Gender Equality

Direct exporting activities and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) are two types of internationalization that differ in firms’ opportunities, resources and risks. We study home-country institutional factors for internationalization and empirically investigate the direct and joint effects of export regulations, credit markets and corruption in explaining exporting and OFDI from a country. Using country-level data from 96 developed and developing countries between 2000 and 2018, we test a series of hypotheses and examine nonlinearity in the relationships. The results of the study suggest that export regulations partially affect exporting but do not affect OFDI. Access to financial resources can be critical in parts for both exports and OFDI. The findings also show that corruption can have different implications for exports and OFDI. The interactions of corruption with export regulations and credit markets reveal some unexpected and counter-intuitive results, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between the direct and indirect (joint) effects of business environment factors and corruption on exports and OFDI. The results of the study contain important information for policymakers.

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between perceived corruption and foreign direct investment (FDI) in Egypt during the period 1970–2019. Using a novel back-casting methodology, it extrapolates perceived corruption time series between 1970 and 1980. The results of the Johansen cointegration technique and the multivariate vector error correction model show a positive relationship between perceived corruption and FDI, supporting the “greasing the wheels” effect of corruption. This positive association can be explained by several factors, such as the cross-interdependence of rent-generating assets with perceived corruption and FDI, and the use of FDI data based on the balance of payments that has growing financial-flows and phantom-FDI components. The findings of this paper have important policy implications. Improving the fundamental governance structure in Egypt should be accompanied by a comprehensive investment facilitation strategy to compensate for the removal of “grease” from the “wheels”.

This article seeks to explain recent decisions by countries to terminate their existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and revisit their commitment to future international investment agreements (IIAs). It argues that BITs, transnational corporations (TNCs), host States and international arbitration institutions form a decentralized system of global governance of foreign direct investment (FDI), based on insights from the fields of international political economy and international law, and that the nonmarket strategies of these TNCs have not only shaped the contours of this system but have also prompted host States to reform this system, from the perspective of a “political bargaining model”. The article illustrates this argument through the case of South Africa, which terminated its BITs with several European countries as a response to cases of investor–State dispute settlement (ISDS) and has sought to redefine its engagement with this system of global governance as a result.

This paper evaluates the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) recently proposed by the European Commission. We find that if the CCCTB is introduced as it is currently proposed (including loss consolidation), then it is likely to impose large tax revenue costs of about one fifth of the corporate tax base. Second, we show that an application of the CCCTB proposals at only the European Union (EU) level would overlook the extent of profit shifting out of the EU and could lock in further unnecessary revenue losses. Third, major EU profit-shifting countries such as Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands may experience significant revenue losses. Based on our analysis, the main policy recommendation is to consider extending the approach to a worldwide system, which would simultaneously deal with profit shifting within and out of the EU, and appears to offer the best prospect for revenue-positive, welfare-enhancing reform. For this to be viable, an immediate priority is to collate cross-country-comparable data and provide precise assessments of the range of policy scenarios.

This research explores the enablers of emerging-market firms (EMFs) leapfrogging in the internationalization process. Although many studies on rapid internationalization focus on exporting activities, we expand the concept to a higher-commitment entry mode: foreign direct investment (FDI). In addition, we investigate the role of an understudied force, foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets, in enabling rapid internationalization of EMFs. Our hypotheses are tested using 1,612 first-time outward FDI projects from China between 2000 and 2014. The largely supported results suggest that minority foreign ownership and colocation with foreign MNEs allow EMFs to leapfrog certain stages in the establishment chain. Our findings offer alternative explanations, besides the government steward logic, to EMFs’ international expansion and contribute to the understanding, from a policy standpoint, that encouraging foreign-local partnerships is conducive to host-country industrial upgrading.

Building on a sociology theory of space, we conceptualize physical geography as separated from its constructed connotations and suggest that the impact of geographic location on countries’ attraction for foreign direct investment (FDI) is contingent upon their constructed qualities – that is, their unilateral characteristics and connectivity to other countries. Quantile regression analyses confirm these predictions and show notable variations across the distribution of FDI. The findings show that geography is not destiny and should rather be treated as an endogenous country characteristic whose consequences for FDI are subject to actions of policymakers and firms. Subsequent analyses show that the level of economic development affects the relationships between the physical and constructed consequences of geography on FDI, introducing significant differences between developed and developing countries. We outline the role for policy in shaping the contingencies that affect the relationships between geographic location and FDI.

Esta publicación analiza el complejo fenómeno de la violencia armada (diferente al conflicto armado) y presenta estrategias para proteger a las niñas, niños y adolescentes en contextos de violencia armada en la comunidad. Brinda visibilidad a la urgente necesidad de colocar a la niñez en el centro de las políticas y medidas que sean adoptadas en materia de temas asociados a la seguridad a fin de construir comunidades seguras, amigables y sostenibles.

The study builds on the National Green Export Review (NGER) of Vanuatu and leverages UNCTAD expertise in key analytical areas, including non tariff measures, voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), the trade agriculture gender nexus, and pro poor structural rural diversification through trade. Invaluable support was provided by the Government of Vanuatu, in particular, the Department of Industry, which generously shared information, facilitated multi stakeholder consultations and reviewed the final draft. The information in this report has been gathered from various sources, including interviews with key stakeholders in the country. To this purpose, missions were carriedout in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in 2017 and 2018. Interviews were conducted with public and private stakeholders, including representatives from the Department of Industry, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Women’s Affairs, the National Statistics Office, the Government Chief Information Officer, the private sector, International Organisations and the donor community.

C’est la troisième édition d’un document d’orientation sur la situation actuelle, les tendances et les défis du transport par voie navigable sur les voies de navigation intérieure européennes d’importance internationale dans la région de la Commission économique pour l’Europe. Le livre blanc décrit l’état actuel du réseau de voies navigables E, l’évolution du cadre institutionnel et réglementaire de la navigation intérieure depuis 2011, les programmes et activités récents de la CEE, de l’Union européenne et d’autres organisations internationales. Le livre blanc identifie huit domaines prioritaires pour rendre les transports par voies navigables dans la région de la CEE plus durable et concurrentiel, et formule des recommandations de politique générale pour les actions de la CEE pour chacun d’eux.

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. It also marks the first time that progress on the implementation of the Platform is reviewed in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015. This report therefore takes an integrated approach to reporting on progress, gaps and challenges related to the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights across six dimensions that link the Platform’s critical areas of concern and the Sustainable Development Goals. It finds that there have been important gains since the adoption of the Beijing Platform in 1995, but that progress towards gender equality has stalled and even reversed in some areas in recent years. Across the globe women’s movements, energized by young feminists at the helm, are challenging slow and piecemeal progress and are impatient for systemic change. World leaders can learn from the ways in which these movements work across silos and political boundaries, seeing their work to advance the rights of women and girls as inextricably linked to the achievement of economic, social and environmental justice for all. The report features their voices that must be heard and acted upon. The report also highlights catalytic policies and programmes under each of the six dimensions as well as a number of cross-cutting strategies that can accelerate the implementation of the entire Platform for Action for this generation and the next.