Master Thesis Paper Submitted to: Wits Business School University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa Master in Finance & Investment, 2015 / Does the volatility of the Renminbi (RMB) have any significant impact on China’s trade? This fundamental question has garnered considerable debate in both the academic and financial circles. The recent “currency wars” amongst larger economies has further fueled the question. Using a number of econometric methods, this research dissects the heart of the effect of the volatility of exchange rate on trade. The research makes crucial findings to provide an affirmative response to the central question posed. In line with most theoretical and empirical studies, the study found that volatility of exchange rate has a positive impact on trade by boosting exports and reducing imports. The appreciation of the RMB has tended to lead to a decrease in China’s global competitiveness, and often suppresses growth. The research provides an important insight on how Chinese monetary authorities can maintain the managed pegged currency system while simultaneously expanding economic growth. Key words: Exchange rate volatility; trade balance; imports; exports; causality; appreciation; depreciation. / MT2016

A Master’s degree Dissertation presented in partial Fulfilment for the Award of Master of Management in Public Policy at University of Witwatersrand, Wits School of Governance (WSG), 2016 / As a result of the dependency created during the colonial period and later through preferential trade initiatives, Europe has been and continues to be Kenya’s major trading partner. The current trade relationship between Kenya and Europe was recently formalised after the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), a reciprocal and comprehensive free trade agreement that is legal under Article XXIV of General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT). The agreement has caused great debate on whether it is truly beneficial to Kenya in light of the asymmetrical levels of development, with many questioning what role the agreement will play towards sustainable growth and development and specifically in the horticultural sub-sector. Sharing the pitfalls of both the Lomé Convention and Cotonou Agreement that failed to deliver the expected development there is reason to believe that few gains will be made by signing the EPAs as they are today. The horticultural sub-sector is a major provider of employment, especially in the rural areas, and is the second largest foreign exchange earner for Kenya. Facing increasing domestic and international demand, coupled with continued and enhanced market access to Europe, participation in the highly profitable sub-sector has the potential of transforming rural agriculture by presenting an opportunity for small-scale farmers to increase their income and reduce poverty. As a non-Least Developed Country (LDC) country, the loss of trade preference for Kenya could severely undermine export competitiveness and damage the horticultural sub-sector which is heavily dependent on exports to the European Union (EU). The main objectives of the Kenyan government for signing the EPAs include sustaining the current market preferences, avoiding macroeconomic instability and the disruption of economic activities in the agricultural sector. The study found that, given Kenya’s substantial dependency on the horticultural sub-sector and the limited trade schemes options available to engage in trade with the EU, the government had no option but to sign the EPAs. The failure to diversify the economy, inadequate public institutions, insufficient human and financial capacity, declining public investments in agriculture and limited intra-African trade and the failure to seek other market destinations are some of the reasons why the government entered into the agreement. The Kenyan government needs to aggressively increase investments in the agricultural sector in order to enable transformation and promote diversification through value addition. Manufacturing should be prioritised as this will enable the economy to become less exposed to commodity price fluctuations. The government should seek to develop and increase intraAfrica trade as well as explore other market options in Asia, North America and South America in efforts to lessen Kenya’s dependency on Europe. Further, Kenya and other African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries should, instead of signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) such as an EPA, collectively call for an improved EU General Scheme of Preference (GSP) tailored for both LDC and non-LDC countries that would provide real cooperation and development. / XL2018

The diasporic movement of Chinese people to South Africa, through time and space, unfolds the current discourse of cultural identity within the multicultural flows of our society. Diluting the Chinese culture into a hybrid of Chinese and South African identity, results in a disconnection to their homeland and their loss of “Chineseness.” However, the global realities of diaspora in the 21st century render this condition inevitable and so, consequently, this thesis aims to celebrate the Chinese culture as well as the fusion of Chinese culture, through the creation of culturally integrative spaces. Sited at Ferreirasdorp in Johannesburg’s city centre, this project involves the design of a Chinese Cultural Institute in conjunction with retail and informal trade. The broad intention is to provide a catalyst for the revival of the earliest Chinatown within this historical corner of the city. Chinese migratory movement to South Africa occurred at different times, for different reasons and from a number of places in China, and this variation has resulted in the dispersal of these migrants throughout Johannesburg. The earliest Chinatown is one of these dispersed spaces. In addition to this larger scale diaspora, there are subcultural conflicts that exist between these Chinese communities that have further increased their dispersal. However, in this present-day atmosphere of celebrating cultural difference in Johannesburg and in light of the business relationship formed between China and Africa, there is a need to bring these diverse yet segregated Chinese communities together. The principal research question is: Can architecture become a translator that can facilitate communication across cultures and subcultures?” The building therefore consists of flexible spaces that can easily adapt and transform to suit the users’ needs. This includes meeting spaces, whether it be a formal office space or under tree in the courtyard, so that Chinese businessmen can communicate with businessmen from local industries. The project also provides a variety of cultural activities. This includes Chinese cooking classes for anyone interested in learning about the richly diverse cuisines across China. Pan-Asian activities such as Karaoke Bars and Thai Massages are also provided in order to acknowledge the existing variety of Asian cultures in the city, and to accommodate for a larger scope of users. This thesis therefore explores how spaces can facilitate interaction between these cultures as well as distinguish and celebrate the various Chinese subcultures that exist in metropolitan Johannesburg. In accomplishing the goals of this design, the building becomes a place of exchange. Through connections of movement and visibility, it allows new spatial and social opportunities to develop in order to create a variety of identities in our contemporary African city. The building encourages the Chinese communities to claim it as their own while simultaneously providing accessibility to a variety of other users who can experience cultures reverberating off each other, through a mixture of activities, from moment to moment.

