As foreign direct investment (FDI) grows rapidly in this highly integrated world, numerous new challenges confront the existing global trading system. Both developed countries and their developing counterparts have been trying to reach harmonious bilateral or multilateral agreements. However, disputes between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and host countries continue to increase as FOI rises. Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) were proposed by the United States in the 1994 Uruguay Round as a way to create a better investment environment in both developed and developing countries. Since many theoretical and empirical analyses of TRIMs agreement are ambiguous or incomplete, this three-essay dissertation will examine theoretical and empirical trade-related investment policies with a focus on the strategic regulation of TRIMs policies in developing countries. The first essay provides background information about TRIMs agreement that are currently employed around the world. It also includes definitions, controversial debates and applications, a description of the theoretical framework for analysis of the TRIMs agreement and the historical development of the TRIMs agreement from the Uruguay Round to the Doha meeting in 2001. The objective of this essay is to emphasize the importance of the TRIMs agreement in the structure of the global economy and their significant economic impacts on host countries. The second essay considers the impacts of the TRIMs policies on developing countries by employing a theoretical model. A dynamic general equilibrium model is used to examine two types of TRIMs policy instruments, local content requirements (LCRs) and government investment incentives (GIIs), such as subsidies given to MNEs operating in host countries. The model shows that increasing LCRs will benefit the economy of developing countries through increases in R&D and technology transfer in the short run. However, in the long run, increased LCRs will hinder their economic development because production of less competitive goods of higher cost will reduce domestic demand. GIIs use in developing countries will result in increase in available resource inputs for relative wages for R&D or technology adapting sector, while decreasing these inputs and relative wages for manufacturing sectors. Finally, the third essay studies TRIMs policies in a CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model of a small open economy, and quantifies the economic impacts of the strengthening of TRIMs policies under a post Uruguay Round scenario in Tunisia. The employed model is based on the model of Konan and Maskus (2000), which concentrates on trade liberalization in Tunisia. In our model, the policy instruments are government subsidies and taxes. Strengthening of these TRIMs policies was examined for 35 sectors. In order to analyze TRIMs policies, another important feature, FDI, was integrated into this CGE model. It was found that TRIMs policies tend to have a significant impact on service and other capital-intensive sectors, but have only a minor impact on mining, utilities, agriculture and other highly protected and labor intensive sectors. Government taxes on MNEs would cause a loss in the GDP of a host country and lower its relative wages, while investment incentives would increase both the GDP of the host country and its relative wages.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is about imperfections in urban labour markets of three developing countries. I study how physical living conditions place constraints on labour force participation, and increase risks associated with unemployment. In Chapter One I test for the impact of high search costs on labour market outcomes of job seekers. I use a randomized trial of transport subsidies among youth living far away from the centre of the city in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Lowering transport costs increases the intensity of job search and leads to better employment outcomes. Weekly phone call data shows that treatment works to stop job search activity from declining over time. I show that the results are consistent with a dynamic model of job search with cash constraints and monetary search costs. Income from temporary work is used to smooth consumption and pay for the costs of search. I find that subsidies reduce participation in temporary work. Chapter Two looks at the links between poor housing conditions in slums and market labour supply. I test for the effect of free government housing in South Africa on households, using four waves of panel data and a natural experiment due to the allocation of new housing according to proximity from housing projects. I then use planned but cancelled projects to control for non-random selection of housing project sites. I find that government housing leads to large increases in household incomes from wage work, and increases in the labour supply of female household members. I argue that these results are due to reduced burdens of work in the home of improved housing, especially for women. In Chapter Three we look at how labour markets respond to large but temporary economic shocks caused by typhoons in the Philippines. We use quarterly aggregate, repeated-cross sectional and panel data to demonstrate robust evidence of downward wage flexibility. Lay-offs do not occur when storms hits, but hours per worker fall. We explain these results with a model of implicit contracts under which risk is shared between workers and firms through wage cuts, but workers are insured against lay-offs so that adjustments in labour demand occur through reductions in hours per worker. Our results are particularly strong for workers in long term contractual relationships in the private sector.

