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Competitiveness is a key requirement for modern companies to survive. Effective corporate governance practices are also fast emerging as a fundamental obligation owed to shareholders and other stakeholders. The connection between competition and good corporate governance is derived from the product market competition hypothesis (PMCH) that projects the idea that operating in competitive markets would increase x-efficiency and decrease agency costs in companies, leading to superior corporate governance. Although a significant amount of work, both theoretical and empirical has been carried out on the efficacy of the PMCH, none of the research has been conclusive. Moreover, there has been no concentrated effort into determining the impact of the PMCH on the specific types of agency problems that are endemic to companies with largely concentrated shareholding structures like India. The paper highlights that a part of the reason behind the waning and unconvincing research on the PMCH (specially in India) has been the focus on competitiveness as an abstract concept or empirical construct, rather than on the regulatory aspect of competition, that is, competition law. This paper examines the connection between competition law and corporate governance, specifically the utility of competition regulation in being used to improve corporate governance in companies. It also considers the effectiveness of competition law in dispelling some of the pervasive Indian corporate governance problems such as tunneling and inefficient related party transactions. Some of the methods that are considered which would have such an impact and thus are recommended by the researcher, are a redefinition of 'dominant position' in the competition law discourse, to include within it pyramidical groups of companies as well as viewing tunneling practices as having an 'appreciable adverse effect' on competition. Doing so would result in numerous efficiencies as competition law could be used to kill two birds with one stone: increasing both competitiveness and good corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mixed ownership reform of China is a kind of further partial privatization for the listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and an opportunity for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) to expand their commerce boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of heterogeneous blockholders on corporate innovation. Spanning the analysis with listed companies in China from 2007 to 2017, we find that heterogeneous blockholders have a significant positive effect on enterprise innovation. Lowering agency costs and improving corporate innovation efficiency are the two plausible mechanisms. From further research, we find that compared with non-SOEs, the positive effect of heterogeneous blockholders on enterprise innovation is more pronounced for SOEs, and the effect is more positive with the improvement of relative power balance between heterogeneous blockholders. The paper sheds light on the innovation effects of mixed-ownership reform in emerging and transitioning countries. JEL Classification : G32, M13, D23, G34 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Samuelson's [Samuelson, P. A. 'Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization.' Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(3), 2004, 135-46] argument that technical progress of the trade partner may hurt the home country. We illustrate this prospect in a simple Ricardian model for situations with outward knowledge spillovers. Within this framework Samuelson's Act II effects may occur. Based on industry level panel data for 17 OECD countries for the period 1973-2000 we show econometrically that the outflow of domestic knowledge via exports or foreign direct investment (FDI) to the rest of the world may have a negative impact on industry output in the home country. This is particularly so when exporting to technologically less advanced countries and, more specifically, China. ( JEL F10, F11, F14, O30) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercial determinants of health (CDoH) are attracting increased interest and are of great importance when discussing how trade affects health. Through a citation analysis of recent foundational CDoH documents (a Lancet paper series and an Oxford University textbook), we find that fully 71% of all citations reference the health sciences. The health sciences may be well suited to documenting the specific pathways of how commercial (by)products and practices harm human health. However, to operationalize upstream solutions for mitigating these harms, our citation analysis suggests that the field can engage political scientists, economists, sociologists, the trade law and business, as well as advocates in civil society and journalism, more so than it currently does. With CDoH explicitly referring to the interaction between commerce and health, CDoH researchers might be uniquely positioned to get health on the agenda of others, which requires that CDoH methods, datasets, evidence reviews, and proposed interventions are drawn from the widest possible range of sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the time when Spanish Crown was consolidating its presence in American lands through the dispatch of its royal officials, in his treaty Sobre justicia distributiva Friar Juan Zapata y Sandoval, who belonged to the Creole elite, supports the idea that men born in the New World should enjoy ecclesiastic benefits and secular trades in their republics by election, since he considers them worthy and with enough merits to be candidates. In this paper my aim is to research his actual position on these matters within the section "Acerca de la distribución de los oficios seculares" in the same treaty, to prove that Zapata could not really sustain his defense in favor of those men born in