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This paper studies the impact of transport infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative on shipment times and trade costs. Based on a new data on completed and planned Belt and Road transport projects, Geographic Information System analysis is used to estimate shipment times before and after the Belt and Road Initiative. Two sets of data are computed to address different research questions: a global database based on an analysis of 1000 cities in 191 countries and 47 sectors and a regional database that focuses on more granular information (1818 cities) for Belt and Road economies only. The paper uses sectoral estimates of "value of time" to transform changes in shipment times into changes in ad valorem trade costs at the country-sector level. The findings show that the Belt and Road Initiative will significantly reduce shipment times and trade costs. For the world, the average reduction in shipment time will range between 1.2 and 2.5 percent, leading to reduction of aggregate trade costs between 1.1 and 2.2 percent. For Belt and Road economies, the change in shipment times and trade costs will range between 1.7 and 3.2 percent and 1.5 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Belt and Road economies located along the corridors where projects are built experience the largest gains. Shipment times along these corridors decline by up to 11.9 percent and trade costs by up to 10.2 percent. [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]

Abstract This paper examines electricity market responses to flexibility provisions in prospective renewable energy mandates and the geographical incidence of impacts. Using an integrated model of electric sector investments and operations with detailed spatial and temporal resolutions, the analysis demonstrates how renewable mandate trade formulations for electricity and renewable energy certificates can materially impact power sector outcomes like capacity planning decisions, compliance costs, CO 2 emissions, and the regional distribution of renewable development. There are substantial welfare gains, up to $84 billion in present value terms through 2050, from inter-regional electricity and permit trade (and costs of market fragmentation), but the degree and direction of impact depend on region-specific considerations. Allowing permit trade encourages greater deployment of wind and solar in regions with favorable investment environments and resources, but renewable capacity additions are appreciable in all regions since diminishing marginal returns and transmission constraints limit the benefits of overdevelopment in any single region. Model results suggest that regions will likely find it beneficial to generate at least half of their renewable mandate compliance obligations through in-state resources and that most of the economic benefits from inter-regional REC exchange can be captured with a relatively modest amount of trading flexibility. Trade flexibility is shown to have minimal impacts on CO 2 emissions leakage nationally. Highlights • This paper examines electric sector impacts of renewable mandate trade formulations. • The value of inter-regional electricity and permit trade can be substantial. • Impacts of trade and policy coordination vary by region. • Benefits of permit exchange can be largely captured with modest policy flexibility. • Trade flexibility is shown to have minimal impacts on emissions leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper follows up on recent debates on relations between technological innovation systems (TISs) and context. Particular focus is placed on the role of established industries, which possess important resources for TIS formation. The paper contributes in two ways. First, the paper builds and expands upon the TIS framework to encompass beneficial relations between a TIS and its sectoral and technological context. Second, the framework is applied to the analysis of the emergence of a solar photovoltaic (PV) industry in Norway. The analysis first illustrates how an emerging TIS can benefit from an overlap with an established industry, which serves as a structural foundation and impacts key TIS processes. Second, the paper shows how relations between TIS and context change over time and range from supply chain interaction to more profound overlaps of system elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical consumption is routinely promoted as a form of individualised responsibility taking whereby citizen-consumers consciously engage in morally/politically directed purchasing decisions. This has been heavily critiqued as a neoliberal reduction of civic engagement to market choice. It has also been contested by way of a shift to problematizing the consumer as moral agent; where attention is drawn instead to networks of agential entities - advocacy organisations, certifying bodies, marketing discourses, retail spaces, packages, household routines, and so on - that configure consumption alternatives as practice and performance. In reflecting on these concerns, this paper qualitatively explores the enterprising (rather than consumer enactment) of the ethical. Drawing on a multifaceted, three-year study of alternative consumption in Australia, the paper attends to the framing of ethical enterprise through business language, to the often ambivalent deployment of various commercial models and marketing strategies in the doing of ethical business, and to how a contestatory commerce is being imagined, especially in terms of its relations to a politics of social and economic change and to a commercial mainstream. Informed by work on markets as pragmatically assembled and on the economy as multiple, emphasis is placed throughout this article on ethical enterprise as a space of political ambiguity and as a gesture towards an alternative commerce that displaces an understanding of ethical consumption as resting on the actions of the virtuous consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the nexus between greenhouse gas, financial development, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in 34 upper middle income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America (South and North) by using panel data from 2001 to 2014. Vector error correction model explored different results for different regions such as the causality of greenhouse gas for Europe and America; financial development for Asia; trade openness for Asia, Europe and America; and urbanization for Africa and America. The causality of greenhouse gas emission was bi-directional with urbanization in America and trade in Europe. The bi-directional causality of trade was observed with financial development in Asia and urbanization in Africa. The generalized method of moment and fully modified ordinary least square explored a direct association of per capita greenhouse gas emission with financial development in Europe; energy consumption in all panels, and renewable energy in Africa and America. But, the relationship of per capita emission was reciprocal with financial development in Asia, Africa and America; renewable energy in Europe; trade in Europe, Africa and