Evolution of global value-added trade networks and response to risk transmission.

To enhance the international division of labor of developing countries and scientifically respond to the risks and conflicts in the network system, it is important to examine the evolutionary characteristics of the global value-added trade network, simulate the impact of risk shocks, and propose corresponding measures. Based on UNCTAD-Eora value-added trade data, this paper measured and evaluated the evolution characteristics of the global value-added trade network from 2003 to 2018 using the social network analysis and value-added decomposition methods. Then we analyze the impact of risk shocks on the evolution of the trade network using the bootstrap percolation model, building global trade networks and proposing countermeasures. The results show that the global value-added trade network has formed a complex structure and structurally stable distribution pattern, with Germany, China, and the U.S. as the core and the most crucial supports. Among which, China's core position is mainly due to the rapid rise in its export center status. The trade benefits of the three core countries are both competitive and complementary along the "One Belt and One Road". Furthermore, simulations of bootstrap percolation model reveals that the adoption of trade protection policies (caused by poor institutional quality) by different countries will spread and diffuse non-linearly in the network, and the impacts triggered by low-centered countries are comparatively more widespread. By improving defense capabilities and changing the network structure, the "cascading" impacts of trade policy uncertainty can be reduced.

Burden of Herpes Zoster in Individuals with Immunocompromised Conditions and Autoimmune Diseases in the Republic of Korea: A Nationwide Population-Based Database Study.

INTRODUCTION: To estimate herpes zoster (HZ) incidence rate (IR) and economic burden in individuals with immunocompromised conditions and autoimmune diseases (IC/AID) in the Republic of Korea (ROK). METHODS: The nationwide Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database was used to identify HZ cases from 2016 to 2020 in ROK. HZ and non-HZ IC/AID cases were matched 1:3 using age, sex, institution, Charlson comorbidity index, IC/AID, and index date. Annual HZ IRs/1000 persons and 1-year HZ-associated all-cause direct medical costs for IC/AID cases were calculated. RESULTS: Among 65,976 individuals with IC/AID (mean age 57.14 years [standard deviation 14.1]; 64.94% female), annual HZ IR (95% confidence interval) fluctuated from 2016 to 2020, averaging 23.41/1000 persons (22.21-24.62) and was higher in women (26.85 [25.40-28.31]) than men (18.96 [18.03-19.89]). IRs were highest in individuals aged ≥ 50 years, and in those with transplants (including solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplants; 37.12 [35.45-38.79]) and hemato-oncology conditions (35.5 [31.6-39.3]). Mean 12-month all-cause direct medical costs were higher in individuals with IC/AID and HZ (4,759,671 Korean Republic won [KRW]; approximately 4046 United States dollar [USD; according to the 2020 conversion rate from UNCTAD; 1 KRW = 0.00085 USD]) than those without HZ (3,786,658 KRW; 3219 USD). CONCLUSION: Individuals with IC/AID have a substantial disease and economic burden from HZ in ROK, highlighting the need for appropriate HZ prevention measures in the IC/AID population.

Defining 'free zones': A systematic review of literature.

For decades, the notion of 'Free Zones' has remained complex and ambiguous. Despite considerable efforts in this regard, the concept of 'Free Zones' and its components have not been sufficiently explored. To further consolidate the related literature, this study conducted a literature review on the terminology of the Free Zone and its components using a systematic review method based on literature and international organizations such as the UNCTAD. This study provides needed general knowledge about the nature of Free Zones. It also presents the classifications and types of economic zones, and provides insight into what distinguishes Free Zones and economic zones from one another. Furthermore, it aggregates the Free Zone into its constituting components, concluding with insight into future research by identifying relevant challenges and gaps.

Informal creditors and sovereign debt restructuring.

A conventional view of sovereign debt restructuring suggests that costly sovereign debt restructuring is required to lower the interest rate charged on it. In the presence of a negative external shock, under certain conditions, we show that (a) debt restructuring leads to interim social welfare gains and ex ante efficiency gains, (b) participation by citizens will lead to efficient debt restructuring. Using our results, we discuss provide a normative case for the proposed UNCTAD Roadmap.

