Search

This paper critically examines the concept of collaboration, and how it can be mobilised in policy and practice in the pursuit of educational change in the context of the Scottish education system. Policy analysis and interviews with primary school headteachers highlighted the lack of definitional agreement but common conceptual characteristics of collaboration, and the implications of this for how it is led and governed in the pursuit of change. Highlighted in this paper is the complex interplay between forms of, influences on, and drivers of collaboration and how this results in varied outcomes of it. It is argued that collaboration across systems should be focused, purposeful, and supported with high levels of trust from those involved or enabling it to happen, and meso- and macro-level structures which are flexible to enable diverse forms of collaboration to emerge. This paper presents a framework for collaboration that supports the complex consideration of the interrelated domains of forms, influences, and drivers of collaboration, and the leadership practices and governance arrangements necessary for collaboration to lead to improvement and change.

The OECD's PISA is seen as a 'global yardstick' against which countries measure the quality of their education systems. In 2018 PISA included an assessment of global competence. This paper starts with the premise that in using a single global instrument to 'measure' this phenomenon, PISA claims standardisation over contextually rich data that can then inform policy and, arguably, in turn practice. Data for this study is based on tracking 'global competence' through documentary analysis, interviews, and then 'survey encounters' where PISA global competence questionnaire items were discussed by principals and teachers in three schools in Victoria, Australia. The analysis illustrates that schools and teachers variously educate for global competence according to the specific cultural context, policy and curriculum in ways that highlight the inadequacy of a global metric. With the growing attention to educating for global citizenship and the OECD's development of global measures, this investigation of localised understandings of global competence magnifies the 'situatedness' of knowledge (and therefore assessment practices). Questions are raised about what is ignored in metrics when such a contested concept is operationalised, and points to the lack of validity of this metric because it de-contextualises how global competence is understood by teachers and enacted in curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which Oman is capable of attracting more of the foreign direct investment (FDI) through dunning model instruments. The results of the analysis are determined using responses provided by the foreign companies concerning the features of Oman. Data used in the analysis were collected from 30 different foreign companies operating in Dhofar region of Oman using questionnaires. ANOVA test, Chi-square tests and Friedman's mean ranks were carried out to test the homogeneity and magnitude of the responses given by the respective companies. the findings of Effect size analysis indicate that Oman's system structure, Policy framework, provision of facilities and ease of access are strongly contributing in attracting FDI. However, Oman needs to focus on the improvement of business friendly environment and compassionate policy formation in favor of investors.

The international recovered paper trade serves two important functions: increasing raw material availability in the paper and board industry and providing economic incentives to recycle. The purpose of this paper is to shed further light on emerging patterns in this trade by empirically analysing the changes in the bilateral trade flows of recycled paper between 1992 and 2008. According to our estimations, two important changes occurred in the 1990s and 2000s. First, the growing importance of developing economies in global recycled paper trade plays a significant role in import demand as a determinant of trade flows. Second, the changes in global trade patterns necessitate investigating the transportation cost measures used in applied research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) "PISA for Schools," a new variant of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that compares school-level performance on reading, math and science with international schooling systems (e.g., Shanghai-China, Finland). Specifically, I focus here on a professional learning community--the "Global Learning Network" (GLN)--of U.S. schools and districts that have voluntarily participated in PISA for Schools, and how this, arguably, helps to normatively determine "what works" in education. Drawing suggestively across diverse thinking around contemporary modes of governance, and emerging topological spaces and relations associated with globalization, and informed by interviews with 33 policy actors across the PISA for Schools policy cycle, my analyses suggest that GLN allows the OECD to discursively and normatively constrain how "world-class" schools and systems, and their policies and practices, are defined. However, and in light of the productive capacities of power relations, I also argue that GLN provides opportunities for local educators and leaders to undertake meaningful collaboration and sharing, and to find policy spaces outside of those defined by more performative discursive framings of school accountability. To this end, I explore how GLN may help to foster alternative policy spaces from which educators can "talk back" to national and state authorities, and potentially promote more "authentic" understandings of, and possibilities for, schooling accountability.

