Frank Flatters: Writings
 
 
 

Here are some of my recent writings. They are policy-oriented and readable by non-specialists. They are grouped under the following topics: trade and industrial policies in southern Africa, regionalism in southern Africa, the WTO and country issues , the Asian crisis, corruption, fiscal issues and recent books. See also Geekonomics columns on my News page.

   
   Trade and Industrial Policies in Southern Africa
  SADC RoO in Textiles and Clothing   Updated Presentation on MIDP/APDP  
 

SADC members' industrial and tariff policies in textiles and clothing impede regional and global integration, February 2011.  pdf file

 

update of 2005 presentation on MIDP, incorporating further data and some analysis of APDP, July 2009.   pdf file

  South African Electricity Prices   South Africa's Trade and Industrial Policies
  notes on electricity pricing and power shortages in South Africa, May 2008.   pdf file   a critique of South Africa's trade and industrial policies (2008, with Matthew Stern).   pdf file
  Lessons on Investment Promotion: Ramatex, Namibia   AGOA's 'Commercial Availability' Requirement: Denim  
 

a review of lessons arising from a large textile and clothing investment (study completed before factory closed) (with Paulina Elago).   pdf file

 

an examination of the harmful effects of a restrictive sourcing requirement for denim products shipped under AGOA .   pdf file

  The Economics of MIDP   Trade and Poverty in SA: Motor Industry Case Study  
 

subsidies provided by South Africa's Motor Industry Development Program (MIDP) and some of the economic costs.   pdf file

 

a look at some of the implications for the poor of industrial policy in the South African motor industry (with Nnzeni Netshitomboni).   pdf file

 
  Driving the South African Motor Industry    Is the MIDP a Model for Industrial Policy?  
 

critical analysis of South Africa's Motor Industry Development Program (MIDP); examines the nature of subsidies to exports and some of their economic costs.  pdf file

 

commentary on recent analysis of successes of South Africa's motor industry and associated trade and industrial policies.  pdf file

 
  Mozambique: Thinking About Trade   Trade Policy Strategies for Mozambique  
 

slides for presentation to Mozambique Economics Association on trade and industrial policy strategies, December 2003.  pdf file

 

notes for discussions with Mozambican policy makers and business leaders, December 2002.  pdf file

 
  SADC RoO and AGOA: Hard Choices for Textiles and Clothing     Lessons About Tariff Reform  
  regional protectionism, rules of origin and global prospects for SADC textile and clothing industries.  pdf file  

presentation to regional meeting of southern African Customs and Tariff Board officials, VIctoria Falls Zimbabwe, January 2001.   pdf file

 
   Regionalism in Southern Africa
  SADC Challenges (presentation)   SADC Challenges (background paper)  
 

presentation on SADC integration challenges prepared for launch of new SADC Trade Hub project, November 2010.  pdf file

 

how SADC integration can be used to foster productivity growth and help meet regional development needs, September 2010.  pdf file

 
  SACU Revenue Sharing (II)   SACU Revenue Sharing (I)  
 

deeper analysis of fundamental problems with SACU revenue sharing and trade policy-making arrangements, August 2006 (with Matthew Stern).   pdf file

 

problems in implementing the new Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) revenue sharing formula (with Matthew Stern).   pdf file

   
  Reforming SADC Rules of Origin   An MIDP for SADC?  
 

appraisal of SADC rules of origin prepared as part of mid-term review of Trade Protocol; analysis of lessons learned in SADC and elsewhere; proposals for reform.  pdf file

 

assessment of the feasibility and benefits of emulating South Africa's MIDP in the rest of SADC; proposals for amending treatment of the motor industry in the Trade Protocol.   pdf file

 
  Rules of Origin as Development Tools? Some Lessons from SADC   Rent-Seeking in SADC: RoO & Trade in Wheat Products  
 

flawed uses of rules of origin in trade preferences for developing countries; dangers of regional approaches to trade liberalization (revised Oct. 2004).  pdf file

 

economics and political economy of trade policies for wheat products in SADC; reasons for and consequences of failed trade liberalization.   pdf file

 
  SADC RoO and AGOA: Hard Choices for Textiles and Clothing     SADC RoO: Impeding Regional Integration and Competitiveness  
  regional protectionism, rules of origin and global prospects for SADC textile and clothing industries.  pdf file  

summary of unintended impacts of SADC rules of origin, in TIPS & TPRU Trade and Industrial Monitor University of Cape Town, September 2002.  pdf file

 
  Revenue Implications of SADC    SADC Rules of Origin: Wheat and Wheat Flour   
 

estimating and thinking about the fiscal implications of the SADC Trade Protocol.  pdf file

 

critical analysis of alternative rules of origin for wheat and wheat products.  pdf file

 
  SADC Rules of Origin: Undermining Regional Free Trade    The SADC Trade Protocol: Which Way Ahead?  
 

synthesis of research project on SADC rules of origin, presented at TIPS Annual Forum, Johannesburg South Africa, September 9-11, 2002.  pdf file

 

summary of SADC strategy piece, in TIPS & TPRU Trade and Industrial Monitor University of Cape Town, June 2001.  pdf file

 
  The SADC Trade Protocol: Impacts, Issues and the Way Ahead        
 

initial discussion of strategic issues and pitfalls in SADC regional integration.  pdf file

     
  
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   WTO and Country Issues
  Multilateral, Regional and Unilateral Options for Africa   Nepal: Porous Borders, Revenue Targets and Rent-Seeking  
  review of strategic options for Africa's global integration, prepared as chapter for UNECA Report on Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA), 2003.  pdf file  

in Glenn Jenkins et al Re-Engineering of Tax Systems in Low Income Countries: A Case Study of Nepal Boston, Dordrecht and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002.

