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Three new publications of our book series "Bochum Studies in International Development" are now available via the book trade:

Andreas Hahn (2010): Between Presidential Power and Legislative Veto: the impact of polity and politics on economic reforms in Brazil. – Berlin: Logos Verl. – 265 S.
ISBN 978-3-8325-2539-2

Reform success and reform delay are subject to a variety of explanations. In general, high decisiveness leads to reform propensity, while its absence, or high resoluteness, to policy-gridlock.
The Brazilian reform experience is contradicting: both aspects are present - factors leading to decisiveness as well as those inducing gridlock and reform delay. Leaving the static point of view and accounting for a dynamic development, this apparent contradiction gets resolved: in fact, the executive gained growing leeway during the 1990s, providing it with the means to achieve a higher degree of decisiveness of the political system by simultaneously guaranteeing resoluteness.
It is, however, greatly mistaken to consider this development as a blank cheque to universal, encompassing reforming in all areas. Despite growing executive dominance and growing policy consensus, some particular reforms were a success, while others did not surpass its initial stages. This is finally due to path-dependency and explicit policy-specificities, triggering different institutional constraints and veto-points, which even strong Presidents cannot override.

Kai Riewe (2010): Interdependenz wirtschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Transformation: das ökonomische Potential sozialen Kapitals am Beispiel der Russischen Föderation. – Berlin: Logos Verl. – VII, 264 S.
ISBN 978-3-8325-2598-9

Die gesellschaftliche Einbettung wirtschaftlicher Prozesse wird in volkswirtschaftlichen Untersuchungen oft nur unzureichend berücksichtigt. Die vorliegende Arbeit greift das in Soziologie und Politikwissenschaft entwickelte Forschungsprogramm "Sozialkapital" für eine Analyse aus ökonomischer Perspektive auf: Für die zentralen Bestandteile sozialen Kapitals - Netzwerke und Vertrauen - wird untersucht, welche einzel- und gesamtwirtschaftlichen Wirkungen von diesen gesellschaftlichen Phänomenen ausgehen und welchen Beitrag die Ökonomie zu deren Erklärung leistet. Gezeigt wird, dass das Sozialkapitalkonzept sich als überbrückender Ansatz zwischen den Gesellschaftswissenschaften eignet: In der Volkswirtschaftslehre ausgeblendete gesellschaftliche Eigenschaften werden dort betont. Umgekehrt kann das ökonomische Instrumentarium die Erklärung sozialen Kapitals bereichern. Deutlich wird aber auch, dass Sozialkapital nicht zwangsweise mit gesamtwirtschaftlich superioren Ergebnissen einhergeht. Das Beipiel der Russischen Föderation belegt, dass ausgeprägte Netzwerke den Transformationsprozess bremsen. Gleichzeitig verlangsamt fehlendes gesellschaftliches Vertrauen die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung.

Tobias Bidlingmaier (2010): The Influence of International Trade on Economic Growth and Distribution in Developing Countries: with a special focus on Thailand. – Berlin: Logos Verl. – IV, 151 S.
ISBN 978-3-8325-2621-4

The economies of many developing countries are becoming highly integrated into world markets. Today, trade volumes in relation to the overall size of the economy can be much higher in developing countries than in industrial ones. The question that emerges from this trend is, "What impact does international trade have on economic growth and distribution in developing countries?" In order to answer this question the present study derives empirical testable hypotheses from theoretical models thereby bridging the existing gap between theory and empirical studies. A broad range of trade variables derived from a growth model incorporating features from the new growth theories suggest "deeper" effects of trade on economic development that go beyond the standard "openness" correlations. Likewise, the simulation of a trade reform on goods and factor prices shows insightful results on welfare changes for various Thai household categories. The distributional impacts do not correspond with the simple dichotomy of the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer.