Rolf J. Langhammer

Labor mobility and the world economy

International Migration in the Long Run: Positive Selection, Negative Selection, and Policy.- International Migration in the Long Run: Positive Selection, Negative Selection, and Policy.- Labor Mobility and Globalization.- Modelling Migration and Development in Economic History and Geography.- Comment on Frank Barry.- Immigration and Wages in General Equilibrium: A Theoretical Perspective.- Comment on Gabriel Felbermayr and Wilhelm Kohler.- Ethnic Networks and International Trade.- Comment on Gil S. Epstein and Ira N. Gang.- Are International Capital Movement and International Labor Migration Substitutes under National Externality?.- Comment on Kar-yiu Wong.- Some Economics of Immigration from an LDC to a DC: Stressing the Case of a Nordic Welfare State.- Comment on Sheetal K. Chand and Martin Paldam.- Integrated Labor Markets and Global Governance.- Outsourcing and International Labor Mobility: A Political Economy Analysis.- Comment on Sanjay Jain, Devesh Kapur, and Sharun W. Mukand.- Do We Need an International Regime for Migration?.- Comment on Stefania Pasquetti.- Do Values Matter for Intra-EU Migration?.- Comment on Holger Wolf.- Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Policy in Europe.- Comment on Timothy J. Hatton and Jeffrey G. Williamson.- Labor Mobility and Public Policy.- The Distinct Political Economies of Trade and Migration Policy: Through the Window of Endogenous Policy Models, with a Focus on North America.- Comment on David Greenaway and Douglas R. Nelson.- Growth Effects of the Brain Drain.- Comment on Per Lundborg.

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION'S EXPORT EARNINGS OUTSIDE THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC AUTONOMY

The distribution of foreign export earnings by area of origin is analyzed for the Russian Federation, to convertible and non-convertible currency areas, as well as for four major commodity categories. The paper focuses on identifying, because of Russias narrow export composition, oblast-level units (and commodities) that contribute disproportionately to the Federations overall convertible currency earnings. It then explores the implications of the extremely uneven spatial districution of such earnings for the Russian governments efforts to devise a workable formula for distributing export revenues between the “Center” and the localities.

Does international trade catch up with national trade of countries? Yes

The article applies an index suggested by Jeffrey Frankel on how to measure the gap between the intensity of national versus international transactions of a country to more than 100 countries over four periods between 1990 and 2005. The gap stands for “incomplete” globalization. It is shown that the gap has steadily declined for most countries over the sample period, irrespective of income levels. While larger economies are still less globalized than small economies, differences in domestic market size have become less important as a dividing line between more and less globalized economies.

Sectoral Distortions and Service Protection in Russia: A Comparison with Benchmark Emerging Markets and EU Accession Candidates

Recent research on gains for Russia from World Trade Organization membership concludes that service trade liberalization through allowing foreign suppliers to invest in Russian service industries promises large gains. Comparing Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates on effective rates of protection with and without intermediate services for several countries, the paper shows that almost all Russian service industries effectively get taxed due to high tax equivalents for services. Options for European Neighborhood Policy must be based on reciprocity: To access the Russian market, the European Union must open its service markets to Russian companies.

Regional integration and cooperation in africa: A history of disappointments?

Integration in Africa can only be a long-term attempt to solve economic problems, because of its high absorption of scarce and therefore expensive factors of production. In contrast to integration, cooperation seems to be a more useful approach to tackle the urgent employment and growth problems.

Why a Marketplace Must Not Discriminate

This paper discusses the pros and cons of a Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) in comparison with an informal trade-facilitating marketplace between Europe and the US. It finds considerably more cons, especially since TAFTA would be expected to produce larger, more detrimental discriminatory effects on dynamic non-member economies, mainly in Asia but also in food-exporting regions as well. Efficiency-enhancing effects are argued to be achievable under a marketplace concept which does not separate insiders from outsiders. It is also shown that in foreign direct investment (FDI) and FDI-related service trade, TAFTA seems redundant as in recent years bilateral capital and trade flows have proven to be buoyant without preferential treatment.

The EC single market and its effect on developing countries

Non-EC member countries in general and developing countries in particular have often expressed concern about the completion of the internal market by 1993. Various studies stressing the positive effects of EC integration on economic growth, structural change and import demand could not dissipate the fear that the EC would be tempted to shift parts of the adjustment burden to third countries by building a ‘fortress Europe’. This fear is based on an extrapolation of past experience with EC protectionism, and it receives further support from uncertainty about the stage of integration after 1992. There are a number of valid reasons for uncertainty about the future course of EC trade policies: The Cecchini Report (1988) as well as the empirical studies presented in the so-called Emerson Report (CEC, The Economics of 1992, 1988) focused solely on internal effects and neglected the external dimension. Differences in protection levels among individual member countries are still sizeable and there are disputes about the way to achieve a common protection level. The effects of liberalising factor movements and trade in services are much less easily predicted than integration effects in the case of merchandise trade (trade creation and trade diversion).

Rising import demand in China: Cui bono and why?

Summary The paper measures income elasticities of demand for manufacturing imports in China since 1990 disaggregated by major trading partners such as the US, Japan, Germany and rest of the EU. German exporters seem to have benefited from the highest demand elasticities. The paper proposes explanatory factors such as a high degree of integration in international production chains and higher presence of foreign direct investment in China compared to partner countries responsible for the German success.