 
  The WTO in the Millennium     Ghana's Trade Policies: Tariff Rate Structures and Revenues  
 

for the MIER National Economic Outlook Conference on Managing Economic Change Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 2001.  pdf file

  USAID-funded research report prepared for Government of Ghana, 1999.  pdf file  
  Ghana's Trade Policies: Exemptions from Import Duty    Vietnam and AFTA: By Choice or Obligation?  
 

USAID-funded research report prepared for Government of Ghana, 1999. pdf file

  UNDP-Funded Research Report No. 4, Bureau of the National Committee for ASEAN, Office of the Government of Vietnam, Hanoi, September 1997. pdf file  
  
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   The Asian Crisis
  Thailand and the Crisis: Roots, Recovery and LR Competitiveness   Thailand, the IMF and the Economic Crisis: First In, Fast Out?  
 

in Asia Competiveness Report 1999 Geneva: World Economic Forum; revised later for Jeffrey Sachs, Klaus Schwab and Wing Thye Woo (eds.) The Asian Financial Crisis: Lessons for a Resilient Asia Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2000. pdf file

  in Peter Chow and Brendan Gill (eds.) Weathering the Storm: The Asian Financial Crisis and Taiwan's Role in the Region Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 2000.  pdf file  
  The Burden of Bailouts   Thailand's 'IMF Program'    
 

in The Nation (Bangkok) March 1998. pdf file

  in The Nation (Bangkok) April 1999.  pdf file  
  Comparative Social Impacts of the Asian Economic Crisis   ASEAN and the Crisis: Lessons for Vietnam    
 

in TDRI Social Impacts of the Asian Economic Crisis in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute, 1999 (with Sauwalak Kittiprapas and Chalongphob Sussangkarn).

  UNDP-Funded Research Report no. 7, Department of International Economic Organizations, Office of the Government of Vietnam, Hanoi, October 1998.  pdf file  
  Thailand: Recovery Prospects and Opportunities   Lao PDR: Macroeconomic Strategy  
 

Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2000; principal author of three chapters of publication by East Asia Analytical Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

  UNDP-funded research report prepared for Ministry of Planning and Investment, 2000.  pdf file  
  
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   Corruption
  Administrative Corruption and Taxation   The Media and Corruption in Thailand  
 

in International Tax and Public Finance 2, 1995 (397-417); reprinted in Gianluca Fiorentini and Stefano Zamagni (eds.) The Economics of Illegal Markets Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Company, 1999 (with W. Bentley MacLeod).  pdf file

  in The Nation, Bangkok, April 2001.  pdf file  
  Corruption Lae Suea Nai Prathed Thai (in Thai), (Corruption and the Media in Thailand)      
 

for Thailand Development Research Institute Year-End Conference Transparency and Uncorrupt Society November 2000 (with Duangkamol Chotana).

     
  
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   Fiscal Issues
  Fiscal Challenges of Regional Integration   Tax Incentives: Lessons for Malaysia  
 

presentation at IMF conference on Revenue Mobilization in Africa, Nairobi, March 2011.  pdf file

  questions raised in presentation to National Tax Conference of the Malaysia Institute of Taxation, Kuala Lumpur, August 2005.  pdf file  
  Are Investment Incentives Biased Against Small Firms in Thailand?   Tax Holidays: Give Them a Vacation  
 

in Journal of Developing Areas, October 1996 (with Robin Boadway and J-F Wen).

  in TDRI Quarterly Review, vol. 11, no. 3, September 1996, reprinted in The Nation (Bangkok) September 1996.  
  Investment Incentives and the Corporate Tax System in Malaysia   Indirect Taxes and Investment Incentives in Malaysia  
 

in Anwar Shah (ed.) Fiscal Incentives for Investment in Developing Countries New York: Oxford University Press, 1995 (with Robin Boadway and Dale Chua).

  in Anwar Shah (ed.) Fiscal Incentives for Investment in Developing Countries New York: Oxford University Press, 1995 (with Robin Boadway and Dale Chua).  
  Principles of Natural Resource Taxation   Equalization in a Federal State: An Economic Analysis  
 

a practical policy guide to principles of and lessons from international experience in resource taxation, with special reference to low and middle income countries, for the World Bank, 1993 (with Robin Boadway).  pdf file

  research report for the Economic Council of Canada, 1982 (with Robin Boadway).  
  The Efficiency Basis for Regional Employment Policies   Public Goods, Efficiency and Regional Fiscal Equalization  
 

first published in the Canadian Journal of Economics in 1981, and reprinted in Arnold Harberger and Glenn Jenkins (eds.) Cost-Benefit Analysis Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Company (with Robin Boadway).

  originally published in the Journal of Public Economics in 1974, this piece has been reprinted many times, most recently in Dennis C. Mueller (ed.) The Economics of Politics Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Company (with Peter Mieszkowski and Vern Henderson).  
  
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   Recent Books
  Competition and Regulation: Implications of Globalization for Malaysia and Thailand   Globalization and the Knowledge Economy: Perspectives for Malaysia  
  Kingston, Canada: Queen's University, 1997 (co-edited with David Gillen).   Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian Institute of Economic Research 2001 (co-edited with Mohamed Ariff).
 
  Malaysia's Public Sector in the Twenty-First Century: Planning for 2020 and Beyond      
  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, 1997 (co-edited with Robin Boadway, Sulaiman Mahbob, L.S. Wilson and Elayne Yee).      
  
 
 
 ff@frankflatters.com