Wong Pak Kai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves [59-61]

This thesis examines America's post-Cold War relations with China in the context of the neoliberal vs. neorealist debate. It concludes that neorealism - the dominant school of thought in the international relations literature - is incapable of explaining America's response to China's rise in the post-Cold War era. Because America was the leading global power and China was its most obvious potential rival, a neorealist theory that prioritized the distribution of relative power would anticipate this relationship to be a most-likely case for American policymakers to pursue containment and prioritize relative gains. However, I leverage insights from more than 100 personal interviews to demonstrate that in reality American leaders have overwhelmingly preferred a strategy of neoliberal engagement with China that has remained decidedly positive-sum in nature. My explanation for this consistent, bipartisan preference is that American policymakers have not adopted the neorealist assumption that conflict is inevitable between existing and rising great powers. As a result, policymakers have not focused exclusively on how to minimize the relative costs of a potential conflict with China by trying to contain China's relative power and limit America' exposure to China (as they did with the Soviet Union in the Cold War). Instead, policymakers have subscribed to the neoliberal belief that conflict can be avoided, and that increasing engagement and interdependence is the best strategy to maintain peace. They have pursued this strategy despite acknowledging that engagement and interdependence have increased the costs of a potential conflict by helping to facilitate China's rise in both an absolute and relative sense, and by increasing America's exposure to China. This thesis helps to define the differences between hedging and containing strategies. It argues that while relative material power is often important in deciding whether to hedge or not hedge, these purely material calculations play no role in decisions of whether to pursue containment or engagement. Instead, the decision to contain or not hinges on the target state's behavior and what that reveals about the regime's underlying intentions. Within this new framework, I argue that American policymakers' strategy has been to engage China economically while simultaneously hedging militarily. Furthermore, to the extent that American policymakers have expressed increased concerns about China in recent years, this has been primarily a consequence of China's increased assertiveness - not changes in its relative power.

The main objective of this thesis is to examine the extent of and the potential for Arab economic integration. It adds to the growing literature on the issue of economic integration by throwing the spotlight on several issues hitherto little considered in the existing literature. The thesis especially blends various aspects of economic integration with models of spatial competition, economic geography, regionalisation and globalisation to explain the problems of and prospects for economic integration for the Arab countries. It is important to realise that economic integration has become an important aim for almost all countries in the world; in particular, less developed countries, which need more economic efforts to be able to deal with the current international milieu and the gale of globalisation. The Arab countries have engaged in a number of initiatives to advance economic integration, however despite this the degree of economic integration among them is still relatively insignificant. The thesis also attempts to offer theoretical models to explain the obstacles preventing economic integration in the Arab world. This thesis is, to the best of the author’s knowledge and belief, the first rigorous study of the extent of and the potential for Arab economic integration through three vital economic perspectives: trade, investment and labour flows. In the first perspective, this study investigates the nature of intra-Arab trade and which particular countries/sub-group of countries may potentially become an integrated regional production system, or hub. This investigation is done within the scope of gravity models, which assume that intra-trade is a function of the GDPs of the involved countries and the distance between them. The thesis extends the literature by introducing spatial models and models of new economic geography to explain how economic integration evolves in the current international milieu concomitantly driven by globalisation and regionalisation. In the second perspective, this study investigates intra-Arab FDI and capital mobility. The postulated model assumes that intra-Arab FDI is a function of a number of economic variables, such as GDP, GDP per capita, inflation and purchasing power parity. The thesis offers a comprehensive theoretical model to explain how successful economic integration can be carried out by FDI flows. In the third perspective, the study investigates intra-Arab labour flows. The proposed model utilises remittances as an indicator of labour flows. It assumes that remittances are a function of some economic variables, such as GDP per capita, the real price of oil, and the oil production of Saudi Arabia, which represents the main Arab host country of Arab labour flows. The proposed theoretical model offers insights into the dynamics of labour flows and oil price movements. The econometric study in the thesis applies panel data for the period 1985-2005, and employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) fixed effects regression. The most important empirical finding of the study is that Arab economic integration has been significantly affected by intra-trade, intra-FDI and intra-labour flows among sub-unions of Arab countries. / Doctor or Philosophy (PhD)

