international linkages and local economic sovereignty are inversely related. However, participation in the international economy is needed to balance the import/export flow used to improve the conditions in the smaller countries. Although external economic linkages are not risk-free, it appears that a certain amount of foreign involvement is necessary for successful economic development and improvement of conditions for small emerging nations. This work uses the Caribbean nations as a laboratory to show the various aspects of international linkages. This is especially appropriate because of the proximity of these countries to the North American markets.

This important reader brings together published articles from Palgrave's journal The European Journal of Development Research on the development between China and Africa as well as emerging national economies in the BRICs group. Topics include trade relations, investment in sub-Saharan Africa, global politics of development and more.

A comprehensive study of the international coordination of economic policy in a monetary union. It carefully discusses the process of policy competition and the structure of policy cooperation. As to policy competition, the focus is on competition between the union central bank, the German government, and the French government. Similarly, as to policy cooperation, the focus is on cooperation between the union central bank, the German government, and the French government. The key questions are: Does the process of policy competition lead to full employment and price stability? Can these targets be achieved through policy cooperation? And is policy cooperation superior to policy competition? Another important issue is monetary competition / monetary cooperation between Europe and America.

Myron J. Frankman provides an interrelated set of initiatives whose components are consistent with the logic of both the process of globalization and the emerging properties of our time: Sustainability, democratization, equal opportunity, diversity and peace. He brings together the case for global public finance, a single world currency and a planet-wide citizen's income, all within the context of democratic federalism extending from the local to the global.

This book contains a collection of papers by Japanese and German authors dealing with the ongoing globalization process and notable fluctuations in the regional economic development in East Asia. The contributions discuss the stabilizing and destabilizing elements of the globalization process. The authors investigate the different options for economic policy to stabilize an ever more tightly interwoven world economy. In the center of the discussion are developments in East Asia and the European Union.

What will joining the EU mean for the new eastern member states and their economies? This text offers a detailed study of the macroeconomic and structural adjustment burden. It envisages a real currency appreciation stemming from price convergence, capital inflows and weak structural change. The widespread belief that an Eastern enlargement of the Union would be overwhelmingly to the detriment of the present EU (budgetary costs, locational decisions, trade deficits) is rejected. The authors discuss the lack of competitiveness of Eastern countries and their need for structural adjustments (in the financial sector, in agriculture, and in manufacturing) in order for them to survive and thrive in their new economic environment.

Government Deficit And Fiscal Reform In Japan presents a theoretical-based comprehensive analysis of economic consequences of government deficits and fiscal reform in Japan. Particular emphasis is directed at developing tools that can be applied to theoretically and empirically clarify essential economic concerns in Japan such as generational incidence of fiscal reform and a growing dependence on government bonds for covering financial deficits. This book evaluates the recent movement of Japanese fiscal reform and government deficit.

The authors first summarize fiscal policy in 1990's. Then, they move on to investigate the macroeconomic impact of government dept and the sustainability problem, and then discuss benefits and costs of public investment. The political aspect of fiscal reconstruction movements in Japan is also examined. Finally, the authors investigate the behavior of central government's control on local governments' debt issuance and its effect on the real activities of local governments. This book points out that the long-run structural fiscal reform is more important than the short-run Keynesian fiscal policy in Japan.

This study provides an overview of how the Bangladeshi leather value chain is organised and governed. It analyses how the leather processing and leather goods/footwear subsectors are integrated into the global market and to what extent informal arrangements including illicit practices are conducive to global market entry. Power relations are dissected along the value chain, in order to analyse how local producers adapt to upholding competitiveness. The results of the work show the need to devise upgrading strategies which pay heed to the reality of informal dynamics in a global value chain (GVC) to improve the local producers' competitiveness. The GVC perspective was combined with considerations on upgrading, subcontracting, middlemen and informality to adequately analyse the complexity of the transactions in the chain. The data of this study are drawn from empirical field studies in Dhaka, Bangladesh and other sections of the international leather value chain during the time period of 2010 to 2014. A qualitative research approach was complemented with quantitative methods.

The integration of the Central and Eastern European transition countries into the European Union is one of the most exciting economic policy issues of today. The book provides a detailed analysis of the economic effects which EU integration has on accession countries. It shows that these countries have already managed to fully remove the anti-trade bias with the EU that existed before the fall of the iron curtain. Benefits from further integration into the EU could result in particular from the fact that full membership in the European Community will increase the credibility of government policy in accession countries. The study explores in depth how these credibility effects can be quantified. The author develops a novel approach to model the transformation process within a dynamic computable general equilibrium framework. Furthermore, he estimates the potential income and welfare effects of EU integration for Poland, the largest transition country with EU candidate status.