the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coming together of shareholders participating and corporate governance, which is essential to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has created a complicated and detailed environment full of critical legal consequences. This study explores how corporate social responsibility initiatives and shareholder participation are interconnected in driving change. This article will explore the different responsibilities that organizations, stakeholders, and governing bodies have regarding legal issues. Additionally, we will explore the monetary responsibilities they need to fulfill and the difficulties they might encounter when complying with regulatory guidelines. Furthermore, we shall delve into the possible legal disputes that could emerge in these situations. The paper thoroughly explores the intricate legal elements linked to this topic. Our focus is on analyzing notable events and exploring various legal strategies used in conflicts concerning corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, it provides beneficial recommendations for corporations, investors, and regulatory authorities to effectively maneuver through this constantly evolving landscape while maintaining a harmonious connection between moral behavior in commerce and the concerns of stockholders. In the context of the increasing worldwide attention on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the influence of shareholders on corporate governance, it is essential for all parties involved to comprehend the legal complexities that arise in this scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uncovers a hitherto unnoticed pattern of communal segregation among establishments located in some of Delhi's most important bazars. It demonstrates that this pattern, emerging between 1913 and 1932, was driven by structural features of the ways in which Delhi's trade and retail interacted with communal violence in the 1920s. Those features include the dislocating effects of communal violence on bazars. More strident political activity by merchants, however, was important fuel to this fire. Merchants did not, also, restrict themselves to repeating communal tropes developed elsewhere. Their self-organisation gave shape to a conception of 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' trades. Rather than see a communal 'pre-Partition' in the 1930s, this evidence suggests that communal segregation was already well on the rise in the 1920s. Business as usual, then, was a source of deepening communal antagonisms rather than, as is sometimes assumed, a source of everyday bonhomie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business entities do not often include terms in commercial agreements unless those terms are relevant and are designed to maximise the gains of the parties to the agreement. To realise their reasonable and legitimate expectations, they expect that contractual terms and promises would be respected by the parties and courts. There is a growing body of literature suggesting that Nigerian courts are not giving maximum effects to foreign jurisdiction clauses (FJC). What is largely missing from the scholarly contributions is that no one has worked out a principled solution to overcome this conundrum. This article significantly contributes to the existing literature through an empirical analysis of Nigerian appellate court decisions on FJCs with a view to gaining deeper insights into the attitude of Nigerian courts to FJCs. Compared to the US where the national average of enforcement is 74%, a 40% rate for Nigeria does not project Nigeria as a pro-business forum. This outlook can potentially disincentivise cross-border trade and commerce between Nigeria and the rest of the world. To address this problem, the paper proceeds by presenting a normative framework, built principally on economic and contract theories, for enforcing FJCs. As most of the cases are B2B transactions, the paper invites the courts to treat FJCs and arbitration clauses equally and to replace forum non conveniens considerations with a more principled approach which limits non-enforcement to overriding policy, and a strong cause that is defined by reasonableness and foreseeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study of coverage by `New York Times' and Washington Post' during the administration of former United States President George Bush about the China trade controversy. Influence of the president on the medial;Sources and media coverage; Explanation on how the Congress influences presidential and public views.

A general review is presented of the roles of QSARs and mass balance models as tools for assessing the environmental fate and effects of chemicals of commerce. It is argued that all such chemicals must be assessed using a consistent and transparent methodology that uses chemical property data derived from QSARs, or experimental determinations when possible and applies evaluative or region-specific environmental models. These data and models enable an assessment to be made of the key chemical features of persistence, bioaccumulation, potential for long-range transport and toxicity. The other key feature is quantity used or discharged to the environment. A taxonomy of environmental models is presented in which it is suggested that rather than develop a single comprehensive model, the aim should be to establish a set of coordinated and consistent models treating evaluative and real environmental systems at a variety of scales from local to global and including food web models, organism-specific models and human exposure and pharmacokinetic models. The concentrations derived from these models can then be compared with levels judged to be of toxic significance. A brief account is given of perceived QSAR needs in terms of partitioning, reactivity, transport and toxicity data to support these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that Denis Stijepic and Helmut Wagner have won the Best Paper prize for 2018 for the paper "Impacts of intermediate trade on sector structures."

