<p>Increasing energy needs globally have recently led to an interest in effectively bringing energy services in the trading system. Energy services were part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, whose main achievement was the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The objective of the GATS is to achieve progressive liberalisation and reduction or elimination of trade barriers of all services sectors, including energy services. The GATS has made commendable progress in liberalising many service sectors, however it has not made meaningful progress with energy services. Furthermore though the SADC region engages in energy services trade through bilateral and regional agreements, a variety of&nbsp / barriers inhibit major successes from being achieved. Effective energy services trade and liberalisation has therefore proved problematic both at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level. This study, seeks to investigate why energy services liberalisation and trade at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level is problematic, with a particular focus on&nbsp / the SADC region.</p>

<p>Increasing energy needs globally have recently led to an interest in effectively bringing energy services in the trading system. Energy services were part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, whose main achievement was the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The objective of the GATS is to achieve progressive liberalisation and reduction or elimination of trade barriers of all services sectors, including energy services. The GATS has made commendable progress in liberalising many service sectors, however it has not made meaningful progress with energy services. Furthermore though the SADC region engages in energy services trade through bilateral and regional agreements, a variety of&nbsp / barriers inhibit major successes from being achieved. Effective energy services trade and liberalisation has therefore proved problematic both at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level. This study, seeks to investigate why energy services liberalisation and trade at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level is problematic, with a particular focus on&nbsp / the SADC region.</p>

This paper empirically investigates the key firm- and industry-specific restrictions to the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in services trade. For this purpose, we use firm-level data from firms in France operating in different services sectors over the time period 1998 to 2007 and formulate two-part models consisting of (i) (dy namic) export equations and (ii) (dynamic) export share equations. Our results confirm the view that a relatively low share of SMEs engage in services trade. In line with the new-new trade theory, our results also corroborate that more productive SMEs have a higher export probability. The key finding of this paper is that the export decisions of SMEs in services sectors are estimated to be extremely persistent, implying that trade pol icy efforts, including the allocation of scarce trade promotion budgets, should be directed at addressing the barriers faced in establishing the first export operation. Finally, our sub-sectoral estimates reveal considerable heterogeneity across different types of services.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Increasing energy needs globally have recently led to an interest in effectively bringing energy services in the trading system. Energy services were part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, whose main achievement was the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The objective of the GATS is to achieve progressive liberalisation and reduction or elimination of trade barriers of all services sectors, including energy services. The GATS has made commendable progress in liberalising many service sectors, however it has not made meaningful progress with energy services. Furthermore though the SADC region engages in energy services trade through bilateral and regional agreements, a variety of barriers inhibit major successes from being achieved. Effective energy services trade and liberalisation has therefore proved problematic both at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level. This study, seeks to investigate why energy services liberalisation and trade at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level is problematic, with a particular focus on the SADC region. / South Africa

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Increasing energy needs globally have recently led to an interest in effectively bringing energy services in the trading system. Energy services were part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, whose main achievement was the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS). The objective of the GATS is to achieve progressive liberalisation and reduction or elimination of trade barriers of all services sectors, including energy services. The GATS has made commendable progress in liberalising many service sectors, however it has not made meaningful progress with energy services. Furthermore though the SADC region engages in energy services trade through bilateral and regional agreements, a variety of barriers inhibit major successes from being achieved. Effective energy services trade and liberalisation has therefore proved problematic both at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level. This study,seeks to investigate why energy services liberalisation and trade at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level is problematic, with a particular focus on the SADC region.

Actuellement, le secteur des télécommunications est toujours concerné par les questions liées au triptyque de « la régulation (re-régulation), la privatisation et la libéralisation ». Bien que le cadre réglementaire de l'industrie des télécommunications ait radicalement changé depuis les années 80, il reste encore beaucoup à faire, notamment dans les pays en développement. En raison de pressions exercées par les institutions internationales, les pays en développement sont actuellement en train de privatiser leurs opérateurs historiques, de libéraliser leurs secteurs et de créer des institutions indépendantes de régulation. Le cas de la région du Moyen-Orient et Afrique du Nord (MENA) peut être distingué de deux points de vue. Premièrement, les pays de la région MENA sont en retard dans la mise en oeuvre des réformes par rapport aux autres pays en développement. Deuxièmement, la nature institutionnelle, politique et économique de ces pays façonne leurs décisions relatives à l'adoption des réformes. Cette thèse propose d'analyser l'adoption des réformes en tenant compte de la nature institutionnelle, politique et économique des pays de la région MENA. Nous visons également à tester empiriquement l'effet des séquences des réformes sur la performance du secteur. L'impact des restrictions du marché des télécommunications sur la performance des télécoms est également abordé. Enfin, nous étudions le phénomène de substitution fixe-mobile dans la région MENA et ses implications. Nous obtenons des résultats empiriques qui servent à élaborer des pistes de politiques économiques dans le secteur des télécommunications des pays du MENA. / At this stage of development of the telecommunication sector, it is still concemed with issues related with the triptych regulation - re-regulation, privatization and competition. Although the institutional and regulatory framework of the telecommunication industry has changed radically since the 80s, a lot still remains to be done notably in developing countries. Due to pressures from international institutions, developing countries are privatizing their state owned incumbent operators, allowing entry of foreign and domestic operators and establishing separate regulatory institutions, a a way to alleviate the existing poor performance. The case of Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) countries ca be distinguished from two perspectives, first, they were Iate in implementing reforms compared to other groups of developing countries. Second, the institutional, political and economic nature of such countries shapes their decisions regarding the adoption of different reforms. This study aims at discussing the introduction of different telecom reforms depending on the institutional, political and economic specificities per country. We also aim at testing the effect of different reform sequences on the sector performance. The impact oftelecom market restrictions on MENA telecom performance is also addressed. Finally, we study the phenomenon ofFixed-mobile substitution in MENA region and its implications. We reach important empirical results that help to derive useful policy implications in MENA telecom sector.