Historically, a policy of enforcement in internationalisation processes is still seen by many as an approach to solve certain economic crises. However, Portugal's solution for this problem is part of a greater problem, namely trying to solve a European problem that has recently worsened and is largely uncontrolled. This paper aims to contribute, firstly by mentioning the Portuguese economic context and also possible ways of internationalisation and, secondly, by measuring a set of variables/factors that should support the development of the Portuguese economy. The results of the interviews which supported this study's methodological basis show that the Portuguese economy's poor dynamism and low demand by alternate markets are the two critical variables for the country's weak competitiveness. The suggestions of those surveyed propose that the Portuguese economy's dynamics should be characterised by a hybrid model, joining factors connected to the Nordic school's behavioural model, Dunning's eclectic paradigm (1997), and Buckley and Casson's model of internationalisation theory (1976).

This article explores the origins of an identified cognitive disconnect between Bermudians and the International (Re)Insurance Centre after the latter's establishment in 1993. Quantitative analysis is used to map the relationship between employment and capital growth. It shows that capital growth is not a sufficient cause of employment growth. The way in which capital is deployed seems to determine the relationship. This article follows the sudden and unexpected change in capital deployment beginning in 1993. This change saw rapid capital growth in Bermuda, paired with employment growth. This period closed in 2009, and now appears exceptional. This paper suggests that considering the employment-capital relationship over time allows for an understanding of the cognitive disconnect as an unfortunate but unintended consequence.

This paper considers China's economic development and place in the world economy. The People's Republic of China is becoming the most powerful country in the world in terms of GDP. Nowadays, China is an important partner in world trade both as an exporter and importer. Thus far, the United States has been the leading force in managing and coordinating the global economic and especially financial system, but now the economically advancing socialist China is a challenge to the USA. The Chinese model, socialism with Chinese characteristics, is discussed and compared with earlier stages of socialist construction, e.g. the NEP experiment of Soviet Union. The paper ends with notes about environmental and ecological problems, stressing the importance of socialist answers to these challenges. In this regard there are encouraging aspects in the current political program of the Chinese leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the author's opinion on economic development and the falling foreign trade on U.S.

The following research paper conducts a comprehensive analysis into the intricate dynamics governing the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and International Trade, with a specific focus on the Western Balkan Countries-6 (WB-6). This research spans the period from 2000 to 2020 and seeks to shed light on the interplay between FDI and International Trade within this region. To analyse and interpret these dynamics, various regression models, including Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fixed Effects, Random Effects, and the Hausman-Taylor model, are employed as analytical tools. Moreover, the research takes into consideration the influence of specific institutional factors within each country, which play a pivotal role in shaping foreign investors' decisions to invest in a particular country. The study's results reveal that gravity factors, in conjunction with institutional determinants such as economic integration, control of corruption, political stability, and other indicators of governance quality, significantly impact the attractiveness of the WB-6 countries to foreign investors. The findings of this paper hold substantial relevance for the development of an analytical framework aimed at evaluating national policies and institutions geared towards enhancing the appeal of Western Balkan countries to foreign investors. Furthermore, the research underscores the importance of these host countries prioritizing efforts to bolster the effectiveness of governmental institutions, combat corruption, streamline bureaucratic processes, and improve overall economic conditions to attract and retain foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Faculty of Economics in East Sarajevo / Zbornik Radova Ekonomskog Fakulteta u Istočnom Sarajevu is the property of University of East Sarajevo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent years, China's foreign trade has continued to develop and achieved remarkable results, and the economic development trend has been steady and positive overall. However, although there are new opportunities for the development of China's foreign trade, it also faces new challenges and dilemmas. Therefore, in the current international trade situation, it is of great significance to study the impact of China's foreign trade on industrial structure and find the key points for the development of endogenous economic dynamics on this basis. China's industrial structure has undergone a clear process of upgrading and is a major trading country for industrially manufactured goods. The results of the analysis of the subsectors show that the trend of structural upgrading within the industry is equally significant. At the same time, there is often a significant trend of synergistic changes in the percentage of processing trade and the percentage change of trade in high-tech products. Based on this, this paper analyzes the correlation between China's foreign trade structure and industrial structure based on the correlation of mutual influence. The evolutionary algorithm has the advantages of a strong ability to search for global optimal solutions and good robustness, which is applied as the core algorithm of this paper. The study in this paper examines the interaction between industrial structure and trade structure from the perspective of matching the association between industrial structure and trade structure on the basis of measuring the industrial structure and trade structure at the regional level. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the model in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an in-depth study of international trade quantification models based on deep neural networks. Based on an in-depth analysis of global trade characteristics, a summary of existing problems, and a comparative analysis of various prediction methods, this paper constructs the ARIMA model, BP neural network (BPNN) model, and deep neural network (DNN) model to make a comprehensive comparison of international trade quantification. The results show that the nonlinear model has a global trade quantification has some advantages over linear models, and the deep model shows better prediction performance than the shallow model. In addition, preprocessing of the time series is considered to improve the prediction accuracy or shorten the model training time. The empirical modal analysis method (EMD) is introduced to decompose the time series into eigenmodal functions (IMFs) of different scales. Then the decomposed IMF series are arranged into a matrix using principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensionality and extract the data containing the most stock index information features; these features are then input into BPNN and DNN for combined prediction, thus constructing the combined models EMD-PCA-BPNN and EMD-PCA-DNN. Based on Melitz's heterogeneous firm trade theory and its development by Chaney, a quantitative trade model incorporating production heterogeneity is constructed through a multisector extension. This paper adopts a general equilibrium analysis, which makes the modeling process pulse clear. The completed model has high flexibility and scalability, which can be applied to quantitative analysis of various problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on unemployment rates in Tanzania, utilizing data spanning from 1992 to 2022. It is essential to recognize that many least-developed countries (LDCs) have strategically implemented measures to boost FDI acquisition, acknowledging its direct influence on national growth through increased employment opportunities. The study utilizes the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test to examine the unit root and subsequently applies the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The findings indicate that FDI and GDP growth rates exhibit appropriate signs. Importantly, the paper establishes a negative relationship between the unemployment rate and FDI inflows in Tanzania. Therefore, to alleviate unemployment, it is crucial for the Tanzanian economy to actively attract more FDI. Achieving this objective requires leveraging policy instruments such as exchange rates, inflation management, political stability, human capital development, and optimizing legal and regulatory frameworks. Implementing these measures will create a conducive environment for increased FDI inflows into Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the recent global trends in trade in services, influenced by the pandemic crisis and postpandemic challenges, as well as by the increasing of digitalization opportunities, this paper examines the main characteristics of trade in services of Romania and Bulgaria. We choose these two Eastern European Union countries placed in the same category at European level due to their comparable characteristics and developments. The research highlights the major role of services in both economies, revealed by their high percentage in GDP and job market, as well as in the trade balance. Our research aims to underline the local and conjunctural factors that have supported the development of their trade in services. Our analysis also includes some evidence related to the recent evolutions of the trade in digitally delivered services of Romania and Bulgaria, both countries making progress in aligning themselves with current trends of intensive implementation of the new technologies in service industries. The concluding remarks in the last part of this paper underline the key elements on which the upcoming trends in trade in service of Romania and Bulgaria are going to be shaped, considering the digital evolution prospects of both countries and the global business environment movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have given enormous attention to the roles of energy use and trade in economic growth strategies; however, recent international trade literature suggests that not merely the volume of trade but the diversification of goods may have a potential effect on economic growth. Thus, this paper uses the diversification of export goods and diversification of import goods as explanatory variables along with energy consumption and assessed the role of these important variables in economic development. The empirical results from Westerlund's (J Appl Econom 23:193–233, 2008) and Westerlund's (Oxf Bull Econ Stat 69:709–748, 2007) tests disclosed the existence of cointegration. The long-run estimations obtained from the CUP-FM technique revealed that both import and export product diversifications positively influence economic growth. This presents a vital opportunity for emerging nations to expand growth by diversifying export and import products. Likewise, energy use, labor, and capital contribute to increasing economic growth. The estimates from the causality test illustrated bidirectional causality between export diversification and economic growth and unidirectional causality from energy to export diversification. Finally, policy suggestions to expand economic progress are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tariff policy has a significant impact on a country's economic progress. The primary objective of this paper was to describe the construction of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and then analyze the economic impacts among simulated countries by introducing policy shocks like increases and decreases in tariffs. METHODS: Tariff reductions resulted in an increase in intraregional and interregional trade, which is expected to spur long-term investment and economic growth. To examine the economic implications in multiple ways, this article initially used a tariff removal scenario and subsequently increased the tariff. The relationship between production, activity, elements, and other economic sectors of regions was depicted in this paper using a computational general equilibrium model based on the global trade analysis project model. FINDINGS: The simulation resulted in a lower tariff having a beneficial influence on Korea's