The technological diversity applied in practical examples entails the identification and the analysis of different implementation options, thus opening the way to a world of technology. The goal of this paper is to spot novel prospects for incorporating sensors and Big Data techniques for better property administration strategies, through an indoor localization and navigation architecture. The hereby analysis uses an approach that combines Radio Frequency Identification technology, performance efficient algorithms for calculating routes in very large datasets, methodologies for optimizing spatial representations and Internet of Things specific hardware distribution techniques to properly address challenging logistics issues and complex facilities management. The proposed solution is tailored for a large underground parking area in a commercial center, enabling easy car location identification, automatic parking time calculation and dynamically determined occupancy levels, along with descriptive statistics about busy time intervals or visiting patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Fall 2020, all universities in Alberta went with remote delivery of classes due to COVID-19 restrictions. This provided not only teaching challenges, but also opportunities. Professors at three Canadian universities teaching similar undergraduate courses in international political economy decided to use the challenges/opportunities of COVID-19 restrictions to experiment with a World Trade Organization (WTO) simulation across three campuses through remote delivery. Simulations are frequently used for teaching in political science, but what was unusual was doing it through remote delivery. This paper assesses the effectiveness of the experiment. It traces the origins/evolution of the idea, learning objectives for the students, preparation by the professors to design the WTO simulation, and the experience of the actual simulation. It also addresses the challenges (technological, timing, assignments, grading, student anxiety, etc.). In addition, it identifies the steps that were taken to reduce and mitigate the challenges. It also acknowledges the mistakes that were made by the professors in designing and implementing the assignment. These observations and reflections are informed by the materials that the professors prepared, their thoughts on the experience, and the feedback from participating students (through official student evaluations as well as a special survey instrument). It provides lessons for future online simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's coastal cities have been playing a pivotal role in international relations through culture, commerce, and connectivity since the hoary past. In modern times, coastal cities such as Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on the Arabian Coast and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on the Bay of Bengal have been active actors in international affairs. While Mumbai has been the hub of international trade and commerce, Kolkata has been the junction of cultural bonhomie with Bangladesh and Southeast Asian countries, which gained more traction due to cross-border movements of technology, information, education, trade and finance, and artistic tools bolstered by the New Economic Policy beginning in the early 1990s. Indian states and metropolitan cities are enhancing their positions in international affairs with tangible gains. Mumbai is referred to as India's financial capital and the home to the headquarters of great global business houses and financial organisations. Similarly, Kolkata is known as the cultural capital of India (Sri Aurobindo, Tagore, Shanti Niketan, Bengali folk art and culture etc.) and a destination for foreign tourists, artists and curious researchers. This paper examines the growth and impact of city diplomacy in India through the prism of federalism in advancing local interests in international politics. It attempts to assess the role of Indian cities from a comparative perspective in the conduct of city diplomacy from economic and cultural aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shareholder value ideology and the rise of executive pay are widely acknowledged but only partly explored aspects of financialization. This paper adds to the empirical evidence on the extent to which stock-based pay incentivizes and rewards corporate executives, demonstrating that CEO pay, and hence pay inequality, is substantially under-stated in Europe. It shows that the actual realized gains (that is, take-home compensation) from stock-based pay of CEOs in the largest European companies are underestimated by the use of 'fair value' measures, in the case of some countries dramatically. We base our work on a sample of 301 large, publicly-traded companies listed in the S&P Europe 350 index from 11 EU countries. We document that on average half of the total compensation of the European CEOs in our sample is stock-based, measured by actual realized gains, with differences among countries. Based on our work, we argue that realized gains measures of CEO pay should be the standard for assessing the incentives and rewards of senior corporate executives in Europe. We consider this to be a preliminary step to question shareholder value-based corporate strategies in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Christianisation, commerce and civilisation (3Cs) as strategies of European imperialist movements and considers the impact such endeavour made on Nigeria's enslavement. Using the historical method, the paper argues that the methods of the 3Cs adopted by the colonial imperialist, though with some positive impacts, eroded Nigeria's socio-cultural and politico-economic heritage and consequently breeds the foundation for socio-cultural and politico-economic slavery in contemporary Nigerian