Transport equipment network analysis: the value-added contribution.

Emerging in the twenty-first century, Network Science provides practical measures to interpret a system's interactions between the components and their links. Literature has focused on countries' interconnections on the final goods, but its application on the value-added from a network perspective in trade is still imitated. This paper applies network science properties and a multi-regional input-output analysis by using the UNCTAD-Eora Global Value Chain Database on the Transport Equipment value added on 2017 to unwrap the specific structural characteristics of the industry. Results show that the industry is highly centralized. The center of the network is dominated by developed countries, mainly from Europe, the United States, and Japan. Emerging countries such as China, Mexico, Thailand, and Poland also have an important position. In addition, the structure reveals two sub-hubs located in East Europe and North America. By extending to community detection, the network consists of three different communities led by Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, associated with more significant value-added flows. The study concludes that flows are not always consistent with the economy's geographical location as usually final goods analysis suggests, and highlight the need to continue using the complex network to reveal the world trade structure.

An effective distance-based centrality approach for exploring the centrality of maritime shipping network.

Centrality has always been used in transportation networks to estimate the status and importance of a node in the networks, especially in the shipping networks. However, most of the studies only take the shipping network as an unweighted network or only considering the tie weights in the weighted networks, ignoring the truth that both the number of ties and tie weights contribute to the centrality in weighted shipping networks. Therefore, we proposed a new method combining both the number of ties and tie weights to assess the node centrality based on effective distance by integrating the studies of Opsahl et al., (2010) and Du et al., (2015). An empirical analysis of shipping network at the country level for the 21st-centrtury Maritime Silk Road (MSR) was performed. The result of correlation analysis between country's degree centrality and the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) proved the superiority of our method compared to the traditional centrality metrics. In weighted networks, both the number of ties the tie weights should be considered by adjusting the parameters. The method proposed in this study can also be used to nodes' status and importance estimation of various networks in other fields.

UNCTAD's Technical Cooperation Programme on Consumer Protection for Latin America: COMPAL.

UNCTAD's mandate is threefold. It facilitates consensus building, provides research and analysis and offers technical assistance and capacity building to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Since the 1980s, UNCTAD has been providing technical assistance and capacity building for those same countries in adopting or revising consumer protection legislation and policies, also to increase complementarity with trade and industrial policies and as a means of achieving Sustainable Development Goals. UNCTAD's COMPAL Programme has had a significant and positive impact in improving consumer protection regimes and institutions in Latin America. The EU and UNCTAD should partner in continuing and expanding COMPAL in the years to come for the benefit of Latin American and European consumers.

Trade openness and economic growth in Africa's regional economic communities: empirical evidence from ECOWAS and SADC.

In light of increasing globalisation, countries do not just open their economies to trade; some factors have to be influenced. This study analyses the relationship among trade openness and macroeconomic outlook of Africa's regional economic communities (RECs), focusing on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). The study applies the Pooled OLS, Fixed and Random Effects techniques of estimation and the Durbin-Wu Hausman test for endogeneity to categorised secondary data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) databases. The datasets are classified into three segments for comparative analysis, comprising the total, ECOWAS, and SADC datasets. The results show a positive but insignificant nexus between economic growth rate and trade openness in both the combined simulated ECOWAS and SADC and the individual REC. The results emphasise that the government and other relevant stakeholders should ensure policies are enacted and enforced to transmit the experienced economic growth into substantial trade gains and further trade openness in ECOWAS and SADC.