America; and urbanization in Asia, Europe and America. The relationship of variables changes from region to region and country to country. A country-based reciprocal effect on per capita greenhouse gas was observed for financial development, renewable energy, trade openness and urbanization for different countries. This paper provides an insight to policy makers to re-structure the financial system, energy usage pattern, trade and urbanization in accordance with the cleaning of environment at country and regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a specific form of Korean popular music--k-pop--has enjoyed huge success around the world. Previous explanations have mostly focused on the demand side, such as intra-Asian cultural relations. This paper shifts the focus onto the supply side. Firstly, it presents new evidence on the scale of k-pop's success in markets--with price-tags or no price-tag. Secondly, it argues that k-pop firms have been successful because they have made the "right product selection": They have delivered the performances that have best exploited the comparative advantages that Korea has in global entertainment markets. Finally, this paper examines three major factors explaining the rapidity of this success. Two of them--level of competition and online prices relative to cd prices--have taken place in Korean markets, but have had indirect effects on k-pop's attractiveness in foreign markets. By contrast, the third factor has taken place directly in foreign markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the empirical question of the impact of the offshoring of semiconductor design to India and China on the generation of semiconductor design skills in the offshoring multinational corporations' (MNCs) home countries. There are four main findings. First, there is a specific technology skill ladder for training “design leads” or design managers within this industry that entails direct exposure to a wide range of design activities. Thus, offshoring has potentially serious implications for development of further design leads. Second, the paper also finds that the impact on skills activities and thus potential skills generation at home from offshoring to India has been limited and gradual and from offshoring to China has been even more limited although the activities done in each country by MNCs have risen over time. Third, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis pinpoints that the operations with design leads and large design teams in 2003–2007 in conjunction with other attributes are generally the ones that pursued the most extensive expansion of semiconductor design offshoring during the subsequent 2009–2013 period. Finally, the evidence for a gradual process of offshoring from the second and third points suggests that offshoring in semiconductor design will most likely not displace the large amount of design activities in the home countries of the MNCs in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the rationale of the bioclimatic regeneration of part of the commercial triangle of Athens is presented. In this 11 ha area, identified by three streets in the form of a triangle, the most vivid commercial activities have been taking place, from the transformation of Athens into a capital city in the 19 th century, up to late 20 th century, when the upcoming of “malls” displaced consumption habits from small shops to large shopping centres. As it is a place that has been either within the city walls or at the outskirts since antiquity, its geometry is very much affected by ancient and medieval Athenian city planning, which is explored and highlighted in this regeneration project. The commercial triangle area today is characterised by a mixture of neo-classical and modern buildings, as well as simplexes of pedestrian streets. The landscape of the area is being reshaped as the old uses that reflect the former economic backbone of the city, are displaced or replaced by new ones which are more related to the industry of entertainment. In this paper, a brief spatial description and historical review of the area is presented, pinpointing to the political and municipal decisions that have affected the area, highlighting the conflicts that the area faces today. Existing land use is monitored in detail and compared to past ones. The sustainability rationale of the regeneration of the public spaces of this area is presented, taking into consideration environmental issues (pedestrianisation of narrow streets, environmental footprint of used or reused materials, recycling municipal waste, low energy consumption street light, construction site measures), bioclimatic issues (microclimatic considerations, surface materials, placement of vegetation in narrow streets), cultural issues (putting forward the area's historic footprint through the design) as well as social issues (conflicts that might arise from competitive or incompatible land uses), trying to achieve a holistic sustainable regeneration approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of “access” and “applications” into a single national program, as demonstrated in the Chinese case, once succeeded, may constitute a milestone in the arena of universal service policy and implementation. Despite scholarly consensus on the relevance of institutions, none has been found on a systemic examination of institutional variables in explaining the effectiveness of policy and implementation, let alone knowledge gap in a transitional context. Following historical institutionalism and case method, this and the companion paper bridge the gap by synthesizing a conceptual framework which integrates various institutional dimensions and policy elements underpinning the implementation of universal service initiatives. This paper provides a formal institutional perspective on the analysis and assessment, ex ante or ex post , of universal service policy and projects in China. The conceptual framework may serve as the basis for the analysis and assessment of China׳s rural informatization regime and projects. Meanwhile, the ecosystem model proposed in this paper has a potential of being extended to other countries. This study may collaterally further understanding of China׳s ongoing market reform from a nonmarket perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores an empirical methodology to assess the impacts of trade reforms in agriculture on household behavior in developing countries. I focus on consumption and income responses: when price reforms take place, households modify consumption and production decisions and local labor markets adjust. The paper proposes a joint estimator of demand and wage price elasticities from survey data. The method uses an empirical model of demand to extract price information from unit values, and uses this information to estimate the response of households to price reforms. By correcting unit values for quality effects and measurement error, the method overcomes the problem of the endogeneity of unit values. By endogeneizing household income, the model corrects potential biases in the estimation of own- and cross-price elasticities in consumption. I apply the method to an expenditure