Institute of Development Studies

Projects and Outputs

Below is the IDS Globalisation Team's list of current and past research projects and outputs grouped under three themes:

• global economic integration
• global restructuring
• crisis as usual or opportunity for different growth paths?

Global Economic Integration Projects

• Partnering for Better Food - This project aims to identify and support scalable public-private innovative partnerships in developing countries that bridge the gaps between agriculture and nutrition programmes to improve nutrition for the poor and undernourished. (Ongoing)
• What are the Effects of Free Trade Zones on Employment and Wages? - Systematic review funded by 3ie to look at the existing evidence on what the effects of free trade zones on employment and wages (Ongoing)
• What is the Evidence of the Impact of Tariff Reductions on Employment and Fiscal Revenue in Developing Countries? - The team intends to address the question 'What is the evidence of the impacts of new trade deals on fiscal revenues and job creation in low-income countries? (Ongoing)
• Challenging the Investment Climate Paradigm: Governance and Growth in Vietnam - This project examines a key assumption which underlies one of the main approaches to poverty reduction currently advocated and practised by many international development agencies. (Ongoing)
• Fossil Fuel Prices and Taxes, and Their Effects on Economic Development and Income Distribution in Viet Nam - The project aimed to explore the short and long run impacts of imposing additional fossil fuel taxes and removing respective existing subsidies on the Vietnamese economy. (2011 - 2011)
• Analysing the Effects from Non Tariff Measures (NTM) in the Global Agri-Food Trade - The project's objective is to collect and analyse new data on non-tariff measures, particularly on governmental standards and regulations that prescribe the conditions for importing agri-food products into the EU market and into the markets of the main competing players. (2009 - 2011)
• Firm Behaviour and the Introduction of New Products: Evidence using a Firm Micro Data Set in Brazil - The objective of this research is to contribute to the understanding of one of the most important processes required for achieving sustained economic growth in emerging and developing countries: the process of product and export diversification. (2010 - 2011)
• Review of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) - This project reviews the effectiveness of the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) at fostering exports from developing countries to the EU. (2009 - 2010)
• Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) Review - A general review of the negotiating process and costs of EPAs and their impact on development. (2009 - 2010)
• The Level of Sophistication and Technological Content of African Exports. Does Africa Benefit from South-South Trade? - (2011 - 2011)
• Measuring the Impact of Better Local Governance in Indonesia - This study addresses the extent to which the quality of economic governance at the district level enhances the economic performance of Indonesia's decentralised districts. (2009 - 2009)
• Data Systems and Economywide Modeling to Support Policy Analysis in Ethiopia - This project aims to create and strengthen analytical and practical capacity of policy analysis in Ethiopia and to support the government in its endeavours to meet the challenges of the MDGs. (2005 - 2008)
• Revenue Impact Analysis of Angola's Integration into the SADC Free Trade Area - This study aimed to forecast the effects of Angola's integration into the SADC Free Trade Area and into a full SADC Customs Union on the country's indirect tax revenue. (2008 - 2008)
• The Impact of Trade Policies on Pakistan's Preferential Access to the European Union - This study looked at the impact of trade policies on Pakistan's preferential access to the EU and on Pakistan's overall trade performance. (2008 - 2008)
• Assessing the Impact of the Cariforum Economic Partnership Agreement - The study analysed the trade and welfare implications of the Cariforum Economic Partnership Agreement using a multi-regional computable general equilibrium model as well as a single-region general equilibrium model of Jamaica. (2008 - 2008)
• The Political Economy of the Investment Climate in Indonesia - This project examined some of the factors that contribute to better local governance and economic performance, focusing on district-level variations. (2007 - 2008)
• The Impact of Trade on Employment and Income in Brazil - A contribution to an analysis of the impact of prospective changes in the multilateral and regional trade environment on employment and income in Brazil. (2007 - 2008)
• SMEs, Multinational Value Chains and 'Pro-poor' Policies Review - This review examined a range of donor initiatives that adopted a value chain aproach as part of their policy package for promoting the growth of small and medium enterprises. (2006 - 2008)
• Economic Integration and External Shocks: Modeling Outcomes for India - Studying the impact of trade policy changes and other changes in the international economic environment. (2006 - 2007)
• Global Value Chains and Standards in Horticulture and Aquaculture - An examination of the policy responses to new challenges for producers of food products in East Africa and South-East Asia. (2005 - 2007)
• Comparison of Upgrading in Global and National Value Chains - An analysis of whether firms in the Southern Brazilian clusters of the Sinos Valley (footwear) and the Serra Gaucha (furniture) show different patterns of industrial upgrading according to the global and national value chains they feed into. (2003 - 2006)
• Codes and Standards and Development Finance - Using case studies of Brazil and India, this work looked at the impact on development finance of compliance with international codes and standards. (2004 - 2005)
• Clusters in the Global Economy - While the debate on industrial clusters and local innovation systems was mainly concerned with local linkages, this work examined global linkages and how they affected local relationships. (1999 - 2002)