economic growth compared to other countries. In the agricultural and processed food sectors, Korea's trade balance improved dramatically, with exports and imports continuing high, while exports and imports in the manufacturing and service sectors declined. In contrast to other countries, Korea's processed food output surged by 198%. Finally, in comparison to other countries, Korea's welfare grew by $ US currency 17.56 billion. On the other hand, the trade balance between China and the United States fell by $US currency 6.25 billion and $US currency 7.95 billion, respectively. Korea's trade balance increased considerably, rising by $ 21.78 billion in US currency. Korea's GDP fell by about 0.8%, while China's dropped by nearly 0.3%. Other countries' gross domestic product changed slightly. CONCLUSION: The influence of various tariff policies on countries is examined in this research paper. Computational general equilibrium analysis of tariff policies in the agriculture, processed food, infrastructure, manufacturing, and service sectors has gotten little attention in the past, so this paper used the Global trade analysis project model to try to fill in the gaps and find the benefits of mutual economic policy among countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Balkan countries have small, open economies, and in order to achieve economic growth, they focus on increasing trade with other countries, thus making their economic growth dependent on external demand. While focusing on this, the Western Balkan countries face another arising issue which is the income inequality. While their level of trade openness continues to increase, they still have a moderate level of income inequality, measured by Gini coefficient. Additionally, in most developing countries there is still not done much research regarding the relationship and effects of trade openness on income inequality. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to determine and analyze the relationship between trade openness and income inequality for the time spin 2000-2019. To conduct the analysis of the relationship between income inequality and trade openness, several panel techniques will be used such as: OLS, Fixed and Random effects, Hausman Taylor test and the investigation of one set hypothesis. According to the analysis of this paper there is a significant positive relationship between these two variables, thus it means that the hypothesis set does not hold, as the level of Trade openness increases, the income inequality, increases as well in the Western Balkans. The findings give a contribution for the literature regarding the effects of trade openness and income inequality in developing countries, but yet there is possibility for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between economic growth and foreign trade was put in focus by many economists when foreign trade developed. The case of Free Trade is always associated with significant positive effects on foreign trade and economic growth. This paper explains the relationship between trade liberalization, foreign trade, and economic growth in Albania using annual economic development data for 1994-2019. This study is based on hypotheses for Causality Testing concerning the cointegration between GDP and foreign trade, trade liberalization and GDP, and GDP and exports in Albania. The ordinary least squares (OLS) model has been used. Empirical results for the Albanian case show that trade liberalization has a positive relationship with economic growth, exports, and imports. However, the multiple regression proved that GDP, Openness Index, FDI, and remittances positively impacted trade volume growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 health crisis generated an economic crisis at global level and consequently determined numerous economic disturbances at different levels. The study of the economic impact of the health crisis at various levels became legitimate in order to identify the influences of the health crisis on the economic activity, among others. This paper concentrates on the study of the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on international trade with the focus on two countries. The regression method was used to measure the impact of the COVID-19 burden (number of cases and number of deaths) on the international trade flows of two Central and Eastern European countries from European Union, namely Romania and Poland. The analysis includes the first two years of the pandemics, 2020-2021. The results of the analysis illustrate that the COVID-19 burden had an effect on international trade in the two countries. The import flows were more affected than export flows by COVID-19 in both countries in the analyzed period. However, the influences differed in the two countries, with international trade in Poland being more affected by COVID-19 than that in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research paper deals with the global macroeconomic policies that are required to be framed and analysed to achieve sustainable economic development. The concepts of Global Supply Chains (GSCs) and their interlinkages with international trade and development have been studied at length. It is observed that a substantial share of the production processes is taking place in developing countries. The paper also deals with government policies and governance issues and their implementation including inclusive growth for sustainable economic development. The study concludes that there is no single best model or policy mix that works for all countries and the paths to inclusive growth must be contextualised and adapted to country-specific challenges and ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade is a vital driver of economic development for nations worldwide, and Bangladesh, as a developing country in South Asia, strategically utilizes trade as a key element in its economic growth agenda. This paper examines the impact of internal factors on Bangladesh's international trade, employing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis to analyze data spanning from 2000 to 2022. The study focuses on factors such as GDP, inflation, real interest rates, unemployment rates, government expenditure, population growth, remittance inflows, government expenditure in education, macroeconomic management, and tariff rates. The results reveal a strong statistical significance between the predictors and Bangladesh's international trade volume. Notably, personal remittances, government expenditure in education, and macroeconomic management index exhibit significant influence on international trade. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to enhance Bangladesh's trade performance, contributing to its sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic diversification is crucial for economic development in most countries, it remains a challenge for some low- and middle-income developing nations, as well as for small and non-touristic economies. This research paper assesses the current state of economic diversification in the Arab Maghreb countries, including Algeria (the leading state), which has adopted various strategies to boost its economic diversification across different sectors. The aim is to understand the role of foreign trade liberalization adopted by the Maghreb countries in economic diversification and the extent of its impact on their economic development, positioning them among developed nations. To achieve this, we will examine the economics of these countries, particularly Algeria, to illustrate the close link between foreign trade and the economic development performance of these nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Cultura Económica is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The construction sector plays a significant role in national economic development and accounts for a dominant portion of national economic growth. The international construction industry's development has been explored from the perspective of the economy. Internationalization improves awareness about participation in international trade activities. This paper aims to quantify the internationalization of the construction industry in the global value chain. The sectoral participation index and interaction index are conducted to evaluate the internationalized degree of the construction industries. In the results, the distribution of the backward participation indices shows nearly all countries' internationalization processes were still at the stage of benefiting from primary resources. The forward support index is easily influenced by the scale effect. The backward independence index accounts for a small percentage of national imports measured by value added. The main source of value-added supply was the local construction sector. This study proposes a comprehensive indicator to quantify the internationalization of the construction industries in the sight of national and global points. The references have a positive value for policymakers in the management of value-added flows in the international market and adjustment of the foreign trade environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In the contemporary world, innovations are the driving force of economic development and new products, designs, trademarks and creative projects are of key importance to everyday economic decisions. Both economic theories and empirical research concern relations between innovations and foreign trade. This article belongs to this research trend and is devoted to an analysis of relations between innovations and export competitiveness in selected Central and Eastern European countries. Purpose: The paper is aimed at assessing the impact of innovation competitiveness on export competitiveness in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Research methodology: The paper contains an analysis with the use of standardised innovation competitiveness and export competitiveness indices. Countries and industry sectors are analysed in terms of the frequency of occurrence of these indices with various combinations of their signs. The impact of innovation competitiveness on export competitiveness has been tested using dynamic models of panel data. Results: The conducted research indicates that technological advantage usually has a considerable positive impact on the trade competitiveness of Central and Eastern European countries but the strength of the impact depends on the branch of industry. Generally, the influence of technological competitiveness on trade competitiveness is stronger in highly and moderately technologically advanced industries than in industries characterised by low technological advancement. Novelty: The evaluation of the influence of innovation competitiveness on export competitiveness in Central and Eastern European countries using standardised competitiveness indices and a dynamic model of panel data is an added value in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of empirical studies assume the symmetric effects of exchange rate development on the trade balance. However, we follow more recent studies to show that there are distinctions to be made between the directions of changes inthe exchange rate. In this study, we assume that the effects can be asymmetrical in certain branches of the agri-food industry. This paper aims to evaluate the asymmetric effects of the exchange rate on foreign trade in the agri-food sector in the Visegrad region. For this purpose, we employ a non-linear auto-regressive distributed lag approach to incorporate the assumed asymmetries of exchange rate changes in a model of the J-curve pattern in the case of Czechia, Hungary, and Poland. The dataset on the SITC two-digit level covers the period between 2000 and 2018. The paper shows that there is a clear difference in the effects of appreciation and depreciation. The difference is not only in the direction, but also in the intensity, of the effects of exchange rate changes on the trade balances of food and live animals, dairy products and birds' eggs, and animal oils and fats in Czechia; meat and preparations in Hungary; sugar, sugar preparations and honey and beverages in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural and creative industries are another fast-growing new industry after the information technology industry and have become a major driving force in global international trade and economic development. In this paper, the index of "export complexity" is chosen to measure the export complexity of cultural and creative products in China and 42 representative countries selected by UNCTAD's "Creative Economy" database for measurement and comparative analysis. This paper uses a grey prediction model to forecast the relative export complexity of China's cultural and creative products. The prediction results show that from 2016 to 2025, the relative export complexity of China's cultural and creative products is less than 1, but the value is increasing, and