Entrepôt for Chinese Consumer Goods in Central Asia: The Puzzle of Re-exports through Kyrgyz Bazaars

Relying on mirror foreign trade statistics and their reconciliation with official data on balance of payments, two economists demonstrate the important role of bazaars as major conduits of trade in Central Asia, and particularly of Kyrgyz bazaars for the entry of Chinese consumer goods into the region. The authors estimate that in recent years up to three quarters of the goods imported by Kyrgyzstan have been unofficially re-exported to other Central Asian countries, generating substantial income for the Kyrgyz economy. A concluding section explores the implications of the re-export trade for Kyrgyzstan (e.g., positive spillovers for domestic light industry) as well as the potential emergence of new competitors (e.g., Kazakhstan).     

From foodways to intangible heritage: a case study of Chinese culinary resource,retail and recipe in Hong Kong

Chinese foodways is a complex mix of regional elements including a wide range of ingredients and culinary skills, and is considered a system of knowledge not only inherited from the past but also determined by socio-political changes in different eras. Even though great differences can be found between northern and southern ingredients and culinary skills, there are common characteristics shared among cuisines in various regions through internal migration as well as importation of ingredients and cooking skills. Apart from studying Chinese foodways as regional traditions in the historical context, we should look at it as intangible heritage from the socio-political perspectives regarding the current debate on cultural preservation. In this article, I aim to investigate Chinese foodways related to heritage preservation focusing on culinary resource in agricultural and cultivation system, wholesale/retail trade network and family recipe, in order to have a better understanding of food heritage in the fast-changing Hong Kong society. With the three cases provided, I would draw attention to the paradox of defining heritage for preservation and the dilemma of whether we should preserve traditional foodways that have been modified for market interest as they are discredited for loss of authenticity.     

Free Trade Agreements and the Neo-Liberal Economic Paradigm: Economic,Ecological, and Moral Consequences

Abstract

Since signing and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the early 1990s, the United States has pursued other free trade agreements with nations in Latin America and Asia. The premise undergirding FTAs is that trade liberalization within the neo-liberal global economy produces economic growth and development among all parties, and reduces poverty in poor nations. We examine arguments of proponents of free trade and the neo-liberal economy— particularly those of Martin Wolf, author of Why Globalization Works— to test these claims. We explore alternatives that center on norms of ecological sustainability and social justice, holding these two as inseparable. The central moral question of how to achieve needed socioeconomic development in the Global South in ways that are both ecologically sustainable and socially just frames our analysis. We conclude by proposing five principles for an alternative, more sustainable and equitable economic paradigm.     

A little known atlas by Vesconte Maggiolo, 1518

ABSTRACT

The rediscovery of the Selden Map of China (MS Selden Supra 105) in the Bodleian Library in 2008 provides an opportunity to reassess the history of Chinese cartography and debates about maritime dimensions of the Ming Empire. The map depicts a network of Chinese shipping routes, reaching from Japan to Aceh, Sumatra, and suggests previously unknown map-making techniques. In this article I draw attention to the map's unique components, notably its portrayal of shipping routes and vegetation, consider its sources, and suggest a possible patron and location of composition.     

Trials,Blunders and Profits: The Changing Contexts of Currencies in Sierra Leone

The work presented here is in the form of a case study that connects currencies with merchants in Sierra Leone from the early fragmentary British presence in 1787 to wide-scale colonisation late in the century. Through accounts from archival research, it traces particularly early examples of monetary instabilities prior to formal colonial rule as well as the first attempts made by the British to regulate indigenous currency systems and standardise them into a homogeneous currency system. Through a monetary perspective, the article shows that colonial authorities did not succeed in having full control over the currencies nor did local ways of using them determine their circulation but merchants, who were responsible for shipping specie to the region, also had a degree of control over the circulation of currencies. As such, the article provides very interesting—and complex—cases that emerged from the interfaces in situ among indigenous populations, merchant companies, international traders, settler communities and British colonial officials.     

Searching for the Land of the Golden Cocoa-Nut: Australian Travel Writing about Commercial Enterprise in the Pacific Islands

Pacific Island trade and commerce was a prominent theme in travel writing produced within Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This reflected the long history of European commercial exchange between the Australian continent and the Pacific Islands, and a European literary legacy that idealised the region’s economic potential. This article explores popular perceptions of commercial enterprise in the Pacific Islands as expressed in travel writing, focusing on authors with a significant connection, by birth or affiliation, to either the Australian colonies or the Australian nation. The formation of a distinctively ‘Australian’ vision of the Pacific that evolved since European exploration is traced. The voice that took shape in literary form in the Australian colonies during the late 19th century contributed to a national narrative in the early 20th century that imagined the Pacific Islands as a region for Australian investment, profit and colonial enterprise.     

Coping with Iberian monopolies: Genoese trade networks and formal institutions in Spain and Portugal during the second half of the eighteenth century

Abstract

This article explores Genoese trade interests in Cadiz and Lisbon, the two capitals of Iberian colonial trade at the end of the early-modern period. The author aims to explain the persisting intermediary role of a merchant community that has been largely overlooked by historians. The structure of the trade networks established in the two cities will be reconstructed by using the primary sources conserved in the archive of the Durazzos, a powerful aristocratic family of the Republic which has left a unique collection of private correspondence. This sizeable and largely unexplored documentation illuminates the different strategies used to access the Spanish and Portuguese monopolistic systems, the main actors who traded in both contexts, their relations with the local elite, and the nature of the business networks linking Genoese investors in the mother city with the expatriated agents. The author concludes with a comparative analysis of the institutional resources that Genoese used to maintain their interests, with particular attention paid to the religious institutions established by the ‘nation’ in the two port cities.     

Revisiting trade and industry policy

This paper introduces some of the recurrent themes of industry policy and debates about what governments can, might and should do – as well as have done – to foster desired patterns of economic development in a market economy. It does so by way of introduction to the four papers on Australian industry policy that make up this symposium.     

Australian higher education scholarships as tools for international development and diplomacy in Africa

International scholarships for higher education are a large component of foreign aid in many high-income countries, including Australia. The aims for Australian scholarships awarded to African students are to achieve development in Africa and advance the influence of Australia. However, well-articulated theories of change that define how scholarships are linked to these and other outcomes are not available in the literature. In order to address this gap, the authors explore the perspectives of Australian-funded Master's-level alumni from Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique on the implementation process before, during and after their scholarship award, and the outcomes of the scholarships. The authors found that Australian scholarships to Africans have the potential to spread Australian influence, and that returnee scholars, by virtue of their study in Australia, gain the capacity to become agents for development in their country. The process of choosing scholarship awardees, the local circumstances in each country on return, and support and mentoring networks after return can influence the achievement of these outcomes. Investments in international scholarships should be directed to develop additional skills and facilitate networks in order to further prepare the returnee scholars to influence development in their country and perpetuate Australian influence.