Public Contributions

Görg: Blockchain Technologies can Help Improve Transparency of Global Supply Chains

23rd July 2020
KCG Secretary
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Public Contributions
The German Federal Government is working on a Supply Chain Law that will require German companies with more than 500 employees to better ensure that both human rights as well as environmental sustainability standards along their supply chains are well protected and/or followed. The Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Hubertus Heil, expects that the Draft Law can be passed by the cabinet in August and thus can enter the legislative process soon with the goal of being effective in 2021[...]

European Parliament Study on EU-China Trade and Investment Relations by BRUEGEL and IfW Available Online

2nd July 2020
KCG Secretary
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On July 1 Germany took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months. Under the overarching objective “Together for Europe’s Recovery”, Germany aims at working with all EU Member States to jointly overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, to support Europe’s economic recovery, to encourage innovation, social cohesion, solidarity and sustainability in Europe, to strengthen the European community of law and values as well as to further strengthen Europe’s role in dealing with global affairs (German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2020)[...]

Trade Recovery Requires Firm-specific Initiatives, Trade Policies and Global Collaboration

9th June 2020
KCG Secretary
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The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global value chains (GVCs) substantially as it struck at their core regions, including China, Europe and the United States (Seric et al., 2020). According to a recent estimate of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the merchandise trade volume worldwide would fall by between 13% to 32% in 2020. It is highly likely that the COVID-19 determined decline in world trade will be more substantial than the historical trade fall brought by the global financial crisis more than ten years ago[...]

UNIDO Published an Opinion Piece on GVC Impact of COVID-19 in Cooperation with KCG

17th April 2020
KCG Secretary
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The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 damages the global health and challenges the world economy. One key aspect here is the global value chains which have been extensively developed since decades. Experts from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG) at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy[...]

Wan-Hsin Liu Gave a Presentation on China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Hamburg

9th January 2020
KCG Secretary
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Public Contributions
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by its President Xi Jinping in 2013 aims at fostering economic, social and political interactions between China and the other BRI countries. Many of these countries are in Asia and Europe, in line with the general perception that BRI has paid particular attention to strengthening the economic, social and political link between these two continents[...]

Heidbrink Emphasizes the key Relevance of Self-Responsibility for Dealing with Climate Challenges

12th December 2019
KCG Secretary
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Public Contributions
On Dec. 11, 2019 Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission, announced the European Green Deal, a roadmap with actions aiming at making Europe climate-neutral by 2050. In so doing, it should also be able to further support the economic development, provide better care for nature, improve the quality of life and encourage social inclusion at the same time. The EU Commission thus plans to present the first European Climate Law within 100 days[...]

Wan-Hsin Liu Gave an Interview on China’ Investment in Europe and on Huawei in 5G Networks

3rd December 2019
KCG Secretary
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Public Contributions
With its economic reforms for decades, China is now the second largest economy in the world. Since the turn of the new century, the Chinese government has increasingly encouraged Chinese firms to go out and invest abroad. A strong increase in Chinese firms’ investment engagement abroad can be observed particularly after the financial crisis 2008/2009. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China proposed by its President Xi Jinping in 2013 that mainly aims at improving connectivity between China/Asia and Europe through investing in large-scale infrastructure projects[...]

Finn Ole Semrau on the Need for Implementing SDGs in a Recent Citizen Dialogue

28th November 2019
KCG Secretary
Public Contributions
Public Contributions
Eliminating global extreme poverty and limiting the temperature increase of climate change are long-term challenges for all. These challenges are not limited to the national boundary. Thus global governance is required in bringing individual and national efforts together to deal with them efficiently. Accordingly, in the framework of the United Nations[...]

KCG Research: Active Engagement of MNEs Matters for Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa

5th November 2019
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
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Economic research has provided evidence showing that developing countries’ integration into global value chains is highly advantageous for encouraging their economic and social development over time. Events in practice such as Rana Plaza Collapse in 2013 showed, however, that the benefits of globalization may be realized (partially) at the cost of labour welfare and environmental sustainability on site. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) from economically more advanced countries have been often criticized for focusing on maximizing their profits only and thus ignoring their social responsibility while investing in and/or doing business with firms in the developing countries[...]