In this study the effects of various types of rehabilitation programmes on labour market out-comes are estimated. A main feature of this study is that it jointly evaluates multiple treat-ments by nonparametric matching estimators. The study is based on a large sample of per-sons in western Sweden who are long-term sick and could participate in rehabilitation pro-grammes. Our results suggest that work-place training is superior to the other rehabilitation programmes with respect to labour market outcomes, but compared to non-participation no positive effects are found.
(doi:10.1002/jae.757) Download appendix: (pdf, 147 kb)
Global Value Chains (GVCs) can provide new means for developing economies to industrialise. To fully seize these opportunities, it is necessary to comprehensively measure both the intensity and type of countries' GVC integration patterns to better understand the relationship between GVCs and development. In this paper, we apply the new R package decompr to recent OECD input-output data with extended country coverage to analyse the integration patterns of developing economies in a more detailed way. We provide evidence that trends in GVCs are increasingly driven by developing countries. In addition, we show that while per capita GDP does not predict the intensity of GVC integration well, it determines the type of integration. High-income countries mainly export intermediates into GVCs and serve as markets of final demand. In contrast, developing economies join GVCs mostly in the assembly stage. However, there is evidence that developing countries have begun to shift their participation from the production of final to intermediate goods, moving upstream in GVCs and out of assembly.
This paper introduces an infrastructure for the analysis of legal metadata and textual data on international investment and trade disputes. The developed database architecture consists of three main components: (1) a WebCrawler of two key web sites for international economic law dispute information; (2) a document analyzer to transform PDFs into text files, identifying structure and footnotes within document, finding references to other disputes and storing texts as XML; and (3) multiple user interfaces to allow different user types to access the data. The architecture allows users to launch metadata queries and/or to investigate textual corpora. It therefore provides a versatile new framework for international economic law research from various angles and disciplines.
Even in export-oriented industries, only a handful of firms ship their goods abroad and these firms are systematically different from their purely domestic counterparts. The current picture does not, however, encompass the many firms that export via trade intermediaries or supply exporters with intermediate inputs. This paper uses a new and unique dataset of yearly transactions between all domestic firms in Belgium to unveil the supplier network that underpins export production. We show that even though there are only seven percent of firms that sell goods on foreign markets, more than a third of all firms are within two-transactions distance from foreign demand. Furthermore, these firms perform better than the rest of the economy and there is evidence of hierarchy within the exports supply chain whereby firm performance increases with the foreign demand exposure.
Globalization's 'second unbundling' has drastically altered the nature of international trade giving rise to what might be referred to as the trade-investment-service nexus. Today's RTAs are qualitatively different than those signed two decades ago, since they cover disciplines that go beyond preferential market access. This paper investigates whether the nature of RTAs matters when it comes to promoting trade. Controlling for the 'gravitational un-constant' terms, I use an augmented specification of the gravity model with a balanced panel over the 1994-2010 period. Employing four different econometric techniques taking care of zero trade flows, I check for robustness across all four procedures. Controlling for heterogeneity and self-selection of RTAs my results show that the nature of an RTA matters in trade promotion but the magnitude and direction of that relationship is unclear.
Public procurement for green innovation refers to tailoring public procurement policies in such a way as to promote green innovation within the wider economy. This study considers the nature of these policies, their legal limits, best practices, and how they have been implemented across a sample of four different OECD countries. The study begins with a general consideration of public procurement for green innovation and its component parts (i.e. green public procurement and innovative public procurement). This includes the theory behind such measure, their limitations, and a comparison with other ways in which a government may promote green innovation. Also included in this study is an analysis of the legal framework of public procurement for green innovation, involving such agreements as the General Procurement Agreement (GPA), the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and various regional trading agreements (RTAs). This analysis suggests that the legal questions surrounding any given policy will turn upon its unique legal framework (i.e. the agreements to which the country in question is a signatory). Where a policy falls under the GPA there is flexibility to pursue green innovation, while the SCM appears more restrictive. RTAs incorporating public procurement provisions are quite heterogeneous, depending generally on whether the parties to the RTA are also Parties to the WTO GPA. Finally, an analysis of four sample countries indicates that, at present, public procurement for green innovation is not being widely or systematically pursued. A range of unique, individual policies does exist, and demonstrates that each country has been able to tailor its approach to their perceived needs.