and income survey for rural Mexico. It is shown that the corrections suggested in this paper are empirically important. In particular, I show that allowing for consumption and income responses is a key element of an accurate empirical assessment of trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the determinants of synchronization of business cycles in ECOWAS, which is a key issue from the perspective of creating a single currency in 2020. Indeed, conducting actions in the direction of synchronization of business cycles is important because the asymmetries of cycles observed within a monetary union determine its sustainability. We go further than previous studies in this area, as we (i) take into account financial linkages, (ii) propose new measures to improve the quality of results, and (iii) pay attention to the structure of trade by analyzing inter-regional links. Moreover, to highlight the role of adopting a single currency in ECOWAS, we compare the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the non-monetary zone within the ECOWAS zone. We find that bilateral trade and financial integration are determinants of the synchronization of business cycles in the region, with the regional financial integration channel dominating the international one. Finally, we show that the weakness of intracommunity trade does not constitute a barrier to the monetary union, and that the launch of the single currency is a means to increase business cycles synchronization through bilateral trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have investigated the nexus between economic growth and financial inclusion, or between economic growth and trade openness. This paper advanced on earlier work and uses granger causality tests and cointegration techniques so as to establish whether there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between all three variables in Africa using a panel of 30 African countries for the period 2004–2017. Study findings unveil a unidirectional causality relationship from economic growth to financial inclusion; from economic growth to trade in Africa. In particular, enhancing financial inclusion in the financial system promotes the trade-growth nexus. We recommended policy makers to concentrate on pro-growth policies so as to enhance financial inclusion which drives trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how carry trades altered the efficiency of the Japanese quantitative easing policy between March 1995 and September 2010. Monetary policy shocks are identified by means of a data-driven Structural VAR approach. Accordingly, our results rely exclusively on the statistical properties of the data through non-Gaussian identification. We show that carry trades, by altering the portfolio re-balancing channel, have attenuated the impact of the Japanese quantitative easing policy on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the following research question is answered: How can the potential impact of the optimal policies of externalities trade to uncouple growth and volatility in order to generate sustainable growth and clean production be explored by the means of Agent-based modeling (ABM)? At this end, I attempt, to generalize the trade of everything to realize the steady state. By considering any human action as causing positive or negative externalities, the intergenerational and international generalized trades become possible. Only this generalized trade conform to the complex hypotheses of the neoclassical model whose operationalisation immediately leads to the steady state, foundation of a sustainable economy, without fluctuations and without destruction of the environment and where all the productions are clean. I find, generations import from other generations productive factors intensively used in the production of goods and services highly consumed in the current generations and export productive factors intensively used in the production of goods and services weakly consumed in the same generations. Indirectly, generations import goods and services that use a high proportion of technically scarce productive factors and a low proportion of technically abundant productive factors and export goods and services that use the reverse proportions of the same productive factors. Thus, positive externalities (unnatural resources) are exchanged against negative externalities (overconsumption of natural resources). A productive factor is technically scarce in a generation if the part of this productive factor imparted to this generation is insufficient to produce as much of these goods and services that it wishes to consume. A productive factor is technically abundant if its proportion existing in this generation is superior to its production needs. Under these conditions, I show, at the equilibrium level, each productive factor and each good or service has the same price in each generation. This realizes an efficient trade of externalities decoupling thus growth and volatility. That is why I conclude the policies to uncouple growth and volatility are also those of sustainable growth and clean production, ensuring to each generation an equivalent use of natural and unnatural resources. In contrast to AK model, I find, through widened evidence that, a greater willingness to hoard or an improvement in the level of technology shows up in the long run that higher levels of capital (unnatural resources) and output per effective worker are achieved, with no change in per capita growth rate. The steady state results in diminishing returns to inputs in the technology production. At this end, I propose, countries or generations with a high price deviation should pay to the World Environmental Bank (WEB) a tax that would be proportional to its price deviation or its growth volatility path. The factorial dotations difference between two generations/countries creates pressure difference (osmotic pressure) across a separating semi permeable border. Solvent (Populations) immigration takes place from the lower endowed generation/country to that of higher wealth, until equilibrium is reached. The equilibrium economy (steady state or sustainable development) has the same concentration of wealth both inside and outside the borders. In economics, this state is achieved when international and intergenerational leveling out of all prices is realized avoiding any growth volatility. Image 1 • Reconciles the Ramsey and the Solow-Swan model views towards technology. • Formulates sustainable intertemporal trade patterns between entities. • Studies the decoupling of growth and volatility for a cleaner production policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is found that environmental regulation is an important mechanism that trade openness affects the level of human capital. The author established a theoretical framework to analyze the influence of trade openness on the level of human capital and adopted the system GMM to test it, using Chinese provincial data over the period 1995–2015. The empirical results show that environmental regulation has a long-term U-shaped effect on the level of human capital, while the current environmental regulation in China is conducive