Article
A Regionalization or Long-Distance Trade? Transformations and Shifts in the Role of Tana in the Black Sea Trade in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century
The Italian trading stations in Tana were important in the system of long-distance trade of the Italian maritime republics Venice and Genoa. The deeds of two Venetian notaries (Nicolo de Varsis and Benedetto de Smeritis) who worked there during the 1430s are an important source for tracing the transformation of the issues and directions of the Italian trade in the Black Sea region, the trade, which was recovering from crisis of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the Venetian-Genoese struggle and previous crisis events, this recovery made the economic conditions favorable.
Although some scholars see a regionalization of trade in fifteenth century, the source evidence challenges this interpretation. Westerners began to import Italian, Flemish, and English textiles to the Eastern markets, and the local goods (fish, caviar) were widely exported to Europe (even to the markets of Flanders). Finally, the slave trade was intensive. My main argument here is that though there were considerable transformations in the Italian trade, there was no real regionalization of trade, which retained its long-distance character.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) is one of the key platforms of the multilateral dialogue on global agenda issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Notwithstanding its regional character, the annual APEC leaders` summits significance is comparable with that of the key global governance institutions, such as the G8 and G20, summits. With increasing integration and enhanced economic relationships as well as established interaction pattern the APEC influence on regional and global economic agenda is growing. In spite of the fact that APEC initially positioned itself as a “free group of economics” not a political association, the member states step-by-step turn to the most acute worldwide political issues, which is reflected in the leaders` statements made during the summit. The analysis of the APEC 2013 summit which was held within the Indonesian presidency on 7-8 October 2013 on Bali provides an insight into the main drivers of the APEC agenda. Given that currently all countries face similar economic and social challenges: low and stalling economic growth, need to pursue fiscal consolidation, persistent structural unemployment, widening income disparities, base erosion and profit shifting as well as tax evasion, climate change negative consequences etc, it`s useful to analyze the measures implemented at the regional level (APEC), as well as the global level (G20). A comparison with the G20 is largely determined shared challenges and by the intersecting memberships: almost half of the members of the institutions participate in both fora, namely Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States. The recent APEC and G20 agendas aim to coordinate actions to resolve the shared problems and move towards new growth models. The analysis is based on the key summit documents - Bali Declaration “Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth”, Joint Ministerial Statement, leaders` statements and accompanying documents. The analysis permits to identify the vector of APEC agenda development.
Principles of constructing balanced system of logistic efficiency are viewed. (BSC) Basic advantages, which allow to implement management on the base of logistic BSC are shown. Methodology of calculating logistic KPI in trade company on the example of warehousing business-process, in particular consignment, completion and dispatch at distributing center of retail network is adduced.
It is shown, that key indices of activity of other subdivisions of logistic department: operational department, transport-forwarding department, control-auditorial group should also be included into logistic BSC in trade company. Designed system of indices is connected with system of motivating personnel, whilst individual rewarding for positive results is tied to completion of established standards of KPI. Examples of calculating influence of logistics on return on capital basing on model of strategic profit.
The article addresses the G20 compliance with its long-standing commitment to refrain from protectionist measures. The paper attempts to measure and compare the results of individual G20 members in different timeframes between the summits. The analysis is based on the data from the WTO reports on G20 trade and trade-related measures. The author believes that the effectiveness of G20 in this field of cooperation remains low, which is substantiated by a large number of protectionist measures adopted by the G20 members in the period between Washington summit in 2008 and Cannes summit in 2011. The publication is prepared within the framework of a joint project "Enhancing Effectiveness of Russia's Participation in G8, G20 and BRICS in Compliance with the Russian Federation National Priorities in Global Governance and Developing Recommendations for the Russian Presidency of G20 in 2013" implementing by Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and International Organisations Research Institute (IORI) of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in 2012.
The article is devoted to the trends and determinants of the transformation of Russian regions' industrial specialization during the period of economic growth. Using the methodology of statistic and econometric analysis it is tested whether the tendency of diversification dominates the tendency of regions’ industrial specialization in 1997-2004 and whether there is a convergence of Russian regions' industrial structures. The considered factors of industries' development in a particular location include the initial industrial structure, inter- and intraregional technologic links between industries, quality of investment climate, R&D potential, international competition.
The historical changes in Central and Eastern Europe demanded suitable paths for the transition from centrally planned to market based economies. The lack of relevant experience added to the challenge, giving rise to the incalculable risks of implementing untested policies. By focusing on monetary policy, trade, and convergence, this volume addresses some of the most urgent economic policy issues in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.