the gap between the export structure of China's cultural and creative products and the global average in the increasingly competitive international market will narrow year by year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of Internet technology, new opportunities and challenges have emerged in international trade. If it does not seize new opportunities and take measures to meet challenges, it will cause the development of international trade to enter a state of stagnation, especially when the current domestic demand has not shown a strong recovery. The emergence of cloud computing and the Internet of Things (CCIoT) has provided new technologies and means for the development of international trade. In order to accurately analyze the development policy of the international trade industry and provide strong technical support for the development of the international trade industry under the Internet of Things environment, this paper studies the development policy of the international trade industry in the context of CCIoT. This paper borrows the method of cloud computing and collects relevant data provided by development policies through the perception Internet layer. It is transmitted through the network layer, processed through the high-performance computing cloud, and finally transformed into useful information for the international trade industry. The test results show that the use of cloud computing technology can analyze the existing development policies, promote the development of the international trade industry, and improve the trade efficiency by 3.84%. This reduces the impact of various factors on international trade, while providing strong and good services to users in international trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the increasing need of policymakers for timely estimates of macroeconomic variables. A prior United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) research paper examined the suitability of long short-term memory artificial neural networks (LSTM) for performing economic nowcasting of this nature. Building off those findings, in this paper, the LSTM's performance during the COVID-19 pandemic is compared and contrasted with that of the dynamic factor model (DFM), a commonly used methodology in the field. Three separate variables, global merchandise export values and volumes and global services exports, were nowcast with actual data vintages and performance evaluated for the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2020 and the first and second quarters of 2021. In terms of both mean absolute error and root mean square error, the LSTM obtained better performance in two-thirds of variable/quarter combinations, as well as displayed more gradual forecast evolutions with more consistent narratives and smaller revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diffusion of knowledge is an important determinant of economic development. International trade has been established as a key mechanism in facilitating diffusion. The rise of global value chains (GVCs) has transformed trade in recent years. Yet the role of GVCs in giving rise to knowledge spillovers remains under-explored. In this paper, we study the elasticity of industry-level total factor productivity (TFP) to technology that is imported through intermediate trade in GVCs. To do so, we combine novel input–output decomposition methods with recent insights from the literature on the factor content of trade. We focus on a panel of 32 countries and 39 sectors over the 2000–2014 period using WIOD and OECD data. We find that domestic TFP is elastic to knowledge flows arising from GVCs and that the magnitude of this effect is larger relative to all other knowledge flows. We also find that GVC participation is particularly conducive to technology upgrading in countries that are far away from the technology frontier, and that GVC-related spillovers persist over large geographical distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new development concept is the theoretical guidance and important foundation for high-quality foreign trade development in the new era. This paper develops an evaluation index system to measure the high-quality development level of foreign trade based on the meaning of high-quality development of foreign trade under the new concept of development. The dynamic changing trend of high-quality development of China's provincial foreign trade from 2013 to 2019 and the ranking change of the development index are examined in this paper using a time series factor model. Finally, China's provinces are categorized based on the quality of their foreign trade development. The findings show that, from 2013 to 2019, China's high-quality foreign trade development has been on the rise; the level of high-quality foreign trade development has been raised to varying degrees in the eastern, central, and western regions of China, but each region plays a different role. Compared to 2013, the truly "high-quality" areas of China's provincial foreign trade development were always concentrated in the eastern region, which ranked high on the comprehensive evaluation index, while the "low-quality" areas were mainly concentrated in the central and western regions, which ranked low on the comprehensive evaluation index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This academic paper investigates the intricate relationship between macroeconomic policies, international trade practices, and sustainable development within the context of Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG12), which emphasizes sustainable consumption and production. The objective is to explore a path towards sustainable economic growth that strikes a balance between economic progress and ecological sustainability. The study conducts a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities involved in aligning macroeconomic and trade policies with the principles of SDG12. It draws on a meticulous review of literature, academic discourse, empirical evidence, and various case studies from different countries. Methodology: The research methodology entails an extensive review of pertinent literature to establish theoretical foundations and validate findings through empirical evidence. The study incorporates insightful case studies to exemplify successful approaches employed by nations at the intersection of macroeconomic policies, international trade, and sustainable development. Rigorous and systematic analysis drives the exploration of prospects and obstacles surrounding sustainable economic growth. Practical Results: The paper presents practical results derived from the analysis of case studies, showcasing successful strategies employed by diverse countries in harmonizing economic growth with environmental sustainability. These results offer valuable insights and replicable blueprints for other nations seeking to balance economic progress with SDG12 principles. The study identifies potential areas of conflict and collaboration between macroeconomic and trade policies concerning sustainable development. Conclusions: In conclusion, achieving sustainable economic growth requires coherent policy formulation, aligning macroeconomic and trade strategies with SDG12. The paper proposes specific, implementable policy recommendations to guide countries towards a sustainable trajectory of economic growth while upholding environmental preservation. Emphasizing the significance of cohesive policy frameworks, the study underscores the potential for building a robust, sustainable global economy that addresses growth and environmental conservation in unison. Policymakers can draw from these insights to advance the broader objective of promoting sustainable consumption and production globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the trade network connectivity is essential for understanding the trade network structure, optimizing trade development patterns, and improving uneven trade development along the "Belt and Road" (BRI). From the perspective of connectivity, this paper integrates the frontier algorithms in network science and constructs an analytical framework to identify the mesoscale structures, including the community structure, core-periphery structure, and backbone structure embedded in the network, and further explore the structural connectivity of the BRI trade network. The results show that: (1) The BRI trade network represents a trade pattern of "one superpower, many great powers", with three major trade groups in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Northern Central and Eastern Europe in terms of geographical space. China is the super core of the BRI trade network, and the most considerable trade links are all centred in China. (2) Five distinctive trade blocs have formed in the BRI trade network. Nevertheless, the structure of the trade blocs shows significant geographical proximity, indicating that geographical distance still plays a vital role in the international trade system at the regional scale. (3) The BRI trade network demonstrates a significant core-periphery structure, with apparent trade clustering among the core countries within the trade network. Among them, nine countries led by China constitute the core structure, and the peripheral structure is large, reaching forty-four. (4) The trade links with China constitute the backbone structure of the whole trade network in the BRI region. In addition, the trade links related to energy trade and re-export trade are also crucial components of the BRI backbone structure. Methodologically, the analytical framework proposed for assessing the network structural connectivity has great potential to be widely applied to other disciplines and fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the links between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the transformative aspects of establishing an encompassing agri-food trade policy in the European Union (EU). Starting with a review of the Sustainable Development Goals, this article focuses on the goal of sustainable agriculture and food security. The paper then investigates the transformative aspects of building a fair agri-food trade policy, including the significance of international trade agreements and the need for effective monitoring and enforcement. Research also includes a quantitative analysis of the scientific community's interest in the EU's effectiveness in implementing its agri-food trade policy, with a focus on the policy's impact on global food security. The findings indicate that the EU is making progress toward achieving its objective of boosting global food security, but significant impediments remain to be surmounted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the causes of the downward trend in three key cohesion aspects of the world economy: international trade, foreign investment and global value chains. The paper shows that the causes of these trends are not cyclical, but structural; that is, it is the process of deglobalization of the international market, and transformation of the very foundation of the international economic system is underway. The specific aim of the study was to investigate the impact of current trends on China's economy. The question is whether the Chinese economy, which has developed due to globalization processes, will be negatively affected by reverse processes, and to what extent. To capture the short-run effect of globalization-related factors on China's economy, an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was used. For estimation of the long-run linkage, the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration was launched. The results of testing the short-term effects showed that the new Chinese development strategy, aimed at protecting domestic economy from external disturbances, has produced excellent results. Significant changes in the Chinese development paradigm, as based on domestic production to meet domestic demand and financed by internal resources, have led to a decrease in the share of all international indicators in the Chinese economy. This is shown by both the statistical description of changes in the globalization-related variables, and it is confirmed by the results of conducted empirical research. Testing of long-term relationships has given conflicting results, so it is not possible to identify the long-term impact with certainty. Nevertheless, the parts of bounds testing that are statistically indisputable indicate a long-term, strong cumulative impact of these variables on the Chinese economy, while the direction and intensity of the action of individual variables are unpredictable. A new paradigm enables China to take a better international position as a global investor instead of a recipient of investments, to take over growing parts of global product chains instead of being their production link and to initiate a new form of globalization in the Chinese way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]