Subsidies

One of the foremost objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Union (EU) is to increase agricultural productivity through subsidization of farmers. However, little empirical research has been done to examine the effect of subsidies on farm performance and, in particular, the channels through which subsidies affect productivity. Using a Bayesian hierarchical model in which input productivity, efficiency change, and technical change depend on subsidies and other factors, including farm location, we analyze empirically how subsidies affect the performance of farms. We use an unbalanced panel from the EU's Farm Accountancy Data Network on Danish, Finnish, and Swedish dairy farms and partition the data into eight regions. The data set covers the period 1997-2003 and has a total of 6,609 observations. The results suggest that subsidies drive productivity through efficiency and input productivities and the magnitudes of these effects differ across regions. In contrast to existing studies, we find that subsidies have a positive impact on technical efficiency. The contribution of subsidies to output is largest for dairy farms in Denmark and Southern, Central, and
Northern Sweden.

It has become common in the literature to compare India and China, two remarkably growing economies, but these comparisons often do not take into account the institutional differences between these two countries. We have in this paper done a comparative analysis of banking institutions in China and India taking into accounts the contentious issue of nonperforming loans along with the issue of use of banks to provide countervailable subsidies to exporting organizations.

Subsidies are an instrumental policy making tool for many governments, but their importance depends on the market situation of the national economy. Efficient subsidy implementation would allow the government to correct market failure thereby aligning social and private costs and benefit. The general objective of this study is to justify the need to rationalise subsidies for food items such as flour. This study assessed the structure and conducts of the general purpose flour market in Malaysia; and analysed the impact of subsidies on market performance to recommend policies to increase market efficiency under the subsidy rationalisation program. To accomplish these objectives, the study adopted a microeconomics market analysis as well as the standard structure and performance analysis method. These two approaches showed the characteristics of an industry's consumer behaviour, competition, as well as the efficiency associated with government regulatory policies on the flour industry. One of the biggest influences on the domestic market is related to the food consumption behaviour of the general population. Food consumption behaviour reflects global trends. As income rises, food trends tend to be consumed in processed form or in such a way that adds value in another manner such as the preparation of food products.

This paper develops a system dynamics model of the UK take-up of electric vehicles over the next 40 years. The model extends previous work by to allow analysis of the UK market. The impact on uptake and CO 2 emissions of factors such as subsidies, range, charge point availability, emission rates and a revenue preserving tax are considered. We show that subsidies have little impact on take-up under a traditional business as usual case. However, when we introduce a conditional marketing scenario, they play an important role in tipping the market into a successful trajectory. The sensitivity of the results to assumptions on word of mouth, average vehicle life and emissions rates are explored and we find that changing these can result in a greater impact on take-up and emissions than policy or vehicle attribute factors. Our results have important policy implications.

In 2018, the European Parliament passed legislation that would require streaming platforms to host at least 30 percent European local content as well as contribute to the development of European audiovisual productions. This law was passed in the hope that it would enhance cultural diversity within the region’s audiovisual sector. By taking a closer look at the Netflix series Emily in Paris, this paper examines the true impact of these policy measures. The research suggests that, although passed with good intentions, they are ineffective as the definition of “European content” is not clear. Furthermore, these two measures are contradictory as they ignore the quality aspect of content which is the crucial ingredient for success. Therefore, the European Union should reconsider the way in which it categorizes European content or at least revise the laws on funding European productions.

The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the World Economic Forum organized the E15 Initiative, a multistakeholder, long-term strategic review of international trade and investment rules and arrangements. Unprecedented in substantive scope and regional and stakeholder engagement, the Initiative convened 15 Expert Groups and three cross-cutting Task Forces, with participants from 57 countries, posing the question: how should trade- and investment-related rules and institutional arrangements evolve in each area over the next 10 years to 2025?

