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The global financial crisis has reopened the debate on the potential spillover effects from the financial sector to the real economy. This paper adds to that debate by providing new evidence on the link between finance and firm-level productivity, focusing on the case of Estonia. We contribute to the literature in two important respects: (i) we look explicitly at the role of financial constraints; and (ii) we develop a methodology that corrects for the misspecification problems of previous studies. Our results indicate that young and highly indebted firms tend to be more financially constrained. Overall, a large number of firms shows some degree of financial constraints, with firms in the primary sector being the most constrained. More importantly, we find that financial constraints do not lower productivity for most sectors.
Economic, technological, and political shifts as well as changing business strategies have driven firms to unbundle production processes and disperse them across countries. Thanks to these changes, developing countries can now increase their participation in global value chains (GVCs) and thus become more competitive in agriculture, manufacturing and services. This is a paradigm shift from the 20th century when countries had to build the entire supply chain domestically to become competitive internationally. For policymakers, the focus is on boosting domestic value added and improving access to resources and technology while advancing development goals. However, participating in global value...
Too many workers leave the labour market permanently due to health problems or disability, and too few people with reduced work capacity manage to remain in employment. This is a social and economic tragedy common to virtually all OECD countries. It ...
This volume reiterates the relevance of imperialism in the present, as a continuous arrangement, from the early years of empire-colonies to the prevailing pattern of expropriation across the globe. While imperialism as an arrangement of exploitation has sustained over ages, measures deployed to achieve the goals have gone through variations, depending on the network of the prevailing power structure. Providing a historical as well as a conceptual account of imperialism in its ‘classical’ context, this collection brings to the fore an underlying unity which runs across the diverse pattern of imperialist order over time. Dealing with theory, the past and the contemporary, the study conclud...
Provides an examination of the relationship between the core capitalist countries and the rest of the world in the age of neoliberal globalization. Deploying a Marxist methodology, Smith begins by tracing the production of certain iconic commodities--the T-shirt, the cup of coffee, and the iPhone--and demonstrates how these generate enormous outflows of money from the countries of the Global South to transnational corporations headquartered in the core capitalist nations of the Global North. From there, Smith draws on his empirical findings to theorize the current shape of imperialism. He argues that the core capitalist countries need no longer rely on military force and colonialism (although these still occur) but increasingly are able to extract profits from workers in the Global South through market mechanisms and, by aggressively favoring places with lower wages, the phenomenon of labor arbitrage. --From publisher description.
The book examines China's role in the international division of labor: it analyzes the scale and scope of China's manufacture; the type and relative sophistication of its exports in the world market; and its position in the global value chain. It shows that China monopolizes industrial production by being the processing center of world.
This report analyses the main challenges for labour market and social policies in Slovenia and considers the available policy options from the perspective of OECD countries' experience.
OECD's comprehensive 2010 review of labour market and social policies in Estonia.
This report analyses in detail the implications of recent developments in Chile's labour market and social policy and considers the available policy options from the perspective of OECD countries’ experience.
Communication across and integration of disciplines in the urban-water sector seems today more imperative than ever before. Water is a strategic and shrinking resource. It is probably the world's most valuable resource and clean water has even been touted as the 'next oil'. Control of water - from access to management - has always been a