society. Specifically, the paper interrogates how the 3Cs fuel some forms of slavery in contemporary Nigeria. By so doing, this paper will contribute to African postcolonial studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the relationship between tourism-related economic activities and neighbourhood shops in the historical centre of Venice, in terms of both their spatial distribution and the conflictual uses of the city. In questioning how to inhabit and revitalise the city through commercial activities, the paper wishes to contribute to the discussion proposed in the special number, by presenting a specific yet paradigmatic context and by reflecting on urban regeneration and revitalisation bottom-up practices. The research first unfolds the landscapes of commerce in the city and identifies polarised geographies of tourism-related activities focusing on retail and catering businesses; secondly, it interrogates spatialised strategies that local actors are developing to reflect on their relation with urban planning and policy design processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's network information age, the vigorous development of e-commerce has brought great opportunities and challenges to the development of marketing. This paper first analyzes many problems faced by marketing in the context of e-commerce, and then puts forward a series of new marketing strategies in the context of e-commerce, in order to be able to deal with the opportunities and challenges of marketing in the era of e-commerce. Based on the research logic of "discovering problems, investigating and analyzing problems, and solving problems", this study discusses from five aspects. Firstly, from the actual background of e-commerce marketing, the development process of e-commerce marketing and the development status and development trend at home and abroad are analyzed. Secondly, the relevant basic theories are elaborated, and the advantages and characteristics of e-commerce marketing are explained in detail. In-depth analysis of the current operation status of Shaanxi Xifeng Distillery Co., Ltd., comprehensive diagnosis of the marketing strategy of its main products, and detailed discussion of the competitive environment for enterprises to develop e-commerce marketing. Finally, the implementation steps of the enterprise's e-commerce marketing strategy are broken down in detail. After comprehensively using the literature research method, survey research method, SWOT analysis method and interview method to analyze the existing problems of Shaanxi Xifeng Distillery Co., Ltd., the following conclusions are mainly obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the decades after the Second World War, learned society publishers struggled to cope with the expanding output of scientific research and the increased involvement of commercial publishers in the business of publishing research journals. Could learned society journals survive economically in the postwar world, against this competition? Or was the emergence of a sales-based commercial model of publishing – in contrast to the traditional model of subsidized journal publishing – an opportunity to transform the often-fragile finances of learned societies? But there was also an existential threat: if commercial firms could successfully publish scientific journals, were learned society publishers no longer needed? This paper investigates how British learned society publishers adjusted to the new economic realities of the postwar world, through an investigation of the activities organized by the Royal Society of London and the Nuffield Foundation, culminating in the 1963 report Self-Help for Learned Journals. It reveals the postwar decades as the time when scientific research became something to be commodified and sold to libraries, rather than circulated as part of a scholarly mission. It will be essential reading for all those campaigning to transition academic publishing – including learned society publishing – away from the sales-based model once again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides commerce PhD students with advice on how to structure research proposals. In particular, the paper addresses the question: How should a PhD candidate in entrepreneurship (or another commerce discipline) present a research proposal? The paper guides students through the various stages of proposal writing. Firstly, the fundamental aspects of business research and their implications on postgraduate research proposals are discussed. Secondly, the focus of the paper turns to presenting some common proposal evaluation criteria used. Thirdly, the structure and components of a proposal are explained and specific guidance on how to present each component of the proposal is provided. The paper concludes by discussing technical aspects of academic writing including language, references and plagiarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the appeal made by the journal "Feminist Teacher," for the contribution of information from readers and presents information on the themes and goals of several conferences to be held worldwide. The e-mail address of the journal is presented where readers could send their information. The central aims and objectives of several conferences are presented including the themes of the "15th Annual International Association for Feminist Economics Conference." Several themes of the Feminist Economics Conference are presented including the regional concerns in global economy.

