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14 mai The changing face of outsourcingTalking about China's textile industry facing up to building up regulatory and commercial competition.
This is one of a series of articles on how globalisation is reshaping Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta. Subsequent features will look at the car industry, banking and computer hardware. 16 juillet Trade LiberalizationTrade Liberalization - the removal of government interference in financial market, broadly service industries and of barriers to trade. Today, even IMF, the founder of globalisation and fundamentalist of Liberalization admits that it is one step too far.
Supporter models on free market theories, they argue that Liberalization enhances a country’s income by forcing resources to move from less productive uses to more productive uses, utilizing comparative advantage.
This is the pure ivory tower theory though. The reality is going reverse all too often under IMF programmes. Lowering trade barrier in west African countries destroyed local inefficient textile industry, which under pressure from international competition.
Free market theory holds that new, more productive job will be created as the old inefficient jobs that have been created behind the protectionist wall are eliminated. There is no such thing as instantaneous job creation. It takes time, capital and entrepreneurships. Today even developed countries find it is difficult. And it even difficult to developing countries that short of capital and entrepreneurship.
A pattern is like this: premature trade liberalization results in job losses, which results in poverty. The poor has no other way to voice their rage and anger but taken to street which leads to instabilities - street riot, social unease, which is bad for economy growth.
Also interesting points in Globalization and Its Discontents Chapter3 Freedom to Choose, byJoseph Stiglitz.
Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Roadtrip by Jim Rogers is a good companoin reading. Jim is a co-founder of the Quantum Fund. In the book, Jim gives acount to their world trip covers 116 countries - through blizzards, deserts, epidemics and war zones - to discover failing economies and the new boom countries not from dry and potentially flawed statistics, but by experiencing life itself. Privatization & BribenzationJoseph Stiglitz (Globalization and Its Discontents) comments in many developing countries, one of serious concern about privatization is its close linked to corruption. Economists bid privatization to reduce the ‘rent-seeking’* activity of government officials. But in reality and in contrast privatization actually make the situation much worse. “If a government is corrupt, there is little evidence that privatization will solve the problem. After all, the same corrupt government that mismanaged the firm will also handle the privatization. In country after county government officials have realized that privatization meant that they no longer needed to be limited to annual profit skimming. By selling a government enterprise at below market price, they could get a significant chunk of the asset value for themselves rather than leaving it for subsequent officeholders.” Would things changed for good after privatization then? Privatization advocates naively persuaded themselves these costs could be overlooked because the textbooks seemed to say that once private property