Le Luxembourg est le 3ème exportateur mondial de services financiers. Il figure parmi les pays qui accueillent le plus d’investissements directs en provenance de l’étranger, ce qui indique l’intensité de ses liens avec l’économie mondiale. Le but de ce travail est d’analyser l’influence éventuelle d’une économie mondiale caractérisée par l’interdépendance des marchés réels et financiers sur l’économie Luxembourgeoise. Chapitre 1 présente une analyse des interactions de l’économie Luxembourgeoise avec le monde extérieur. Le chapitre suivant est consacré à la revue de la littérature portant sur la modélisation de l’intermédiation financière au niveau macroéconomique, couvrant plusieurs types d’approches de modélisations. Enfin, le troisième chapitre comporte un modèle macroéconométrique multi-pays construit et analysé afin de simuler les scénarios plausibles. Le modèle y est présenté avec ses fondements théoriques, les résultats des simulations et une comparaison avec d’autres modèles. La nouveauté du modèle réside dans sa prise en compte du commerce international désagrégé en services financiers et autres, et des investissements internationaux en portefeuille avec leurs flux de titres et de capitaux, ainsi que de leur impact sur la croissance économique. Les résultats des simulations montrent que ce cadre d’analyse donne parfois des résultats différents par rapport aux modèles standards. Nombre de scénarios qui ne peuvent être simulés par d’autres modèles, tels que la baisse des flux internationaux d’investissements de portefeuille, sont également analysés et confirment la forte vulnérabilité du Luxembourg aux chocs externes qui ont lieu sur les marchés financiers. / Luxembourg is world’s third financial services exporter and one of world’s top recipients of foreign direct investment in value as well as per capita terms, which highlight its strong linkages with world economy. The objective of this dissertation is to analyze possible outcomes for the very small and very open economy of Luxembourg in a world environment, where real and financial markets affect each other. To better understand the characteristics of the economy and economic mechanisms behind them, a thorough analysis with emphasis put on the interactions with the outside world based on available data and relevant literature is presented (Chapter 1). Subsequently a survey of literature devoted to modeling financial intermediation at macroeconomic level across various types of modeling approaches is offered (Chapter 2). Finally, a multi-country macroeconometric model built to simulate possible scenarios is presented and analyzed (Chapter 3) with its theoretical background, simulations’ results and comparison with other models. The model is novel in that it accounts for international trade disaggregated into financial services and the rest, and international portfolio investment in securities and equity flows, that have a significant impact on the country’s economic growth. Simulations’ results show that such a framework generates sometimes markedly different results than more standard models. A number of scenarios which cannot be simulated in other models, such as American stock market fall or a decrease in international portfolio flows, are also analyzed and confirm the high vulnerability of Luxembourg economy to external shocks originating in financial markets.

With the increasing importance of service trade in the economy, the development of service trade among China, Japan and South Korea, as the three largest economies in East Asia, cannot be ignored. This paper mainly analyzes the competitiveness and complementary relationship of service trade between China, Japan and South Korea through RCA and TC index. The degrees of competition between China, Japan and South Korea is not intense since their complementarity is high and stable. With the signing of RCEP, the future liberalization of service market in China, Japan and South Korea will be improved, and China should make full use of the complementarity of service trade with Japan and South Korea to strengthen the exchange and cooperation with Japanese and Korean service enterprises in several industries to promote the development of service trade between China, Japan and South Korea. Keywords ： Services Trade, Complementarity, Competitiveness, China, Japan, South Korea, Regional Economic Cooperation

在2014年3月的太陽花學運裡，參與的學生在此次扮演主要的角色。也因為如此，各領域響起許多質疑的聲浪，認為此運動只匯集了較邊緣的社會思想，尤其是極端反中的論點。這使得太陽花學運帶著不透明性，真正發起和參與的學生動機變得難以捉摸。此論文採用各方觀點加以探討，並分類大學生參與之背後的真正原由。研究首先細化就讀大學之參與者的動機，參考其投入程度，加以比較各種參加的原因；次而探討其學歷背景是否因而對其造成影響。本研究運用這兩項方法比對，釐清參與學生之背景、動機、成果的交互影響之關係。 / During the Sunflower Movement of March 2014, it was the university students that played a prominent role. Because of this, several misconceptions about the Sunflower Movement arose. Among them was that it only appealed to a small radical fringe of society, especially those with strong anti-Chinese sentiments. This cast a shadow on the movement as a whole, and the true motivations why students became involved was unclear. This paper takes a multi-dimensional approach to specifying the reasons behind why students participated. First, it breaks down the various motivations students had and compares this with how invested they became in the movement. Secondly, it takes into account students’ backgrounds to see whether or not this affected their motivations. Using this approach, we can see a relation between one’s background, motivations, and their eventual outcome in protest.