Extant studies on the relationship between 'domestic institutions, comparative advantage, and international specialization' have primarily focused on formal institutions. This paper contributes to this literature by focusing on domestic informal contracting institutions vis-á-vis generalized trust as a source of comparative advantage. Employing a bilateral industry trade data, the paper finds robust evidence that countries with high generalized trust level export relatively more in industries that are prone to contractual frictions. Results on export margins further suggest that countries with a high generalized trust level enter more markets, ship more products to each destination, and have higher export per product and export intensities in those industries. On the one hand, the results reemphasize the importance of trust for improved economic performance. On the other hand, the results explain why a country endowed with weak formal domestic contracting institutions may still have a comparative cost advantage in contract intensive industries due to having strong domestic informal institutions such as generalized trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the different factors affecting Sino-African trade based on the gravity model, and propose some solutions to improve the problems. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on an extended gravity model, including trade agreement and recession as explanatory variables. The impacts of trade agreement and economic recession on Sino-African imports and exports are examined. Findings: The results show that the product of GDP affects African exports to China significantly and negatively, and affects African imports from China positively. Real exchange rate affects African exports to China positively, and affects African imports from China negatively. Population affect African exports to China significantly and positively, and affect African imports from China positively. Recession have negative effects on both African imports from China and exports to China but is only significant for imports. Agreement affects African imports from China and exports to China positively. Our findings confirm the impact of economic recession, and imply that the structure of African product exported to China should be improved, and trade agreements should be reinforced. Originality/value: This paper contributes and extends the literature on Sino-African trade by improving the traditional gravity model to include the impact of all trade agreements, and their aggregating effects on trade. The paper also seeks to assess the trade impact of economic recession through a dynamic gravity model approach for which there has been no research done to our knowledge. In this regard, it provides new understanding of the trade pattern between China and Africa, and ways in improving the Sino-African bilateral trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing area that has been getting the greatest attention in the business including the banking sector. AI has huge applications in the area of commerce, education, transportation, banking as well as daily life. AI in the banking industry relies on faster inexpensive, more accurate, and efficient work at the banking sector. By using AI in commercial banks, the banker gets more benefits and audience response positive as well as strong competition in work efficiency. AI provides renovating ideas to promote the banking sector through Automated Teller Machines (ATM). In this research paper, the impact of AI in the commercial bank ATM sector has been discussed with primary data collected from five banks and 30 ATMs from the perspective of clients. It was found that AI on ATMs has a positive impact as it gives excellent client service, high work efficiency, and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity management is not an economic activity that is in a phase of maturity or decline, but on the contrary, that activity has a promising future as well as a history longer than a century. It is the most important factor for the economic development of a country and hence the problematic dealt in this paper is very actual, due to the fact that it treats the essential economic aspects related to the electricity market. In this context, the trade in electricity is mainly of special importance in the topic, and as a result of that the net import and its participation in the final consumption of electricity, as well as the movement of electricity prices within the European Union and Republic of North Macedonia. In addition, the design of the electricity market in the Republic of North Macedonia is briefly described, following the adoption of the Energy Law in May 2018. The aim of the paper is to point out the importance and impact of these components on the electricity market and the economic development of the country as a whole, and thus to improve the competitiveness of companies in the power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and Africa have experienced the rapid expansion of bilateral trade during the last two decades. The India–Africa trade is understudied in general and in the agriculture sector. Very few considerable efforts have been made to study the agro-trade restrictions between both the economies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the recent evidence of non-tariff measures (NTMs) imposed on the agro-products between India and Africa, which also work as non-tariff barriers. It is perceived that India being one of the frequent users of NTMs in the world poses many challenges for its trading partners. Based on the Revealed Trade Barrier (RTB) index, using 28 agro-products (HS-4 digit level), this paper assesses bilateral agro-trade barriers. The frequency index (F i) and coverage ratio (C r) were used to analyse the complex nature of NTMs. The study findings show that both trading partners imposed a wide range of NTMs on each other's agro-products, which resulted in the discriminatory effects on trade. Comparatively, India has imposed the lesser number of NTMs on Africa's agro-products. Despite the recent bilateral trade agreements between both the economies, trade barriers were frequently noticed. The paper suggests applying strategic trade policies and reduction of NTMs along with harmonisation of standards to flourish the bilateral agro-trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the difference from