rights were clearly defined, the new owners would ensure that the assets would be efficiently managed. Thus the situation would improve in the long term even if it was ugly in the short term. They failed to realize that without the appropriate legal structures and market institutions, the new owners might have an incentive to strip assets rather than use them as a basis for expanding industry. As a result, in Russia, and many other countries privatization failed to be as effective a force for growth as it might have been. *rent-seeking means government officials abuse their power, who either skim off the profits of government enterprises or award contracts and jobs to their friends. 15 juillet PrivatizationPrivatization has also come not just at the expense of consumers but at the expense of workers as well. The impact on employment has perhaps been both the major argument for and against privatization with advocates arguing that only through privatization can unproductive workers be shed, and critics arguing that job cuts occur with no sensitivity to the social costs. There is, in fact, considerable truth in both positions. Privatization often turns state enterprises from losses to profits by trimming the payroll. Economists, however, are supposed to focus on overall efficiency. There are social costs associated with unemployment, which private firms simply do not take into account… privatization often destroys jobs rather than creating new ones. … In industrialized countries, the pain of layoff is acknowledged and somewhat ameliorated by the safety net of unemployment insurance. In less developed countries, the unemployed workers typically do not become a public charge, since there are seldom unemployment insurance schemes. There can be a large social cost nonetheless— manifested, in its worst forms, by urban violence, increased crime, and social and political unrest. But even in the absence of these problems, there are huge costs of unemployment. They include wide-spread anxiety even among workers who have managed to keep their jobs, a broader sense of alienation, additional financial burdens on family members who manage to remain employed, and the withdrawal of children from school to help support the family These kinds of social costs endure long past the immediate loss of a job. They are often especially apparent in the case when a firm is sold to foreigners. (who) may feel a greater obligation to their shareholders to maximize stock market value by reducing costs, and less of an obligation to what they will refer to as an "overbloated labour force." It is important to restructure state enterprises, and privatization is often an effective way to do so. But moving people from low-productivity jobs in state enterprises to unemployment does not increase a country's income, and it certainly does not increase the welfare of the workers. The moral is a simple one, and one to which I shall return repeatedly: Privatization needs to be part of a more comprehensive program, which entails creating jobs in tandem with the inevitable job destruction that privatization often entails. Macroeconomic policies, including low interest rates, that help create jobs, have to be put in place. Timing (and sequencing) is everything. These are not just issues of pragmatics, of “implementation”: theses are issues of principle. … From Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz page 56-57 18 juin 中国货涨价 美国人紧张中国货涨价 美国人紧张 | |