Global Restructuring Projects

• China's Role in Africa: Implications for Governance and Development in Fragile States - (Ongoing)
• Technological Trajectories for Climate Change Mitigation in China, Europe and India - This research project addresses the questions of how and why the emerging trajectories for climate change mitigation technologies in China, Europe and India differ and derives implications for strategies of international cooperation and competition at the enterprise and government level. (Ongoing)
• Strengthening the Capacity of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China for South-South Cooperation - This project, funded by the Chinese Government's Ministry Of Commerce, is aimed at addressing how IDA is given to developing countries (particularly Africa) and if there are ways of improving China's development assistance to create opportunities for independent development. (Ongoing)
• Understanding Chinese Investment and its Impacts in East Africa - China's engagement with Africa has continued to attract much attention across the world. A debate has formed about the benefits of this engagement on Africa's development. This project aims to identify and evaluate the implications of Chinese FDI on African development. (Ongoing)
• Systematic Review of Private Participation in Infrastructure - The purpose of this review is to inform Development Finance Institution (DFI) policy so as to improve the development outcomes resulting from their engagement in the infrastructure sectors of low income countries. (2010 - 2011)
• European Development Co-operation to 2020 - Multi-institutional study of the challenges for European development cooperation in the period up to 2020. IDS research will focus on new actors in international development. (2008 - 2011)
• The Impact of Emerging Power: China-EU Cooperation and Global Governance - This three-institution network focuses on three global governance areas: climate change/energy, innovation and low carbon development, and development cooperation. (2009 - 2011)
• The Politics of Investment and Growth - How, in the political and institutional environments typical of poor countries, can governments and other state actors achieve substantial increases in productive private investment? (2005 - 2010)
• Global Brands from China? - A comparative study of the acquisition of branding capabilities in domestic and global value chains. (Ongoing)
• China's Private Sector Investment and the Investment Climate in Africa - Based on extensive fieldwork interviews in China and Africa, this project examines the role of Chinese private enterprises in Africa. (2007 - 2009)
• China-Africa Development Prospects and Perspectives - The study aimed to generate knowledge on what is the best way that Africa can benefit from China's strong economic engagement with the continent. (2009 - 2009)
• DFID Country Programme Evaluation - Evaluation of DFID China Programme - An evaluation of DFID's China Country Programme, assessing the country strategy, links to poverty outcomes and DFID's corporate objectives. (2009 - 2009)
• Changing Knowledge Divide in the Global Economy - The question driving this project was how the 'organisational decomposition of the innovation process' (ODIP) changes the global distribution of innovation activities. (2006 - 2009)
• Outsourcing and Innovation in the Indian Software Industry - This research investigated whether the capabilities associated with the basic 'production' of software had led to increasing 'innovation' capabilities after the turn of the millennium. (2006 - 2008)
• Impact of Asian Drivers on Sub-Saharan Africa - This project looked at the impact of China's growing exports of manufactures on industrialisation in Sub-Saharan Africa. (2005 - 2005)

Global Crisis Projects

• Global Food Price Scenarios Towards 2030 With a Global Multi-Region Model - This research project contributed to Oxfam’s report and used a global multi-region model to explore a range of dynamic scenarios for the evolution of global food production, prices and trade towards 2030. (2011 - 2011)
• Cost Benefit Analysis - Livelihoods Centred Disaster Risk Reduction - A systematic cost-benefit analysis of a community-based disaster risk management project led by Practical Action in two districts of Nepal over the period 2007 to 2010. (2011 - 2011)
• Assessing the Tobin Tax - The current financial crisis has stirred up an old debate about whether it might make sense to impose a Tobin Tax, either on foreign exchange transactions or on all financial transactions. (2009 - 2011)
• Economic Modeling of Climate Change Adaptation: Case Studies for Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana - This project involves a case-study approach to develop an economywide modeling framework for comparative analysis of climate change adaptation strategies linked to impact models. (2009 - 2010)
• Income Distribution and Food Demand - This review will produce a state-of-the-art paper on the link between food demand and income distribution. (2009 - 2010)
• The Micro-Economics of the Crisis: Identifying the Vulnerable from National Quantitative Data - IDS has already conducted a qualitative analysis of the social impact of the crisis in five countries. This research project aims to use the results from a new round of qualitative research to inform detailed quantitative analysis of existing nationally representative quantitative surveys in two countries. (2009 - 2010)
• Updating Economic Partnership Agreements to Today's Global Challenges - This project contributed to a critical review of Economic Partnership Agreements. (2009 - 2009)
• Reforming the International Financial System: Narratives from the South - This project mapped how the financial crisis shifted existing geopolitical relationships by looking at the new large G20 players and non-G20 developing countries. (2008 - 2009)
• The Financial Crisis and China: Implications for Low Income Countries - This project looked at how the actions that China is taking in response to crisis might affect its interests in and relations with other low income economies. (2008 - 2009)
• The Impact of the Crisis on Trade Credit - An examination of whether or not exporters in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing a decline in trade credit. (2008 - 2009)
• The Impact of the Crisis on World Prices and Trade - This project used a global trade model to gauge the impact of a slowdown in economic activity in the OECD on trade performance, world prices and aggregate welfare in the rest of the world. (2008 - 2009)
• Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Ethiopia - Pilot project to develop a dynamic multisectoral modelling framework for climate change impact and adaptation policy assessment. (2008 - 2008)
• Vulnerability to Crises and MDGs - This project examined possible current vulnerabilities to financial crises in the Asian region, and made suggestions for how they could be diminished. (2006 - 2007)
• International Architecture for Economic Shock Financing - This project examined the international architecture of economic shock financing and provided some recommendations for a better shock financing architecture. (2005 - 2006)