In this paper we use new statistics on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Transitional Economies (TEs) to analyze the issue of foreign ownership in the banking sector, examining the implications for the host banking sector. After considering the potential benefits and risks associated with...

The paper is a review of approaches towards technology support for small-scale manufacturing enterprises in developing countries since the 1970s. Early programs tended to suffer from a number of weaknesses, emanating from inadequate conceptualization of small firms’ competitiveness and the...

This paper depicts an industrial district as a center of innovation in which local technological externalities sustain the endogenous invention of new goods by profit seeking firms. After invention firms dace a crucial choice between reaching distant markets by export or plant delocation. The...

We study the effect “globalization” on wage inequality. Our “global” economy resembles Rosen (1981) “Superstars” economy, where a) innovations in production and communication technologies enable suppliers to reach a larger mass of consumers and to improve the (perceived) quality of...

In this paper we test the firm-specific determinants of delocation to low-wage countries on the part of Italian firms. We collect data through a survey on 167 firms the in mechanics and textile industries. Our data show that in recent years there has been an upsurge in FDI activity by Italian...

In a traditional agrarian sector tenancy contracts aloe farmworkers to produce and accumulate wealth. This is important in a dual economy characterized in its modern sector by a n high degree of credit imperfections. The wealth constrained workers can accumulate wealth by working as...

À l'initiative de l'USAID, la BAD, MSU et l’INSAH, une quarantaine de chercheurs, de décideurs politiques et d’opérateurs-terrain venus de 19 pays et représentants une vingtaine d'institutions Africaines ou internationales se sont retrouvés à Abidjan dans le cadre d'un atelier...

To reverse the declining trends in soil fertility levels in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the use of fertilizers and other land augmenting technologies needs to increase. While overall fertilizer consumption in SSA has increased by as much as 200% from 1970 levels, the growth has been highly...