U.S. Foreign Direct Investment in the London Legal Market: An Empirical Analysis

This article examines the nature and timing of U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in the London legal market. Evidence from a survey of thirty–eight U.S. subsidiaries suggests that FDI has taken place primarily to serve U.S. clients located within the United Kingdom. The evidence also suggests that early investors (pre–1990) belong to a core group of multinational companies with headquarters located in first–tier U.S. cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles). Later investors more typically hail from smaller cities. The evidence reveals a number of important differences between early versus late investors. Specifically, subsidiaries that were established prior to 1990 are more likely to enjoy local decision–making autonomy than are their counterparts that entered the London market more recently. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the survey findings for future research on FDI in professional services.     

South Africa in GEAR: ‘A better life for all’ or a zero-sum game of globalization?

State conduct of commerce with the rest of the world has always been important, rather than determinant, to domestic capacity to generate and distribute output and income. Theoretically, engagements of world commerce have included protectionism, inward-looking strategies, integration for interdependence, insertion for dependence, openness to imports and free trade regimes. For erstwhile colonies in Africa, the trajectory of engagement has seemed to be predetermined due to colonial-formation of their economies. As the model of evolution of Africa's external relations demonstrates, states in that continent have been inserted into the global system for dependent extraversion and adjustments. Attempts at trade and market liberalisation there have perpetuated openness to imports. Given that state of affairs, states in that continent have been eroded of capacity of domesticating globalisation for local socio-economic transformation. From a political-economy perspective, the paper views South Africa's Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy as an instrument of appropriation that is set to perpetuate that country's dependent extraversion and openness to imports. The paper uses the balance of payments to demonstrate that country's poor state of commerce with the rest of the world. It argues that as external trade and capital flows and investments, which are shaped through domestic economic policy, affect in return domestic capacity of transforming the structures of deprivation, GEAR has inaugurated a zero-sum game of globalisation, rather than `a better life for all'. We analyse several indicators of economic performance and social wellbeing to demonstrate the paradoxical operations and Janus-faced tendencies of globalisation and the attendant lack of transformation of structures of deprivation in South Africa. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY

Published evidence suggests that American geographers largely ignore foreign languages in their professional activities. Trends in the whole educational system, weakened graduate requirements and the cultural isolationism of the Anglo-Saxon world explain the weak language competency of the discipline in the U.S. American geography cannot contribute to the gamut of sound international knowledge while this situation persists.     

印尼苏门答腊岛地体划分及其区域成矿背景

根据不同地层系统、沉积古地理、古生物地理区系、岩浆旋回等特征,可将苏门答腊岛划分为2类异地地体:东苏门答腊地体(亲冈瓦纳地体)和西苏门答腊地体(亲华夏地体)。2个不同地体的古地理演化和板块构造运动规律控制了区域金属矿床分布。海西期—印支期金属矿床的形成和分布受控于大陆边缘的火山弧,而燕山期则和裂谷岩浆侵入活动和海底扩张(或地幔隆起)有关。新生代金—银金属矿床沿苏门答腊—巴厘散大断裂两侧成带分布,受控于陆缘火山弧的岩浆活动。     

贸易距离与“出口企业生产率之谜”——基于贸易方式和所有权的分析

在中国的出口部门中,低生产率企业的自发出口行为与异质企业贸易理论不符。以贸易距离作为企业出口成本的代理变量,将所有权结构和贸易方式引入标准的异质企业贸易模型研究该"悖论"。大量"纯出口企业"是造成该悖论的主要原因,该类企业贸易距离低于一般出口企业,且大量存在于加工贸易部门和外资企业。从事加工贸易的企业通常只负责产品的生产、加工或组装,存在事前的销售渠道,而外资企业同样存在事前的销售经历,即这2类企业的出口贸易距离均由于自身的异质性特征而被缩短,在此条件下,出口成为低生产率企业的自发选择。提高企业自主创新能力、加大研发投入是中国加工贸易企业转型的必然途径。     

外经贸统计分析系统的设计与开发

以人工处理为主的外经贸传统管理方式难以满足需要,加快外经贸行业的信息化建设势在必行。外经贸本文根据外经贸数据的空间特征,在分析系统建设目标、功能和数据的基础上,设计并实现了基于GIS的外经贸统计分析系统,重点介绍了该系统的体系结构、功能和开发实现,最后对系统的关键问题进行了研究。     

外资银行在中国的区位选择

金融业渐进式准入制度直接影响外资银行进入中国市场.伴随改革开放进程,外资银行最初聚集于经济特区和北京,进而扩散到上海、天津、大连和广州,以致于中西部城市,如重庆、成都和西安.外资银行的分行支行尤为聚集于珠三角、长三角和京津等经济发达地区,代表处则偏好聚集于北京和上海.条件逻辑模犁统计结果表明,外资银行所有权优势、内部化优势和中国城市的区位优势,尤其是制度优势和银行业规模经济优势共同影响外资银行分支机构在中国的区位选择.外资银行尤为偏好金融规模效应显著、对外资银行准入管制较少的贸易型城市,央行总部及其区域性分行所在城市也是外资银行偏好的区位.由于代表处与分行或支行的功能差异,两者的区位行为存在一定不同.     

1965年以来我国对外贸易及其 地域格局的演变态势

本文总结了我国不同尺度地域单元近40年不同阶段对外贸易总量增长、对外依存度不断提高的基本特点及其地域格局演变的基本态势,分析了出口商品结构变化的基本趋势,并初步探讨了我国对外贸易特点及其地域格局形成的基本成因。研究发现:(1)从时间尺度看,40年来,我国不同尺度的不同区域对外贸易总量和对外依存度均呈长期增长态势,外贸年均增长速度长期高于GDP年均增长速度;(2)从空间尺度看,东、中、西地带对外贸易的区域差异格局没有根本改变,相反中、西地带的相对地位随着市场经济的发展呈下降趋势。我国进/出口位居前四位的省市绝大部分位于东部地区,随着市场经济的进一步发展,呈现出由北向南演变的趋势。在国际上,我国对亚洲的进/出口占绝对优势,但相对地位逐渐下降。     

“一带一路”沿线国家政治-经济-社会风险综合评估及防控

开展“一带一路”沿线国家的风险评估对“五通”目标的实现和“走出去”战略具有重要意义。基于政治、经济和社会三个维度18个指标构建评价体系,对“一带一路”沿线74个国家的综合风险进行评估和排序,运用空间自相关、冷热点分析等剖析了2001—2016年不同风险的时空演变特征,并提出风险防控建议。结果表明：① 2001—2016年,“一带一路”沿线国家综合风险整体呈下降趋势,政治风险变化幅度较小,经济风险经历了“下降-上升-再下降-再上升”的演变过程,社会风险总体呈下降趋势,综合风险波动剧烈的国家主要集中在西亚、欧洲和东南亚;② 2001—2016年,“一带一路”沿线国家政治、经济、社会风险均存在显著的集聚性和区域差异性,高危险和较危险等级国家主要分布在北非、中亚、西亚、南亚和东南亚;③ 政治、经济和社会3个风险子系统存在较显著的相关性,政治风险高的国家往往伴随着较高的经济和社会风险;④ 中国对“一带一路”部分国家的投资存在投资量大与风险等级高并存的“投资悖论”现象。未来应从政府和企业两个层面共同努力,建立动态评级和预警机制,做好风险防控,逐步打造“一带一路”利益共同体、责任共同体和命运共同体。