The main objective of this thesis is to examine the extent of and the potential for Arab economic integration. It adds to the growing literature on the issue of economic integration by throwing the spotlight on several issues hitherto little considered in the existing literature. The thesis especially blends various aspects of economic integration with models of spatial competition, economic geography, regionalisation and globalisation to explain the problems of and prospects for economic integration for the Arab countries. It is important to realise that economic integration has become an important aim for almost all countries in the world; in particular, less developed countries, which need more economic efforts to be able to deal with the current international milieu and the gale of globalisation. The Arab countries have engaged in a number of initiatives to advance economic integration, however despite this the degree of economic integration among them is still relatively insignificant. The thesis also attempts to offer theoretical models to explain the obstacles preventing economic integration in the Arab world. This thesis is, to the best of the author’s knowledge and belief, the first rigorous study of the extent of and the potential for Arab economic integration through three vital economic perspectives: trade, investment and labour flows. In the first perspective, this study investigates the nature of intra-Arab trade and which particular countries/sub-group of countries may potentially become an integrated regional production system, or hub. This investigation is done within the scope of gravity models, which assume that intra-trade is a function of the GDPs of the involved countries and the distance between them. The thesis extends the literature by introducing spatial models and models of new economic geography to explain how economic integration evolves in the current international milieu concomitantly driven by globalisation and regionalisation. In the second perspective, this study investigates intra-Arab FDI and capital mobility. The postulated model assumes that intra-Arab FDI is a function of a number of economic variables, such as GDP, GDP per capita, inflation and purchasing power parity. The thesis offers a comprehensive theoretical model to explain how successful economic integration can be carried out by FDI flows. In the third perspective, the study investigates intra-Arab labour flows. The proposed model utilises remittances as an indicator of labour flows. It assumes that remittances are a function of some economic variables, such as GDP per capita, the real price of oil, and the oil production of Saudi Arabia, which represents the main Arab host country of Arab labour flows. The proposed theoretical model offers insights into the dynamics of labour flows and oil price movements. The econometric study in the thesis applies panel data for the period 1985-2005, and employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) fixed effects regression. The most important empirical finding of the study is that Arab economic integration has been significantly affected by intra-trade, intra-FDI and intra-labour flows among sub-unions of Arab countries. / Doctor or Philosophy (PhD)

The writer's doctoral thesis has placed its emphasis on a critical appraisal of the activities encountered by multinational corporations during the last ten years of the pre-WTO phase of China. The cental argument running through all five studies is that investment in China is complex but comprehensive. Although China shows unique features, the general problems of planning and executing investment are similar to those found in any case of a firm moving across international boundaries. The individual studies complement each other, moving from the way in which Chinese government policy frames the operating environment, to the modes of analysis required of firms considering investing in China, to the more specific issues encountered by foreign firms in China, to the special problems facing Hong Kong, and finally a more abstract re-formulation of the issues of foreign investment in the Chinese context. These general arguments are well substantiated in these studies, and they serve as a useful counter to the more simplistic and enthusiastic treatments on the one hand, and the excessively pessimistic evaluations on the other. Naturally, the world did not stop just after China entered into the WTO. As it moves forward, new competitive elements have emerged and as more variables develop in response to the evolving environment the writer will be shifting his attention to the post-WTO phase of China's economic development- a challenge which could be as interesting and intriguing to pundits, entrepreneurs, governments and indeed to all players involved. / Doctor of Business Administration

No description available.

This thesis examines South Africa's relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private international banks in the period 1970-1987. The thesis is written in the language, and uses the conceptual tools, of 'regulation theory', an approach whose emphasis on 'time-changing' empirically-grounded explanations of a country's global interactions, it is suggested, represents an advance over modernisation and dependency approaches. The thesis traces the altered circumstances of the international financial system since the early 1970s. It points to the struggle by the IMF to come to terms with these changes in harmonising a new international financial system. The IMF has, however, increased its supervisory power in relation to most countries in the developing world, especially after the oil-price hike of 1973. The basis for, and implications of, the explosion in private international bank lending in this period is also examined. This analysis is followed by an examination of the crisis in the South African political economy since the early 1970s and of the way this crisis was influenced by global events. It is argued that South Africa's international economic relations were transformed by both global and domestic forces and came to be dominated by issues of international finance. The second part of the thesis examines South Africa's relations with the IMF and private international banks. This relationship was supportive of the apartheid state's development strategy for most of the period 1970-1985. It is argued that until the 1980s, the relationship also benefited the western industrialised countries who profited both materially and strategically, from their economic relations with South Africa. However, in 1983, the US imposed restrictions on its support for IMF loans to South Africa. By mid-1985 a combination of political and economic changes within South Africa forced some foreign banks to withdraw their normal credit facilities to South Africa. These events precipitated a dramatic change for the worse in South Africa's international financial relations. It is argued that although there has been some improvement in these relations since 1987, the country's relations with the IMF and banks have not returned to their previous mostly supportive character. A combination of international, regional and domestic economic and political factors has ensured that the current crisis in South Africa's international financial relations is already deeper, more prolonged, and more damaging to growth prospects, than the crisis of the mid-1970s. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1989.