New Labor Dynamics of Global Public Finance System

This chapter examines the effects of structural adjustment programs designed under the supervision of IMF and World Bank on labor markets. These leading financial institutions are part of global financial system and they finance countries. In return, the countries satisfy the requirements imposed by IMF and World Bank. The requirements imposed by IMF and World Bank includes devastating measures for labor market, including privatization, deregulation of labor market, and flexibilization. There is convincing evidence that structural adjustment programs slowdown economic growth so hurts employment. Besides, the labor markets started to be constituted by unsafe work places without rules as a result of deregulations and flexibilizations. Most of the workers lost social security and workplace security. Feminization, child labor, increasing work incidents are the main severe results of the policies designed under pressure of IMF and World Bank on labor market.

Is There a Threshold Effect of Public Debt on Economic Growth?

In this chapter, the relationship between public debt and economic growth is examined for OECD countries. In order to determine this relationship, the data between 2002 and 2016 is analyzed using panel threshold regression methods. The findings of the study suggest that the relationship between public debt and economic growth is linear. The public debt threshold is estimated at 99.75% for OECD countries but it is statistically insignificant. While the public debt to GDP ratio is both below and above this threshold, the effect of public debt on economic growth is negative and statistically significant. There is no evidence of the existence of a non-linear relationship between public debt and economic growth. These findings are expected to guide policymakers in the implementation of fiscal policies.

An Investigation of the Maastricht Fiscal Criteria and the European Union's Harmonization

The Maastricht Treaty brought many innovations in the process of harmonization of the EU. This treaty, which was realized in 1993, aims to harmonize the economic, financial, legal, and political aspects of the EU members. Two basic financial criteria were identified in the financial stability and harmonization process. The first is the ratio of member countries' budget deficits to GDP. The second is the ratio of the member country's public debt to the GDP. In this chapter, it will be revealed how EU member countries are adapting to financial criteria. For this purpose, reports and statistics published by international organizations such as OECD and EU will be examined. It will be seen in many of the EU member countries can not adapt to these criteria. Especially after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, there were difficulties in adapting to these criteria. The EU Council put into effect several legal regulations in the harmonization process. Although many legal sanctions were put into effect for this purpose, success in complying with the financial criteria were not achieved.

The Impact of Globalization on External Debts

In this chapter, the answer to this question has been researched theoretically and empirically. KOF Globalization Index has been used as the measure of globalization unlike the empirical literature that explores the relationship between globalization and external debt. In the study where panel data analysis method has been used, the findings show that there is a positive relationship between KOF Globalization Index and external debt in developing countries. When it is examined from the perspective of the sub-indexes of globalization, it is seen that the economic globalization index is positively related to external debt. Social and political globalization has no effect on external debts. Impact of the control variables used in the analysis on external debts is significant and negative. From this, it can be said that general globalization and economic globalization have increased the external debt of the nations.

Global Corporate Governance in Financial Markets

In the context of globalization, there is a dire need for understanding various governance practices abroad. Good corporate governance needs to address the principles of government and public enterprise relationship and create the fundamental pillars based on which the governing board can become effective. This chapter focuses on understanding the standard practices in global corporate governance issues and problems, policy implications by considering a select country-wise analysis like Australia, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, India, UAE, etc. Hence, the chapter makes a comparative study of present corporate governance practices in selected countries.

Investigation of Robin Hood Tax in Financial Crisis Periods and Analysis of Social State Policy in Taxation

Taxes cannot be denied in order to prevent financial crises and economic crises. In times of crisis, it is sometimes possible to intervene in these periods by decreasing the existing tax rates and sometimes by applying new taxes. The Robin Hood tax is based on the idea of giving it to the poor. According to this idea, the financial sector will be taxed in times of crisis and the tax burden that countries have to bear will be reduced. Moreover, the important point here is related to the usage area of the income derived from taxation of the financial sector. These taxes will be transferred directly to the public (i.e., to the people who suffer from the crisis). Thus, the idea of transferring from the rich to the poor will take place. In this chapter, the applicability of Robin Hood tax will be determined by considering the main features of the tax, and the tax will be examined before the social state principle. In this direction, the superior aspects of the said tax will be determined, and some suggestions will be made.

Economic Development Aids as a Financial Instrument of Global Public Goods

The importance of global public goods (GPGs) is increasing every day. As a result, the concept become an important part of international policymaking. There is a huge literature on the definition and classification of GPGs, as well as the financing problems of them. GPGs are generally financed through the development aids given by international organizations and some developed countries. Literature is generally concentrated on the determination of the amount of aids devoted to different categories of GPGs, such as environment, health, peace-keeping, and knowledge. Differently from the literature, a new and more general classification is also used in this chapter. The main sectors included in the analysis are social infrastructure and services, economic infrastructure and services, production sectors, multi-sector/gross cutting, and humanitarian aid. For the first time in the literature, principal components and cluster analysis methodologies were used to determine the performance of the countries providing official development aids in this study.

Determinants and Welfare Impacts of Foreign Aids

Foreign aids are important for the development of poor countries. Therefore, in the literature, special attention is given to the analysis of foreign aids. This chapter investigates the factors affecting flow of foreign aids to developing and less developed countries and also welfare impacts on foreign aids. For this purpose, panel data on 71 countries receiving aids from Development Assistance Committee member countries are employed for the period between 1996 and 2013. The results show statistically significant impacts of real income per capita, trade openness, migration flows as a share of total population and governance measures. Moreover, although foreign aids are found to improve the welfare of receipt countries, for donor countries, results do not indicate any evidence of welfare effects. As a conclusion, the poverty, donor's interest represented by decline in migration flows, and governance quality are found to be significant determinants of foreign aid allocation.

A Discussion on Fiscal Policies Implemented in EU During and After the Great Recession

Along with the global financial crisis that took place in 2008, the ineffectiveness of other policies used for exiting from the crisis has brought back the feasibility of fiscal policy as an alternative. It is accepted that the only way to overcome the severe shrinking of the total demand during the 2008 global financial crisis is expansionary fiscal policy applied globally. However, differences in the subjective conditions of the EU member countries in particular have not made it possible to implement an expansionary fiscal policy for all of the member countries. More developed EU countries have begun to carry out from expansionary fiscal policies, while the less developed ones have begun to conduct contractionary fiscal policies. With the awareness that the financial stability is a public good, the obstacles, challenges on the global fiscal policy implementation by the EU member states are discussed by examining fiscal policies performed during and after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Relationship Between Tax Revenues and Globalization

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the potential impacts of globalization on tax revenues with reference to theoretical explanations within the context of tax and globalization. In the study, G10 country group and the data belonging to these countries between the years of 1990 and 2015 are used. In order to determine the relationships between tax revenues and globalization, cross-sectional dependency test, slope heterogeneous tests, and bootstrap panel Granger causality tests were used to understand the direction of causality between long-term coefficient estimations and variables. While the results of the long-run coefficient obtained from the study show differences according to the countries, a bi-directional causality relationship is determined between tax revenues and foreign trade. The diminishing effect of globalization found on the tax revenues of nation states considered within the scope of the study. It can be thought that these outcomes may provide some preliminary information to policymakers.