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POLICY BRIEF | The Inclusive Digital Model (IDMODEL) Project
The Inclusive Digital Model (IDMODEL) project has recently published a policy brief which summarises the main findings and key policy recommendations emanating from the China ‘Kuaishou’ and Bangladesh ‘Haate Haat’ cases. The brief incorporates the views of key stakeholders including Kuaishou and respondents in both countries on how to overcome digital challenges and seize the opportunities…
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WORKING PAPER 81 | Blue Economy and the Circuitry of the Circle
Blue Economy is a relatively new denomination circumscribing the perceived economic functionalities of the oceanic spheres. This paper articulates a definition for both Blue Economy and Circular Economy in one concentric circle and functionally links the two for a spherical strategic ideation. This paper coins the term Blue Space as a marker for both vertices…
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WORKING PAPER 80 | Development strategies for middle-income countries in a digital world – impacts from trade costs, data and innovation policies
The digitalization of economic activities, combined with a secular slowdown in the growth of global output and trade, reduces the potential of traditional export-oriented manufacturing as a development strategy. This paper takes a trade economics perspective to outline a possible response to the changed nature of industrialization. The outlined response currently applies mainly to middle-income…
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WORKING PAPER 79 | China: Long-Term Development Issues and Options, Past and Present
This paper takes off from a 1985 World Bank report entitled China: Long-Term Development Issues and Options. The first part of the paper briefly revisits that report – why it was produced, and how well its analysis has stood up to the test of time. The second and main part of the paper also looks at…
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WORKING PAPER 78 | Trade in Intangibles and A Global Value Chain-based View of International Trade and Global Imbalances
This paper aims to develop a framework for the measurement of global trade that integrates trade-in-intangibles and trade-in-goods and services in the context of globalisation, and applies it for the analysis of global trade imbalance. Through in-depth discussions of the five modes through which trade-in-tangibles are carried out, it develops an integrated framework from the…
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WORKING PAPER 77 | Competition, Openness and Innovation in Emerging Economies: The Roles of Technology and Ownership
This paper examines innovation response of firms with different technology and ownership to domestic and openness-induced competition in emerging transition economies. Using a firm-level panel dataset from China and linked trade tariff data for the period 1998-2010, we find that an inverted-U relationship between domestic competition and innovation regardless of levels of technology and types…
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WORKING PAPER 76 | MNEs’ Contribution to Sustainable Energy and Development: the case of ‘Light for All’ Program in Brazil
Access to affordable and sustainable energy is crucial for the improvement of the well-being of modern societies. Most energy technologies require comparatively high up-front investment which adds to the challenge of electrification, despite the recognized multiple benefits. Partnership with multinational enterprises (MNEs) can provide necessary investment in infrastructure, finance and technology for renewable energy and…
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WORKING PAPER 75 | When Do Firms Undertake International Open Innovation?
In this study, we examine the characteristics of firms and their surrounding environment and investigates their likelihood to develop the international openness in innovation. Our survey contains data on 1,408 manufacturing firms’ in China which conduct open innovation activities, and the research span extends from 2005 through 2007. Using the Heckman model, we examine the…
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WORKING PAPER 74 | MNEs, Local Capability Building and Development: Chinese and European MNEs in Ghana
Economic and human development have long been the focus of international development practice and study. While the more traditional approaches of international development such as aid still play an important role, recent frontiers of development research have argued economic growth as a fundamental mechanism for poverty reduction and human development. The direct and indirect effects of…
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WORKING PAPER 72 | Innovation, informality, and firms’ growth in low-income countries
Despite the high profile of the issue in current policy formulations in low-income countries (LICs), there is little empirical evidence on innovativeness and firm performance in formal and informal establishments. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature using a revised Crépon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) structural model to analyse data from a unique innovation survey…