This study analysed the representation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Mail and Guardian from 2000 to 2007. It drew on perspectives from cultural studies, the constructionist approach to representation and the sociology of news production. Through the use of the quantitative and qualitative research methods, content analysis and critical discourse analysis, this study established first, that few significant changes have occurred within the newspaper's coverage of the MDGs during this period, and second, that the people most affected by the MDGs and affiliated programmes are seriously under-represented and that the manner of representation marginalises and subordinates them.

Given ongoing advocacy for the institutionalisation of derivatives trading in sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) as a convenient way for enhancing regional countries’ growth prospects, this study examines the impact of derivatives trading on the economy of South Africa, with reference to output growth and growth volatility, in order to illustrate the likely developmental impact that derivatives markets could ensue for SSA countries. The literature of the study essentially explores the possible ways of derivatives markets’ influence on economic growth, alongside the infrastructural requirements for ensuring well-functioning derivatives markets. While accounting for implied capital market development, the GMM estimation could not evidence a significant relationship between the existing derivatives exchange and real GDP growth using South Africa’s data. Similarly, a causal relationship from SAFEX’s trading volumes to GDP growth could not be inferred. However, the study shows evidence of the reducing effect of derivatives trading on growth volatility. / Business Management / M. Com. ( Business Management)

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In the first part of the thesis I focus on credit markets in developing countries, and describe the competitive interaction between Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). <p>Microfinance has recently attracted a lot of attention from investors, politicians, scholars and, most of all, people working on development. As a results, a huge number of MFIs are being created all over the world so that, as of today, practitioners reckon that about 100 millions of customers are being served. Remarkably, about 67% of them are women. <p><p>The reason of this extraordinary effort is that Microfinance is considered the most promising development tool currently available. This belief is based on two important features of Microfinance: (i) It promises to be financially viable (and in some cases even profitable) since poor people have proven to be reliable clients. As a result, Microfinance is potentially a zero-cost development tool. (ii) It hinges on the entrepreneurial abilities of the poor. It is designed to help the poor to help themselves, in their own home countries, by allowing them to use their skills, ideas and potentials. This should progressively make developing countries independent of rich ones' help. <p><p>The growth of Microfinance has been so fast that many issues and related research questions are still not answered. In my thesis I try to address one of them, that I believe particularly important: the increase of competition between MFIs. As economic theory predicts, competition can have dramatic consequences in terms of borrower welfare, profitability of the institutions and, therefore, on the attractiveness of the business for potential investors, donors and entrants. I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to understand these effects, measure them, and give some interesting policy advice. <p><p>In the first paper, I analyze the effects of entry of a new MFI in a previously monopolistic microcredit market. In order to catch the salient features of financial markets in developing countries, I use a model of asymmetric information and assume that institutions can offer only one type of contract. I consider different behavioral assumptions for the MFIs and study their influence on equilibrium predictions. The model allows showing that competition can lead to equilibria in which MFIs differentiate their contracts in order to screen borrowers. This process can, unfortunately, make the poor borrowers worse off. Interestingly, the screening process we describe creates a previously unexplored source of credit rationing. I also prove that the presence in the market of an altruistic MFI, reduces rationing and, via this channel, affects positively the competitor's profit.<p><p>In the second paper, I study the effects of competition in those markets in which, due to the absence of credit bureaus, small entrepreneurs can simultaneously borrow from more than one institution. As in the first paper, I analyze an oligopolistic microcredit market characterized by asymmetric information and institutions that can offer only one type of contract. The main contribution is to show that appropriate contract design can eliminate the ex-ante incentives for multiple borrowing. Moreover, when the market is still largely unserved and particularly risky, a screening strategy leading to con- <p>tract differentiation and credit rationing is unambiguously the most effective to avoid multiple borrowing. The result of this paper can also be read as important robustness checks of the findings of my first paper. <p><p>In the last part of the thesis, I depart from the analysis of developing countries to consider, more generally, the corporate governance of financial