World trade has experienced a significant slowdown since the 2008 financial crisis. Over this period, the global ratio of trade expansion to income growth has halved. An effective global trade and investment system are crucial for reinvigorating economic growth and confronting 21st-century global challenges. Yet the system— well-performing as it is in many of its functions—is out of date and in need of greater coherence. This report is a synthesis of the dialogues and research organised together with  16 partnering institutions to bring together more than 375 international experts in over 80 interactive dialogues between 2012 and 2015 under the E15 Initiative. At the core of the Initiative were 15 thematic Expert Groups and three Task Forces, each comprised of leading thinkers from developed and developing countries drawn from different fields and backgrounds. Their work has been complemented by an overarching dialogue looking at the global trade and investment architecture, involving consultations
with hundreds of thinkers and policy-makers. The entire process has yielded approximately 150 analytical papers and its deliberations have stimulated a fresh look at the long-term challenges and opportunities facing the global trade and investment system, especially in respect of its efficacy, inclusiveness and contribution to sustainable development.

The policy option papers prepared by each E15 thematic group offered a detailed and comprehensive set of suggestions for improved governance of the global trade and investment system in the 21st century.

As conveners of the E15 Initiative, we have sought to provide a conducive environment for long-term strategic thinking among multiple stakeholders, regions and intellectual disciplines about the optimal evolution of the global trade and investment system in the 21st century. We believe this unprecedented process has produced a timely and relevant contribution at precisely the moment when the international community is beginning to consider a new direction. We commend it to the attention of policy-makers, business leaders, scholars and citizens alike and look forward to the next phase of dialogue.

The recent failure by WTO member governments to reach agreement on a continuation of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations has left the international community without a shared agenda for the future evolution of the global trading system. To be certain, there is no lack of initiative and innovation within the system. Regional and bilateral activity has never been more robust. But there is palpable unease about this lack of a common strategic vision and project, as well as questions about where the current dynamic of “competitive liberalization” will lead, even among its main drivers. Such questions include:
– Will the system fragment and degrade into trade-diverting regional blocs?
– Will global trade expansion continue its disappointing recent pattern of lagging
global economic growth, rather than leading and propelling it?
– Will the system be able to contribute to rather than complicate progress on
other global priorities, such as climate change, sustainable development, inequality, employment, population ageing, depletion of fish stocks and biodiversity, corruption and money laundering, etc.?
– Will it be able to contain the recent proliferation of non-tariff barriers, which can be just as big an obstacle to trade as the tariffs that successive multilateral rounds of negotiations have done so much to reduce?
– Will trade-related rules be able to adapt to the technological changes transforming the operating context of businesses and the very nature of commerce and investment?
– As globalization deepens, will the system succeed in striking the right balance between the policymaking prerogatives of national and local governments, on the one hand, and the logic of international economic integration and cooperation, on the other, particularly when key social values are implicated?
– In sum, will the trading system be able to maintain its essential positive-sum game character, both in economic fact and political perception?
These questions and others have taken on heightened importance in the aftermath of the Nairobi WTO ministerial, but they have been building up within the system for some time.

The output of the E15 Expert Groups and Task Forces is encouraging in this respect. Their proposals demonstrate that an agenda to strengthen and update the system is not only conceivable but also plausible. As synthesized and interpreted in the following chapters, they form a blueprint for how the international community could come together to make progress on each of the following shared imperatives through improvements in trade and investment rules and arrangements:
- Boosting Global Growth and Employment
- Reducing Commercial Friction and Investment Uncertainty
- Accelerating Sustainable Development in the Least Developed Countries
- Increasing Economic Diversification and Competitiveness in Middle-income Countries
- Ensuring Food Security
- Combating Climate Change and Environmental Degradation
- Preserving National Policy Space to Make Societal Choices
- Strengthening the Legitimacy of the Global Trading System

http://e15initiative.org

https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-e15-initiative-strengthening-the-global-trade-and-investment-system-in-the-21st-century

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/E15/WEF_Executive_Summary_Strengthening_Global_Trade_Investment_System_21st_Century.pdf