to improving the level of human capital. Furthermore, the promotion of human capital level can also increase the possibility of improving environmental regulation, which is conducive to the internal formation and positive interaction between human capital and environmental regulation. The research further enriches the theory of sustainable development of environment and economy. It provides theoretical support for China and developing countries with similar economic and technological levels to actively implement more stringent environmental policies in the context of trade openness. Image 108550 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intra-industry trade (IIT) and trade dynamics play rising roles in the international economic literature recently. This article investigates Vietnam's agricultural IIT defined by GLI in the world markets and the dynamics of GLI indicators by using the OLS method, Markov matrix, trend analysis, and piecewise regression. The paper finally tests the relationship between IIT and trade specialization. The results indicate that Vietnam' agricultural sector has the inter-industry trade with 42 sectors rather than the intra-industry trade with only 19 sectors. But the IIT pattern generally tends to increases over time. The dynamics analyses show that Vietnam's intra-industry trade is relatively dynamic and it mainly bases on the structural changes in the economy. The study provides empirical evidence in Vietnam that intra-industry trade and trade specialization seems to be inversely correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Processing trade promoted China's export and partially increased its CO 2 emissions. • We improve the definition of outsourcing via distinguishing between outsourcing and normal trade. • We rely heavily on micro data to estimate emission intensities of different types of production. • The structural reform of exports in China would likely involve other developing economies in global supply chains, and may lead to a reduction in global emissions. China becomes major focus of international society for two factors: the largest trading country and the largest carbon emitter in the world, both of them are associated with China's processing trade. Processing trade is a sort of foreign outsourcing trade which promoted China's export as well as partially increased China's CO2 emissions. However, China is conducting a trade reform aims at upgrade its trade structure by reducing the proportion of processing trade. This paper studies the role of processing trade in China's export growth and CO2 emissions using an extended World Input Output Database (WIOD) with China's micro data. In addition, we will assess the impact of China's trade reform and economic slowdown to the structural change of export and its effect on processing trade and CO2 emissions in the future. We conclude that structural reform of export in China would likely involve other developing economies in global supply chains, and this may lead to a reduction in global emissions as those countries have lower emission intensities than China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fluctuations of international crude oil markets have caused significant attention around the world and aroused strong interest in the forecasting of the systemic risk in crude oil trade. Based on the oil imported values data of 34 major oil-importing countries from January 2005 to June 2017, we calculate the cross-correlation functions of time lags and construct a sequence of time-evolving oil import correlation networks according to the similarities between countries. The probability distribution of time lag shows that the time lag effect is not sensitive to positive correlations, but obvious for negative correlations. There is a longer time-lag effect in the years when positive correlations are stronger. Further, we use a percolation analysis to quantify the structural change in the correlation network. The key result is that abrupt percolation transition is leading spikes in systemic risk with advance of 3–11 months suggesting that this event could function as an alarm. Therefore, percolation transition in the correlation network of oil-importing countries can be used as a means to estimate signals about future systemic risk. The methodology and results presented in this paper bring a fresh perspective to the study of systemic risk in crude oil importing trade, and they facilitate risk early-warning research in other energy systems that also have interactions among their elements. • A sequence of time-evolving oil import correlation networks is constructed. • The time lag effect is obvious for negative correlations. • Abrupt transition is leading spikes in systemic risk with advance of 3–11 months. • Percolation analysis can be used to estimate signals about future systemic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of financial market inclusion, the existence of shadow economy and real output on trade openness for a select group of emerging economies. Trade openness potentially is a major source of economic growth and development. This study is the first employing mixed methods and approaches of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) to estimate the long-run and short-run models for a large group of emerging economies. The more advanced the financial market inclusion is in a country, the higher the financial market development and, eventually, the level of trade openness. This paper examines the asymmetry cointegration approach in line with nonlinearity attribution, using annual data from 1983 to 2014 for 18 emerging economies. Estimate from all models indicate that financial market inclusion has played a significant role in the short run and has symmetric effects on the trade openness of the majority of emerging economies. Also, the nonlinear model and asymmetry cointegration provide more backing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper discusses the strategy of cultural district development in Seoul, where a developmentalist tradition is still strong. Two specific cases of Insadong and Daehagno are taken to examine several issues concerning inherent conflicts between culture and commerce, the way culture and tradition is perceived and interpreted by different groups, and the focus of cultural strategy. The viability of cultural districts is discussed in terms of governance, policy goals and measures, and programming needs. In particular, the paper argues that, although a collaborative form of governance is desired in general, its sustainability is questionable unless there exists critical discourses reformulating the meaning of culture and tradition and searching the best means to balance between culture and commerce. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract An unexpected price drop beginning in 2014 has resulted in significant changes in the global crude oil market. This paper investigates the dependency network of the international oil trade and focuses on its changes after the oil price drop. Point-wise mutual information is used to quantify oil trade dependencies, and complex network methods are applied to analyze dependencies at both the country and world levels. The results show that the USA has constructed stable friendships with peripheral countries, and its dependency on traditional oil-producing areas in the Middle East and Africa has decreased significantly. The dependency between Russia and its major partners has undergone a U-curve; it decreased significantly from 2014 to the first half of 2016 and then recovered in late 2016 and 2017. India and its major import sources maintained a stable high dependency during the research period. Community analysis of the dependency network shows structural differences between 2014 and 2017. Large countries such as the USA and Russia changed their community after 2014. The results show that the global oil trade relationships changed considerably after 2014. The new features of dependency and its implications should be considered by policy makers and company managers. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • PMI is firstly used to detect oil trade dependency at country and world levels. • Changes of dependency during the oil price shock from 2014 to 2017 are analyzed. • Dependency between the USA and its major trading partners changed considerably. • Russia's dependence on major trading partners decreased and then recovered. • There are 5 dependency communities with a similar number of countries in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the standard competition in the three most outstanding innovation cases of videocassette recorder [VCR; video home system (VHS)/Betamax standard competition], Windows operating system for personal computers (PC; Windows standard competition), and smart cards (smart cards standard competition). The study presents a comparative analysis of major conceptual frameworks in innovation management—the Competitive Forces Model by Porter [M. Porter, Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980] and the Managing Migration Paths Model by Hamel and Prahalad [G. Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the future, Harvard Business School Press Boston, MA, 1994] for empirical analysis and discussions. It is argued that the ability to establish an industry standard enables an innovator to create competitive advantage. In other words, the ability to establish an industry standard provides a platform for an innovator to excel at the innovation process by generating a continuity of commercially successful innovations. The paper evaluates the strategic management of innovations by studying the previous standard competition of innovations, to suggest the direction of smart cards. The players in the smart card industry may use this empirical analysis to define strategic approach for their plan to compete in smart card launch. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is no experience in the world where entry to local telephony has been as significant as in Chile. This paper addresses two related questions: (i) whether the local telephony segment in Chile is competitive enough so as to deregulate rates and (ii) whether competition thus far achieved could be at risk in the case where asymmetric regulation is ended. The paper suggests that the market is competitive enough, that the regulation mechanism is extremely costly, and that subsidizing entry in order to have infrastructure competition is not necessary. It concludes that deregulation of consumer's rates would be in their own consumers' interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a WAP-based course registration system designed and implemented to facilitating the process of students'' registration at Bahrain University. The framework will support many opportunities for applying WAP based technology to many services such as wireless commerce, cashless payment… and location-based services. The paper outlines the main concepts of the analysis and design methodology of our proposed system. It shows also how the request will be issued, received, processed, formulated, and how the reply is sent back to the student for display. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a new bidding strategy for a day-ahead market is formulated. The proposed algorithm is developed from the viewpoint of a generation company wishing to maximize a profit as a participant in the deregulated power and reserve markets. Separate power and reserve markets are considered, both are operated by clearing price auction system. The optimal bidding parameters for both markets are determined by solving an optimization problem that takes unit commitment constraints such as generating limits and unit minimum up/down time constraints into account. This is a non-convex and non-differentiable which is difficult to solve by traditional optimization techniques. In this paper, evolutionary programming is used to solve the problem. The algorithm is applied to both single-sided and double-sided auctions, numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme compared with those obtained from a sequential quadratic programming. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Within the context of Malta''s EU accession and rapid increase in car dependence, this paper deals with the future of land transport policy for the islands. Furthermore, this paper has the objectives to identify the present transport trends and organisational structure in the islands, propose transport policy objectives for the future and identify barriers to their implementation. It is concluded that there are similarities in the transport problems experienced by island states, like Malta and other countries around the world and that no matter the size or location, consistent integrate policy is the key to successful implementation of sustainable transport policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyses trends in different components of trade of transition countries. To explain the cross-country differences, the paper points out the important distinction between the determinants of inter-industry trade and intra-industry trade (IIT), and horizontal and vertical IIT. Using varieties of gravity models, it is shown that variables from Increasing Returns Trade Theory, such as scale economies, similarity of income levels, and number of varieties produced play important roles in IIT, especially in horizontal IIT, whereas factors such as comparative advantage, dissimilarity in income levels, and having more developed trade partners from Heckscher–Ohlin Trade Theory are crucial in determining inter-industry trade and vertical IIT to a lesser degree. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Brexit poses a major challenge to the stability of European fisheries management. Until now, neighbouring EU Member States have shared the bounty of the living resources of the seas around Britain. Taking full responsibility for the regulation of fisheries within the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone will cut across longstanding relationships, potentially putting at risk recent recovery and future sustainability of shared fish stocks. The paper considers the meaning of Brexit in relation to fisheries and the issues that will need to be resolved in any rebalancing of fishing opportunities within the UK EEZ. It examines the longer term implications for the governance of fisheries and the likely restructuring of institutional and regulatory arrangements, emphasising the prior need for a shared vision and robust modus operandi for collaboration between the UK and EU to ensure the sustainability of resources, viability of fishing activity and the health of marine ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, fuzzy sets theory has been introduced as a means of modeling the uncertainties of the input parameters of the Black–Scholes–Merton European options pricing formula. However, some standard assumptions underlying the Black–Scholes–Merton model including those of constant interest rate and volatility no longer hold in fuzzy environments. Therefore, it is inappropriate to price options with uncertain parameters based on the Black–Scholes–Merton formula. In this paper, we propose a methodology for option pricing under fuzzy environments which is essentially different from the Black–Scholes–Merton option pricing framework. We build a nonlinear fuzzy-parameter PDE model for obtaining the fuzzy option prices and we develop dominating optimal hedging strategies under fuzzy environments which provide valuable insights for risk management and trading in financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LNG importing strategies, in the literature, are primarily studied under a common single-factor framework. However, LNG importing strategies are affected by a variety of factors. To address this existing gap, this paper proposes a Multi-Objective Programming model, which takes into account the cost, the country risk, the shipping risk, and the impact of extreme events. A pure structural change model is used to determine the risk impact coefficient for extreme events. An enhanced Simulated Annealing Algorithm is then used to solve the LNG-importing optimization problem. An experimental study is further conducted to verify the practicability of the proposed approach in the case of China's LNG-importing data. The software implementation of the proposed model is developed in Python. The proposed model provides a decision support tool for LNG importing companies to find an efficient portfolio strategy for LNG importing. The optimization model can be used for analyzing similar scenarios involving such dimensions as economy, energy security, and especially energy diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the social construction of technological innovations, focusing on how marketers of an information and communication technology (ICT) product interact with engineers in the creation of that product. The main purpose is to develop in empirical terms the concept of “material semiotics' rhetoric”. To this end it takes an in-depth look at a medium-sized Portuguese firm, in which we have over a period of five years observed how a GPS navigation device is generated and developed. We use the notions of “rhetoric” and “frames of reference” in adopting “material semiotics” as the theoretical background for observing the behaviors and interactions of the different actors involved in the construction of this technological artifact. The results show how the rhetorical framework shapes the technology, and also reveals the roles of different professionals when negotiating technical possibilities within the communicational strategies of a firm. The paper highlights the specific role of symbolic aspects in the material development of technology, stressing a relation between rhetoric and material semiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports Thermoluminescence (TL) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dose response characteristics of ten different commercial glass samples collected from Turkey. Nowadays, glass samples are widely used mostly in objects of everyday life. The study focuses to both TL and OSL dose responses, through a dose region within 1 and 512 Gy. Lowest detectable dose limit (LDDL) as well as the respective linearity features of the corresponding dose response curves were studied for both TL and OSL. Moreover, signal reproducibility and fading behaviors have also been studied in detail. For specific samples, the lowest detectable dose was yielded at 2 Gy, making thus these samples appropriate for retrospective dosimetry applications. Nevertheless, based on the features reported in the present study, the majority of the samples could be possibly used effectively for dosimetric applications of higher doses in the UV region emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommender systems play an important role to help us to find useful information. They are widely used by most e-commerce web sites to push the potential items to individual user according to purchase history. Network-based recommendation algorithms are popular and effective in recommendation, which use two types of elements to represent users and items respectively. In this paper, based on consistence-based inference (CBI) algorithm, we propose a novel network-based algorithm, in which users and items are recognized with no difference. The proposed algorithm also uses information diffusion to find the relationship between users and items. Different from traditional network-based recommendation algorithms, information diffusion initializes from users and items, respectively. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm is effective compared with traditional network-based recommendation algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the extent to which export diversification is related to the regionalization of trade by examining the destination pattern of newly exported goods. Using a panel database of bilateral trade between 116 countries of 1090 HS4 manufacturing goods over the period 2000–2010, I first show that for almost all countries in the sample, the average destination of goods not exported before 2000 and newly exported over the 2000–2010 period is more “accessible” in terms of distance, language or tariffs preferences compared to the average destination of traditionally exported goods. I find that this pattern of destinations is weakly dependent on the “age” of the exported goods but rather is explained by the fact that these newly exported goods have emerged in industries where the country has high production and export costs. It follows that export diversification is accompanied by trade regionalization, at least in the medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how everyday life, the state and nationhood are regulated and organised in a conflict-affected borderland space through economic activities. It focuses on two elements that are often overlooked when scholars discuss spatial governmentality: tourism and trade. Both are commonly declared to be elements of peace, peacebuilding and cosmopolitism. However, the spatial governance of tourism and trade can also profoundly shape how national belonging and the limits of territory are perceived and experienced by borderland populations and visitors. These dynamics can be acute in conflict-affected border zones, where state sovereignty may be under existential or territorial threat. This paper exposes