infrastructures. The efficient functioning of financial markets relies more and more on the presence of infrastructures providing services like clearing, settlement, messaging and many others. The last years have been characterized by interesting dynamics in the ownership regime of these service providers. Both mutualizations and de-mutualizations took place, together with entry and exit of different players. <p><p>Starting from this observation, in the last paper (with Joachim Keller), we analyze the effects of competitive interaction between differently owned financial providers. We mainly focus on the incentives to invest in safety enhancing measures and we describe the different equilibrium market configurations. We use a model in which agents need an input service for the financial market they operate in. They can decide whether to provide it them selves by forming a Cooperative or outsource it from a Third Party Provider. We prove that the co-existence of differently governed infrastructures leads to a significant reduction in the investment in safety. In most cases, monopolistic provision is preferable to competition. Moreover, the decision rule used within the Cooperative plays a central role in determining the optimal market configuration. <p><p>All in all, throughout my thesis, I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to model the competitive interaction of the different actors operating in financial markets. Understanding the dynamics typical of developing countries can help in gaining a deeper comprehension of the markets in richer countries, and vice-versa. I am convinced that analyzing the differences and the similarities of financial markets in different regions of the world can be of great importance for economic theorists, in that it provides a counterfactual for the assumptions and the results on which our predictions and policy advices are based.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report emerged as a resolution during the 3rd National General Council Resolution on Economic Transformation held in 2012, during which the Council stated that: “The ANC’s approach to economic transformation of the South African economy should always be holistic and comprehensive, covering all sectors of the economy. In this regard, the ANC should ensure greater state involvement and control of strategic sectors of the economy, such as mining, energy, the financial sector and others.” It was for this reason that the National General Council mandated the National Executive Committee to ensure that further work be done on ways in which the African National Congress can implement economic transformation in sectors such as the mining industry. It was suggested that methods including research, study tours and discussions be conducted to gather the required information. As a result of the research, The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report emerged. In The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report, the mineral sectors of developed as well as developing countries are compared with each other. The developing countries compared included Botswana, Zambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and these countries have also been selected for the purpose of comparison in the present research. The goal of this study is to analyse the recommendations made in The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report regarding State involvement in the minerals sector. To determine whether the economic situation in South Africa is comparable to the five other African countries, an analysis based on demographic indicators, the history of the minerals sector in the various countries, its contribution to the fiscal regime of that country, its economic contribution, as well as the extent of involvement from Government and the model implemented for its involvement, is conducted. According to a work paper published by the World Bank on the world development indicators for 2014, control over metal supply to the economy has been considered vital for political and economic reasons in most societies. It further states that most State-owned mining companies have over the years and, in particular, in developing countries, not been able to operate successfully, leading to privatisation. Poor performance is, however, not necessarily the reason for State ownership. Areas not addressed by this thesis include the Gold Mining industry in South Africa and the Diamond mining industry in Botswana.

Magister Legum - LLM / The main purpose of this paper was to explore the role economic partnership agreements play in regional integration. The whole paper was premised on identifying the nature of economic partnership agreements that is conceived as a free trade arrangement. Therefore the paper discussed the feasibility of the reciprocal principle between the European Union and ACP countries, and further indicated that there is no need to implement the principle of reciprocity at present. The paper also discovered that, due to the fact that unequal trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries still exist, the implementation of the EPAs is most likely to generate the complementary but non-competitive trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries. Such a situation could result in the ACP countries over-independence on the EU's market. ACP countries are not expecting to such integration. In addition the paper ascertains that the EPAs themselves could contain the intrinsic negative impacts such as discrimination against the third countries on regional integration. / South Africa