traditional commodity trade, copyright trade not only transmits economic value with real products as carriers, but also transmits cultural value with subject consciousness as form, which often occupies an important position in trade friction. This paper summarizes the position of copyright trade in Sino–US trade friction from the perspective of Sino–US trade history, and considers it is not only one of the key incentives for Sino–US trade friction in the current stage, a game chip between the two sides in the upgrading stage, but also one of the key points of China's reform in the calming stage. Based on this, this paper analyzes the reason why copyright trade occupies an important position in Sino–US trade friction, and regards that China should draw lessons from history and continuously deepen the reform of copyright trade in the legal system, market cultivation, internationalization of enterprises, so as to promote the sound development of copyright trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the conventional scholarly view that early Chinese economic thought simply conceived of farming and commerce as mutually opposing forces. It argues that during Western Han times there existed a significant distance between court rhetoric and economic reality and suggests that, in reading official discourse, one should be cautious not to emphasize the economic over the political. The paper re-examines a series of well-known court memorials and concludes that few questioned the ethics of how wealth should be generated as long as political control could be maintained and the Han court was on the receiving end of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. output has steadily outpaced the rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the past several decades. The decoupling of these two trends represents a decline in aggregate GHG emission intensity. Using recently released national datasets covering industry-specific GHG emissions and shipments, this paper decomposes the relative importance of changes in various channels underlying changes in aggregate GHG emissions in the U.S. from 1997 to 2015: scale or national output growth, cross-sector composition changes, and a technique effect capturing other factors lowering emission intensities within the country's productive industries. The results demonstrate that reductions in within-sector techniques explain two-thirds, and cross-sector shifting of economic activity towards cleaner industries explains one-third of the increasing gap. Using data on industry exports and imports, this paper further investigates the relative environmental effect of trade on GHG emissions. Together, increased exporting, and importing, of both intermediate and final goods, has corresponded to a relatively small expansion of cleaner sectors and appears to have contributed slightly to the relative expansion of cleaner U.S. industries. In 2015, U.S. imports of intermediate and final goods account for the displacement of roughly 290 million metric tons of U.S. GHG emissions, representing less than 5% of U.S. GHG emissions in the same year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse the comparative advantage patterns of agriculture in the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is relatively understudied in the literature, especially in Central Asia. Agriculture still plays an important role in the region but in a different way than before. Despite that, the majority of the CIS countries are net food importers. Based on the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index, country-level analysis shows that Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia have the highest Balassa indices in the region, and Belarus, Ukraine and Azerbaijan are also having some comparative advantage. Product level analysis pointed out that the region's major agricultural export products groups are cereals. It is important to emphasise that the top five product groups have high, between 3.0-4.4, RCA values. It implies that the regional trade structure is consistent with comparative advantages. However, stability and duration tests show that these are not persistent, since survival chances fell appreciably from 2000-2003 to 2012-2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper illustrates the effect of a permanent demand‐side shock in the perturbed regions and the associated spillover effects in the non‐perturbed regions using a spatial‐numerical general equilibrium model of the EU economy. We test to what extent gradual upward pressure on wages generated by a domestic increase in demand alters the magnitude of the economic impacts in the long‐run and the degree to which this could result in changes in trade patterns. We also assess the size and the direction of the effects with varying trade substitution elasticities and under both perfectly and imperfectly competitive product markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of the flow of trade are based on three traditional trends, each of which focuses on one component of movement: commodity, infrastructures and actors. Based on these three models' limitations and the use of qualitative economic geography and ethnography, this paper enriches our understanding of the flows of cross‐border trade, crossing of bodies of literature and theories. It offers a description of commercial traffic in the Central African Copperbelt and calls for a better comprehension of the specific conditions for executing commercial movements, where infrastructures, commodities and actors influence each other to allow the movement of things. Analysing commercial movements in the Zambian Copperbelt proves difficult with the existing theoretical framework. This paper provides an ethnographic study of cross‐border commercial circulations in order to enrich our understanding of commercial flows in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the debate surrounding negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The