| 万维读者网 2006-06-17 16:16:41 |
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万维读者网上官天乙综合香港文汇报报道:长久以来,无论是对华的巨额贸易逆差,还是俄亥俄州一家纺织工厂的倒闭,都会让美国把矛头对准「中国制造」。美国人一边享受著价廉物美的中国货带来的好处,一边痛恨著这种「便宜」。然而,到有一天中国商品真的涨价了,美国人又会变得紧张不安起来。 北京专家表示,其实,「美国因素」是造成中国货涨价的重要原因,而这通过连锁反应影响到美国市场,是美国人「自食恶果」。 据环球时报消息,今年6月,美国《国际先驱论坛报》发表了一篇题为《中国成本上升将影响美国》的文章。文章称,由于中国国内工资不断提高、环保要求日益严格、原材料价格上涨等因素的影响,中国的生产成本正在上升,导致中国出口的商品,如服装、玩具、电子及其他产品的价格呈现出上涨趋势,这已经引起了经济学家、制造商和贸易商的普遍担心。 图片:「中国制造」的鞋子物美价又廉。 不过,对中国商品价格上涨最为忧虑的是普通消费者,因为「中国制造」已经融入了美国人日常生活的方方面面。记者在美国生活的这几年里,深切感受到廉价中国货给美国老百姓带来的实惠,像沃尔玛、山姆士等大型连锁超市里,80%以上的商品都来自中国,类似服装、家电、日用品等几乎全部是「中国造」。一位从事中美贸易的进口商莫娜对记者分析说,如果中国出口商品价格涨幅超过20%,那么,拉美及东南亚的商品可能挤占中国商品的份额。这不仅使零售商利润缩小,更让消费者口袋缩水。 到目前为止,美国市场上的中国商品价格还没有出现大幅度上扬。莫娜表示,这是因为大部分生产商自行承担了成本上升所带来的损失,而没有将之转移到价格上。位于宾夕法尼亚州哈里斯堡的泰科国际公司发言人迈克说,泰科电子在中国的劳动成本今年将继续上升,他们只有靠扩大生产量、不断推出新产品来弥补成本增加。位于北京的美国商会成员中,有近一半的人表示中国劳动力成本上升让他们蒙受损失,但很多公司为了不丢失市场,宁愿将利润缩小,也不愿将上升的成本转嫁给消费者。专门为美欧公司从亚洲挑选进口商品的Alvarez&Marsal咨询公司总裁理查德坦言,「一些公司抱怨说,如果他们的产品再不涨价,他们就撑不下去了。」 英国金融时报报道称,在截至今年4月的前12个月里,欧盟进口商品价格上涨了6.2%,创下了10年来的最大涨幅。而根据中国央行的数据,去年中国出口商品价格上涨了8.7%,是2004年价格涨幅的2倍。人们担心,中国带来的低成本商品时代可能一去不复返了。 中国商品价格上升对于美国、欧洲的央行来说,也不是一件乐于见到的事情。汇丰银行的约翰·巴特勒说,「通货膨胀之所以一直能够保持低水平,是因为一直有廉价的进口商品。」而香港摩根史丹利首席亚洲经济师谢安迪认为,成本的升高将使中国商品的价格上涨30%,同时使美国的通胀水平增加0.5个百分点,全球通胀率增加0.7个百分点。目前,全球都在警惕通货膨胀的到来,上周,包括欧盟在内的7家央行不约而同地提高了利率。 美国生活中的「made in China」 《今日美国报》曾经描述了美国人一天的生活,最后发现美国人的生活已经离不开「中国制造」。它按照从清晨到熄灯前的顺序描述了美国人一天的生活:「清晨六时,闹钟铃响,闹钟底部有「中国制造」字样。美国1/3以上的各类型进口钟,几乎都来自中国内地。六时十分,上洗手间,有塑胶遮帘;量体重,有「健康牌」磅秤;做头发,有卷发器及吹风机,都是中国制造。上午七时,走进厨房,咖啡壶和茶壶可能来自中国,每个陶瓷餐盘都可能是中国造。七时三十分,著装,美国17%的进口成衣来自中国内地。八时,上班路上,许多人要使用大哥大(移动电话)。美国27%的进口手机来自中国内地。九时,进办公室,台灯有五成可能是中国的,掌中型电脑万用手册、精工牌英文拼字校正机、记事本及电话簿、塑料相框、木制书框、拆订书针的小文具,防止跳电的装置等,中国制产品随处可见。……熄灯前:床头灯和台灯一样,有五成可能来自中国。47%的吊灯来自中国。睡前,自然还得先调好那只中国制造的闹钟。」 另据美国《基督教科学箴言报》消息,在美国,标有「中国制造」的货品充斥著大大小小的市场:玩具,小玩意或童鞋。对于最重要的圣诞节,屋里的电视机,网球鞋,圣诞树彩灯,洋娃娃都成功地将圣诞变成了中国人制造的节日。 美国的一个家庭就作出了长达一年试验性的抵制。这位美国主妇决心自己及家庭成员都不再购进任何中国制造的产品,以此试验中国到底在多大程度上渗进了自己的家庭生活,并试图发现如果放弃使用中国产品所需要花费的时间金钱和因此带来的不便。 美国的各种节日,「中国制造」担任主角。图为洛杉矶商店在出售「made in China」的万圣节商品。 最初,她花了60美元给儿子买了一双意大利的运动鞋。在为如此奢侈买一双童鞋而心疼之后,她又花了60美元给蹒跚学步的小女儿买了一双德克萨斯州制的鞋子。随后是更多的麻烦:她开车去了6家杂货店都没有买到蜡烛为丈夫庆祝生日,最终不得不用厨房内一盒落满灰尘的蜡烛将就;她丈夫因找不到非中国制造的工具而一直无法修理抽屉。最让他们为难的是中国制造的玩具,他们长时间得不到中国玩具的儿子发起了反抵制行动,哭著纠缠他们要一个电动的紫色南瓜玩具。 一年的试验得出的结论是:没有中国产品的生活一团糟。 同样的情况也出现在法国,法国《费加罗报》称,圣诞老人的背袋里装满了中国货。其中最热卖的商品之一芭比娃娃(barbie)就是来自于中国。不仅如此,法国出售的玩具有80%来自进口,其中绝大多数来自亚洲,中国大陆就是其最大的制造商之一。 中国商务部副部长廖晓淇曾在去年底指出,长期以来,中国向美国出口商品,在促进中国的发展和满足了美国市场需要的同时,还节省了美国民众的开支。美国企业由此赚取了巨大的利润,2004年中国就为美国创造了400万到800万个工作岗位。摩根史丹利的报告显示,过去10年中国质优价廉的商品使美国消费者节省了6,000多亿美元(约46,800亿港币),仅2004年就省了1,000亿美元(约7,800亿港币)。其中仅童装一项,美国年轻的父母因购买中国的商品就节省了4亿美元(约31.2亿港币)。 专家:「美国因素」是涨价主因 中国社会科学院美国研究所著名专家洪源表示,中国商品涨价是多方面综合因素的结果,首先是源自劳动力成本的提高,中国沿海外向型企业的劳动力成本在改革开放后的20多年几乎没有上涨,目前劳动力成本的提高是非常正常的。其次,中国制造商品主要是进行来料加工,而国际原料如有色金属、石油、化工制品价格的不断上涨以及航运、路上运输等成本的提高推动了产品价格的上涨。 然而,洪源更指出,事实上,造成中国货涨价最重要的原因则是「美国因素」。资本主义发展要经历商品竞争、产业垄断,然后进入金融霸权阶段,美国现在就处于金融霸权阶段,他利用美元来向世界各国「吸血」。中国出口长期以来都是以换汇创汇为目的,追随美元,利润较低,美国对人民币不断施压,人民币也实现浮动和升值,这导致中国货涨价也是必然的。而国际原材料价格的上涨也与「美国因素」密不可分。 洪源说,随著全球经济一体化的不断发展,特别是中美之间的经济、政治关系的紧密度不断加强,中美的经济联系是连锁的、环环相扣的,美国因素推动了中国产品涨价,现在又影响到美国市场,这是一种必然的因果关系,美国在利用美元的金融霸权得到利益的同时,负面效应也是应该接受的,这也是他「自食恶果」。 谈及中国货涨价对出口的影响,洪源认为,以往的出口有点「杀鸡取卵」,8亿双袜子的出口才能换回一架波音飞机,这是不可取的。今后中国出口应该一方面不断提高技术含量,促进产业升级,同时还应著力开发内向型经济,并实现出口市场多元化。 15 juin Judging Apple Sweatshop Chargehttp://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71138-0.html?tw=wn_index_3 http://www.popyard.com/cgi-mod/npost.cgi?num=93186&r=0
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