Barreiras fitossanitárias sobre as importações no Brasil: o caso da aveia

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a evolução da produção da aveia no Brasil e sua relação com seu comércio externo, principalmente considerando os possíveis impactos que as barreiras não tarifárias podem ter sobre a dinâmica das importações desse insumo pela economia brasileira. Para isso, além de considerar as bases de dados da aveia no mundo e no Brasil, utiliza-se como mecanismo de análise o modelo de coleta, registro e categorização adotado pela UNCTAD e que se constitui como uma das principais fontes de dados de medidas não tarifárias no mundo, o UNCTAD's Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS). A partir das informações pesquisadas nessas bases de dados, adotamos o modelo de equilíbrio parcial com elasticidade de substituição constante de Armington (EP-CES) e a estimação de tarifa equivalente que segue a abordagem do preço-diferencial ou preço-gap (price-wedge method). Os resultados dos modelos apontam para pouco efeito de uma abertura sobre a importação de aveia no Brasil, dado o nível de competitividade do produto oriundo do Brasil.

The main objective of the paper is to analyze the evolution of oat production in Brazil and its relation with its foreign trade, especially considering the possible impacts that non-tariff barriers may have on the dynamics of oats imports by the Brazilian economy. For that, in addition to considering the oat databases in the world and in Brazil, the UNCTAD model of collection, registration and categorization is used as the mechanism of analysis, which is one of the main sources of non-tariff data in the world, namely UNCTAD's Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS). From the information researched in these databases, we adopted the partial equilibrium model with constant elasticity of Armington (EP-CES) and the estimation of equivalent tariff that follows the price-wedge method. The results showed that the economic opening through elimination of the tariff greatly affects the domestic market of oats in Brazil

Strengthening Science and Technology for Health Research: Perspectives from Trade, Development, and Innovation

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> It has long been observed globally that the extent to which developing countries can achieve health targets depends on their capacity to generate, harness, and apply science and technology (S&T). Beyond the health sector, S&T contributes to development by providing a solid foundation for education, infrastructure, and economic progress. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) suggests a set of fundamental elements for an ideal S&T environment: knowledge generators, producers, infrastructures, and the policy instruments.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVES AND METHODS:</strong> Through document and secondary data review guided by the UNCTAD fundamental elements, this paper aimed to 1) provide an overview of the S&T policies in the country, 2) assess the country's S&T status, 3) identify gaps and challenges, and 4) provide recommendations to strengthen the S&T environment in the country.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The country's set of policies in S&T has succeeded in attracting businesses, nurturing good governance, and applying necessary regulatory mechanisms that offers protection and incentives to innovation. While performance in Education & Research has improved, spending on research, patent applications, and journal publications lags regionally and globally. The country's university-industry collaboration has been in decline since 2015. Between 2013 to 2015, innovations strongly enabled changes in business and organizational models. Data show that the country has been devoting increasing percentage of its GDP to Gross Capital Formation. Conversely, logistics performance has been decreasing. The country's score for information and communication technology has been increasing since 2013. Since 2014, the density of newly registered business has remained stagnant.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> Policies implemented through the years in the Philippines have managed to balance strengthening infrastructure capacity while increasing translation and uptake of new knowledge and technologies by enterprises. The country's S&T performance has remained largely stagnant despite the availability of human capital. The Philippines has devoted low funding to research and development, indicating the low priority that it has for S&T. This is manifested in the low research output of the country, in the form of patents and publications, that lags both regionally and globally. The availability of quality infrastructure is a requirement for efficient work of researchers and facilitates adaption of new technologies by enterprises. However, these developments must be coupled with good logistical processes to meet the demands of researchers and the industry</p>

Urbanization and international trade and investment policies as determinants of noncommunicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There are three dominant globalization pathways affecting noncommunicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): urbanization, trade liberalization, and investment liberalization. Urbanization carries potential health benefits due to improved access to an increased variety of food imports, although for the growing number of urban poor, this has often meant increased reliance on cheap, highly processed food commodities. Reduced barriers to trade have eased the importation of such commodities, while investment liberalization has increased corporate consolidation over global and domestic food chains. Higher profit margins on processed foods have promoted the creation of 'obesogenic' environments, which through progressively integrated global food systems have been increasingly 'exported' to developing nations. This article explores globalization processes, the food environment, and dietary health outcomes in SSA through the use of trend analyses and structural equation modelling. The findings are considered in the context of global barriers and facilitators for healthy public policy.