EU and US began negotiations for this comprehensive commercial agreement in July 2013 and have still not reached consensus. This article aims to assess the possibility of resuming talks on this sensitive topic in light of the current administration in the White House, or of the European Union potentially shifting its attention to other global partners, in a period when it is visibly undergoing a number of internal crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the Czech agrarian trade has undergone a very significant transformation. It had been considerably influenced by several dynamically developing factors, which originate not only in the area of economics, but also within the political and social sphere. The objective of this paper is to identify the roots of Czech agrarian trade competitiveness in relation to EU and non-EU countries. The results of comparative advantages analyses are discussed in relation to Czech agrarian trade nominal value and volume performance. The paper identifies the set of items when trade performance is induced by increasing volume (increasing exports in kg) and the set of items when trade performance is induced by increasing unit value performance. To accomplish the above mentioned tasks, the following methods have been applied: The LFI, RCA and TBI indices, product mapping and logarithmic decomposition. Based on individual applied methods the analyzed paper provides the results. However, Czech agricultural trade does not have comparative advantages in general (both in relation to EU and also non-EU countries), there are existing bilateral comparative advantages in the case of individual export items (non-EU: CN04, CN17, CN01, CN24, CN12, CN19, CN11, CN13 and CN18; EU: CN10, CN24, CN01, CN12, CN15, CN04, CN22, CN11, CN17, CN03, CN16, CN09, CN13 and CN14). The problems of Czech comparative advantages development in relation to the EU are constantly decreasing volume performance and decreasing unit value. On the other hand, in relation to non-EU countries, the relationship between increasing volume and value performance is more balanced and the comparative advantages are related to quality and higher added value aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few papers have investigated the trade effects of multi-memberships of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), but none has done this in an Africa-wide manner. This paper investigates the supplementary trade effects of multi-memberships of RTAs after controlling for single-membership for all African RTAs. We use (1) overall number of RTAs by country pair; (2) dummies of number of RTAs; and (3) number of RTA memberships by countries within each RTA grouping, in a panel of 53 African countries from 1995 to 2014. The gravity models are estimated with the Eicker-White robust covariance Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) which is superior to previous ones. All the estimates concur that multi-memberships have significant additional intra-Africa trade benefits which increase with the number of memberships. The implication is that although RTAs enhance trade in Africa, it is only a second-best to a complete integration of the African continent. A complete dismantling of politically induced trade barriers and even inter-RTA boundaries within Africa will yield significant intra-Africa trade benefits. The results support the ongoing efforts in Africa in pursuing a "one Africa" vision. Such efforts have to transcend regional integration and pursue the ideal of an integrated Africa for the full trade benefits to be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, aquaculture has developed rapidly around the world, outpacing all other sources of animal protein production. Chile is the largest producer in South America, with an export-driven aquaculture industry. Aquaculture development in Chile has largely focussed on three high-value species (Atlantic salmon, Rainbow trout and Chilean blue mussel). These three species accounted for over 90% of the volume and value of Chilean exports by 2014. The paper considers the role of trade and markets on Atlantic salmon production in Chile and the role of government regulators and industry to facilitate a further sustainable increase in farmed salmon output. Specifically, we address the opportunities and constraints regarding the impact of trade and markets for further industry expansion. We find that production constraints (e.g. regulation, over-production), marketing constraints (e.g. consumer perception) and environmental constraints (e.g. disease) have led to stagnating and sometimes declining production, preventing Chile from surpassing Norway and becoming the world's largest Atlantic salmon producer. The paper concludes that the signs for further growth are positive in Chile, although to date, it is noted that industry expansion has outpaced developments in infrastructure, regulation and research and development. Most significantly, the industry has been blighted with environmental problems, which has weakened market share in recent years. However, better regulatory practice in Chile in recent years has been seen as positive in international markets. We note that further development in the regulatory framework and continued aspirations to meet certification standards (e.g. Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Global Aquaculture Alliance Certification) could lead to increased market share for Chilean farmed salmon in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a peer-to-peer energy market platform based on the new concept of multiclass energy management, to coordinate trading between prosumers with heterogeneous (i.e., beyond purely financial) preferences. Power networks are undergoing a fundamental transition, with traditionally passive distribution network consumers becoming “prosumers”; proactive consumers that actively manage their production and consumption of energy. The paper introduces the new concept of energy classes, allowing energy to be treated as a heterogeneous product, based on attributes of its source, which are perceived by prosumers to have value. Examples include generation technology, location in the network and owner's reputation. The proposed peer-to-peer energy market platform coordinates trading between subscribed prosumers and the wholesale electricity market, to minimize costs associated with losses and battery depreciation, while providing added value by accounting for the prosumers’ individual preferences for the source/destination of the energy they consume/produce. The decomposable structure of the multiclass energy management problem is exploited to devise a distributed price-directed optimization mechanism, providing scalability and prosumer data privacy. Receding horizon model predictive control allows the prosumers to adjust their planned power flows based on the wholesale energy price, and up-to-date renewable generation and load predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper aims to explore China's global value chain (GVC) position in relation to those of EU member states, from both total trade value and value-added perspectives. • The paper attempts to research the feasibility of the construction of a China-EU free trade agreement (FTA) by decomposing trade value-added and mapping regional trade network. • The paper endeavours to address the concerns over negative impacts of the label 'Made in China' on the EU economy from the value-added perspective. As the largest trading partner of China, the European Union (the EU) has maintained a close economic and trade relationship with China over the past several decades. However, the deepening of interdependence between them also brought about concerns over negative impacts of the label 'Made in China' on the EU economy. This paper analyses China's global value chain (GVC) position in relation to those of EU member states, followed by a comparative assessment of trade balance and industrial competitiveness between them from both total trade value and value-added perspectives. Our empirical study provides some interesting findings. First, China's trade surplus with and industrial competitiveness over EU member states have been overestimated. In addition, changing the value-chain pattern can be the long-term driving force for a China-EU free trade agreement (FTA). Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions for when and how FTA negotiations can be initiated, mainly from Chinese perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the main strategies that women deployed to reactivate trade and obtain income, faced with the material destruction caused by the earthquake of September 7, 2017., in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, Mexico. Based on ethnography carried out in 2017 and 2018, the text initially develops the theme of the ability of "knowing how to sell" as one of the vital jobs of Juchiteca women; subsequently, it covers the process of reactivating trade after the disaster, emphasizing the role that the public market has in female community life; thereafter, the main production jobs carried out by women are presented; and, finally, the paper highlights the tensions and difficulties that arise when choosing to migrate in search of income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Treaty of Yandabo (1826) marked the colonial conquest of the Brahmaputra valley. Following two decades witnessed calculations and speculations about the prospect of the region as a part of the British colonial empire. Discovery of tea plants and the existence of tradable commodities such as cotton, silks and salt made the region look promising for the East India Company. The early-colonial rulers introduced policy changes in the1820 s and the 1830 s. Existing historiography on wasteland rules has clarified that these regulations were aimed at making land available for tea plantations. At the same time monetization of the region with one uniform currency was undertaken. This paper argues that in the face of these developments, commerce remained an important part of the economy, as before. Creation of a land market by wasteland regulations and uniform coinage facilitated the Empire's trade and made the region a part of the colonial commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel trajectories of food production, urbanism, and inter-regional trade fueled the emergence of numerous complex Iron Age polities in central and southern Africa. Renewed research and re-dating efforts in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and along the Swahili Coast are transforming models for how inter-regional interaction spheres contributed to these patterns. While societies in present-day Zambia played an important role in the trade of copper, ivory, gold, and other resources between central and southern Africa, little is known about lifeways during the rise of social complexity in this region. This paper reports the results of re-excavation at Kalundu Mound on the Batoka Plateau of southern Zambia, one of the iconic mound sites of the Iron Age "Kalomo Culture." New radiocarbon dates were combined with the original dates in a series of Bayesian models, indicating that previous chronologies for the site are not reliable and that the mound site likely developed rapidly from AD 1190 to 1410. Archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and paleo-proteomic analyses of excavated materials suggests a broad subsistence base combining wild and domesticated species, including the first reported evidence for finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in the region. Considering these findings, it is necessary to re-evaluate the temporal context of the Kalomo site-group, and to also systematically reinvestigate the systems of exchange and subsistence that supported Later Iron Age complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]