such dynamics in the Indian conflict borderland area of Ladakh, a part of Jammu and Kashmir State until October 2019. Building on scholarship that has analysed cultural and social dynamics of "bordering" in the region, this paper argues that it is possible to read (socio-)economic boundary-making in Ladakh through the state's influence in the organisation and experience of trade and tourism for Ladakhis and visitors. The paper highlights how their spatial organisation, in part, underwrites difference and separation, and aids in framing the contested territory as 'Indian'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable urbanization is key to successful development. Urumqi has been suffering from acute water scarcity and serious pollution for several decades. Previous studies indicated that it would be "un-sustainable", however, its population and economy sizes have continued to grow in the past 30 years. This phenomenon is interesting to many scholars and officials. This paper puts forward a new term "Generalized Trade" to investigate this phenomenon, which consists of physical and virtual trades. Physical trade refers to the transfer of commodities in monetary or physical form, and virtual trade refers to the transfer of resources or emissions embodied in commodities. This paper develops an extended noncompetitive input-output framework to investigate generalized trade of the Urumqi city. Results indicated that generalized trade in monetary form was balanced as a whole; while it was unbalanced more obviously in virtual-water, -energy, -employment, -exhaust, and -wasted-water forms, with entropy indicators 48.9, -6.16, 21.9, 44.8, and 23.6, respectively. Generalized trade in each form works in its peculiar way; yet they together contribute to sustainable development in Urumqi. Generalized trade offers a valuable answer to the phenomenon that Urumqi has been experiencing a fast development when facing "un-sustainable" challenges. Generalized trade implies that commodities are exchanged not only for money but also for water, energy, employees and others, to promote sustainable development in a region. It is suggested that multi-perspective and integrated policies are essential to maximize generalized trade benefits and avoid unexpected losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roller rigs are laboratory devices enabling to study various phenomena in the field of railway vehicles dynamics and the wheel-rail contact. The main benefits of roller rig experiments are high controllability, repeatability and flexibility of experiment setup and usually also lower costs compared to the field tests. One of the goals of joint cooperation between the Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic (CTU) and the Dnipropetrovsk National University of Railway Transport named after Academician V. Lazaryan, Ukraine (DNURT) is to design, build, and finally to operate at the DNURT laboratory the new roller rig. The presented paper is an initial study prepared within the framework the joint project. It summarizes the possibilities of roller rig utilization for railway vehicles research and describes the main concepts of existing design solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using panel data covering 112 countries and 45 years, we study developing countries' incentive to enforce IPR. • We show that IPR enforcement is U-shaped in a country's market size and inverse-U-shaped in the aggregated market size of its trade partners. • The effect is entirely driven by the trade partners that strongly enforce IPR. • We next study the impact of strengthening IPR protection on innovation in developing countries. • We find that a stronger protection of IPR negatively impacts patents and export discoveries in developing countries The paper proposes an empirical analysis of the determinants of the adoption of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and their impact on innovation in manufacturing. The analysis is conducted with panel data covering 112 countries. First we show that IPR protection is U-shaped with respect to a country's market size and inverse-U-shaped with respect to the aggregated market size of its trade partners. Second, reinforcing IPR protection reduces on-the-frontier and inside-the-frontier innovation in developing countries, without necessarily increasing innovation at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to propose multi-attribute double auctions for perishable supply chain trading (PSCT). We first construct a multi-unit/single-unit multi-attribute double auction (MS-MDA) for PSCT where suppliers can submit bids on a single unit of one item (i.e., single output restriction ). We then relax the single output restriction and propose a multi-unit multi-attribute double auction (M-MDA) for PSCT in which each supplier offers multiple units of one item. Both the MS-MDA and M-MDA mechanisms are incentive compatible, individually rational, budget balanced and computationally efficient. The computational study shows that all proposed mechanisms are of high allocation efficiency and practically implementable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been the world's largest ferrous metals producer for decades. Since China's ferrous metal industry is resource- and pollution-intensive, the increasing export of ferrous metals leaves a large amount of domestic environmental damage. This paper aims to provide implications for the sustainable green trade of China's ferrous metals in the 21st century by assessing the Green Trade index, in which the potential embodied environmental damages/costs are considered. The combination of material accounts and value accounts was adopted to obtain policy implications from both amount control and cost reduction. The results showed that: 1) China's ferrous metal industry achieved overall green trade from 2001 to 2015, with signs of deviation from green trade after 2011; 2) the expansion of export trading and the increase in environmental damage were the main reasons for the deterioration of green trade in China's ferrous metal industry after 2011; 3) based on the material assessment, 98% of the environmental damage embodied in imports of this industry comes from iron ore consumption and waste-water emission, while 99% of that embodied in exports comes from coal consumption, wastewater, and CO 2 emissions; and 4) according to the value assessment, 80% of the environmental damage cost embodied in the imports of this industry comes from iron ore, wastewater, and waste solid, while 90% of that embodied in exports comes from coal, waste-water, waste gas, and CO 2 emissions. Based on the above results, policy implications were provided for the sustainable development of Chinese ferrous metal industry. • This paper assessed Green Trade index of China's ferrous metal industry. • Green Trade index described as import embodied damage minus export embodied damage. • Trade embodied damage covered resource consumption and pollutant emissions. • Results show that China's ferrous metal industry achieved green trade in 2001–2015. • The green trade of the ferrous metal industry showed a deteriorated sign since 