An index of maternal and child health in the least developed countries of Asia

Resumen En este artículo presentamos una nueva propuesta para la medición de la salud de la madre y el hijo en los países menos desarrollados de Asia. Este nuevo índice se aplica a un grupo de países especialmente afectados por la pobreza, que en la terminología de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (UNCTAD) son los más pobres de los pobres. Nuestro índice se ha elaborado atendiendo a las variables definidas en los Objetivos de la Declaración del Milenio. Para ello utilizamos el método de la distancia P2 para el año 2008, el último año de que se dispone de datos. Este índice integra variables de la salud de la madre y el hijo que permiten una ordenación territorial de los países menos desarrollados en relación con estos indicadores parciales. Este análisis resulta especialmente útil en un contexto como el de los países menos desarrollados de Asia, que se caracterizan por unas profundas desigualdades económicas y sociales (AU)

Abstract In this article, we propose a new index to measure maternal and child health in the least developed countries (LDCs) of Asia. This new index is applied to a group of countries particularly affected by poverty, which, in the terminology of the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development, are the poorest of the poor. Our index has been designed by including the variables defined in the Goals of the Millennium Declaration. For this purpose, we used the P2 distance method for 2008, the last year for which data were available. This index integrates variables of maternal and child health that allow territorial ordering of the LDCs in terms of these partial indicators. This analysis is particularly useful in a scenario such as the LDCs of Asia, which are beset by profound social and economic inequalities (AU)

The Least developed countries 2000 report

"...The UNCTAD report argues the need for a "New Deal" for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). This should be based on the understanding that more aid is a precondition for effective aid, and that effective aid is necessary for economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development. It should also be recognized that the conditions for effective aid lie not only at the national level. They also depend on the nature of the international relationships between LDCs and their development partners. The synergies between aid policy, debt relief, the international trade regime and measures to promote private capital inflows are crucial as well..." (Au)

Competitividad y medio ambiente: claros y oscuros en la industria argentina

El presente trabajo sintetiza los hallazgos principales de los estudios realizados con financiamiento del IDRC y la UNCTAD que aparecen en Chudnovsky et al. 1996 y en Chudnovsky, Chidiak y Lugones, 1995

Competitividad y medio ambiente: claros y oscuros en la industria argentina

El presente trabajo sintetiza los hallazgos principales de los estudios realizados con financiamiento del IDRC y la UNCTAD que aparecen en Chudnovsky et al. 1996 y en Chudnovsky, Chidiak y Lugones, 1995

El turismo de salud en Colombia / Health tourism in Colombia

Investigación conjunta OPS/UNCTAD, cuenta con la financiación del Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Colombia. Felipe Salazar Santo, STC

Rich countries and poor countries revisited.

PIP: A sharp divergence of views between developed and developing countries on the problems of development has resulted in an increasingly open politicization of world economic issues. Related to this has been a manifest subordination of specific population and development issues to the political call for a new economic order viewed as a panacea to all problems. The basic facts and figures show that the world economic scene at the time of the 5th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was even gloomier in many ways than a decade before. The debate which resulted from confrontation between the developed and developing countries at this conference is reviewed and an assessment is made of the impact of the confrontation. The failure of UNCTAD 5 to produce a joint resolution of consensus about an evaluation of the world economic situation at the end of the 1970s was reflected in the reluctance of the majority to come to grips with several issues, including the interrelationship of population problems and economic development. Since the 1970 World Population Conference at Bucharest many developing countries refuse to consider their populations as: 1) being a cause of their underdevelopment; 2) being at the same level of acuteness as their economic struggle; and 3) being international problems that require a pooling of efforts in the way they feel their fight for more economic justice does. The insistence of the wealthy countries on linking the economic problems of the poor to high rates of population growth and in general the way in which developing countries perceive themselves to be manipulated by developed countries has resulted in a determination by the poorer nations to maintain a separation between the areas of population and development, and to avoid discussing the former at a world meeting devoted to the latter.^ieng