Part One of this work examines the UK steel industry within the European Community trade regulations to establish the UK's position in this area and to see how and if the UK steel industry might evolve. Largely, the work consists of a readable and sensible analysis of the primary information in case-law and Statutes and Conventions and Trade Agreements in the context of world politics and world economics. Part Two presents a realistic and comprehensive snapshot of the international trade situation with particular reference to the UK.
`...as an up-to-date and intelligible an account of large areas of British industry as you will find...It will be a valuable handbook for a variety of users: students and teachers(its prijmary audience), businessmen or coivil servants.' British Business
This paper focuses on the sluggish growth of world trade relative to income growth in recent years. The analysis uses an empirical strategy based on an error correction model to assess whether the global trade slowdown is structural or cyclical. An estimate of the relationship between trade and income in the past four decades reveals that the long-term trade elasticity rose sharply in the 1990s, but declined significantly in the 2000s even before the global financial crisis. These results suggest that trade is growing slowly not only because of slow growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also because of a structural change in the trade-GDP relationship in recent years. The available evidence suggests that the explanation may lie in the slowing pace of international vertical specialization rather than increasing protection or the changing composition of trade and GDP.
Steel is the foundational material of modern civilization and constitutes the core of industry, and yet, it is overproduced across the world. This supply glut is reducing margins and turning steel into a sunset industry. Steel consumes as much as four times the amount of raw materials as its produced volume, and the sheer bulk of the steel makes it costly to transport. Because of this, countries prefer to make their own rather than to source it across land and sea. The Indian steel industry has grown from being the tenth largest steel producer in the world in 1991 to emerging as the second largest, after China. This book aims to reveal, through data and the use of simple economic concepts, the mistakes that abound in the discourses surrounding the steel industry. Its main objective is to dispel the many myths that are perpetuated by policy makers and the industry in order to benefit a small coterie of large firms, and discusses how through such favours the Indian steel industry is set to lose out in terms of margins, products and growth in technology. It covers the unique role of the Indian state in the development of the broad base of steel production, and observes the change in the direction in policy, which reverses the economic equality of the past and promotes collusion among oligopolies leading to overexpansion in capacities. Economics of the Indian Steel Industry will be of interest to students of industrial economics and corporate strategy, as well as financial managers and policy makers.
Originally published in 1989. The international steel industry suffered a major decline after the onset of world recession in 1973, perhaps suffering more plant closures and job losses than any other sector. This book analyses the decline, surveying the various factors which have contributed to it, such as changing production strategies, changes in demand and world trade and changing regional production trends. It goes on to examine the impact of decline on steel-making communities, considering the various local, national and international initiatives to assist the affected areas and the way these initiatives have been devised and implemented. The authors conclude that none of these policies has satisfactorily resolved the crisis in the old steel producing areas and that a major crisis in these areas continues. Finally they discuss the social and political options open to these localities for the future.
This volume is contemporary in focus, and explores key issues in current debates concerning international trade policy. The contributors are leading economists and political economists from Britain, Europe, the United States and Japan.
This new and extensively updated edition of Introducing Employment Relations draws on the most up-to-date research and contemporary examples to help students develop their knowledge, understanding and critical assessment of the main issues relating to employment relations. Essential reading for undergraduates and postgraduates studying employment relations, human resource management, and business studies, Introducing Employment Relations contains a wealth of features designed to prompt students to critically reflect on how employment relations are regulated, experienced, and contested by organizations and employees; collectively or individually. Facilitating learning and prompting lively debates, such features include case studies, reflective segments, international perspectives, insights into practice, summary points, and end-of-chapter assignment and discussion questions. Whilst maintaining a critical focus to draw out the contemporary debates surrounding employment relations, this text is written in a lively, engaging and accessible style. This book is supported by a range of online resources, including: For students: Annotated web links Web case studies Updates to content relating to legislation, research, or policy Video links For lecturers: PowerPoint slides Case study guide A guide to end-of-chapter questions A guide to web cases