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ignoring trade potentials affect technology choices and domestic welfare. • Congestion rents constitute an important welfare component in planning exercises. • Including foreign dispatch decisions is the recommended modeling approach. • Approaches based on annual average trade potentials are not recommended. Long-term energy system optimization models can be designed to model systems with a broad geographical scope that comprises multiple countries. However, due to computational limitations, often the geographical scope is restricted to a single country. This raises the problem of correctly accounting for cross-border trade of electricity in models with a limited geographical scope. Therefore, this paper assesses the impact of not correctly representing cross-border trade flows in geographically restricted long-term planning models. To this end, we use a planning model for the interconnected Central-Western European power system to compare technology choices and welfare estimates for Belgium when (i) cross-border trade of electricity is ignored and (ii) cross-border trade flows are an endogenous part of the planning model. Furthermore, this paper presents two sets of methodologies to account for transmission flows in planning models. A first methodology is to extend the model's geographical scope and fix the capacity variables in the neighboring countries in line with pre-designed scenarios for those countries. A second methodology further reduces the computational cost by using specially tailored import and export curves to represent each country's trade opportunities. The results indicate that for highly interconnected systems, neglecting cross-border trade or having a highly stylized representation of cross-border flows can lead to inaccurate welfare estimates and technology biases. In addition, a key insight presented in this paper is that congestion rents can constitute a major share of the welfare gains attained by trading electricity. Finally, endogenizing the dispatch decisions in neighboring countries is the most accurate method to deal with cross-border trade, while by correctly designing cross-border trade curves computational time can be reduced, but planning model outcomes become less accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of production complexity and its adaptability on the level of output and on its rate of growth. We develop an endogenous growth model where increased complexity raises the rate of economic growth but has an ambiguous effect on the level of output. Our empirical measure of production adaptability captures the proximity of production sectors within the product space, which we modify to reflect intra-industry trade and the international fragmentation of production. We test the model against a sample of 89 countries over the two decades to 2009 and find that its main predictions are validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the Chinese government׳s mobilization of massive resources and entrepreneurial activities of foreign and local firms, the Chinese cloud computing industry and market are growing rapidly. A number of contradictory, conflicting, and paradoxical forces are shaping the Chinese cloud computing industry and market. This paper seeks to analyze these forces. It examines the importance of various economic linkages as well as formal and informal institutions in the development and utilization of the cloud in China and the emergence of country׳s cloud providers as global players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive pressures created by the global market, and the demonstration of market potential in one country influences the incentives to adopt successful technologies and business models in similar countries. In this paper, we explore how mobile payment operation models might evolve in China, using the more mature Japanese and South Korean markets for comparison. Comparing existing business models in the three countries, we argue that regulation has affected both the industry structure and the vertical linkages of the different participants in the mobile payments ecosystem. We predict that rather than converging onto the mobile payment models of Japan or South Korea, the Chinese mobile payment industry is likely to see the coexistence of competing business models in the intermediate term. We attribute this to the contradictory incentives created by Chinese financial sector regulation for the participants in the mobile payments industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the application of the hypothesis of the efficiency of financial markets on the financial market in Serbia, i.e. the Belgrade Stock Exchange. The weak form presupposes an impossibility of anticipating a future share price on the basis of available historical pieces of information about the prices, indicating a “random walk” trend with shares. In order to carry out a research into the weak form of efficiency, the BELEX15 Index return daily value of the most liquid shares on the Belgrade Stock Exchange from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2013 is taken. In order to prove the (un)predictability of the share-price trend, time series stationarity is established by means of the parametric and non-parametric econometric tests, such as the Dickey–Fuller test, the Phillips–Peron (PP) test and the Run Test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern economy is based not only on capital and human resources, but above all on information that enterprises possess. The right information at the right time may determine the development and strong competitive position of an enterprise on the market, whereas lack of such information may even lead to its failure. A properly developed e-business strategy and tools that are well suited for the specificity of this type of business and appropriately used have a positive impact on an enterprise's success. The aim of the paper is to indicate the existing, modern tools used in e-business in the aspect of increasing the coverage and sales of the different products and services, with special reference to recognition of a specific brand. The authors attempt to present business model solutions of a selected service offered by an e-business which is a Polish leader in e-shop software, as well as resources of good practices defining how to act to provide services in an optimal way using IT communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm (employment) location influences the behaviour of individuals and households in the short and long term. This paper presents simulations conducted to test the ability of an office location model to replicate the actual choices of office firms in the Greater Toronto Area. It is found that including explicit search areas can significantly increase the ability of location models to replicate actual choices by office firms. In addition, simulation procedures themselves have an impact on the forecasting capabilities of the modelling system. Finally, despite the suggested improvements, the model system’s ability to replicate location decisions of specific firms is somewhat limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]