This policy paper, prepared as part of the Background Study for the European Competitiveness Report 2009, analyses the external trade in goods and services between the EU and the BRICs. The paper starts with the analysis of the global position of the EU and the BRICs in world trade (using the...

The difference between existing intentions and actual behavior occurs in various forms, such as procrastination or companies not being able to implement planned changes, which may lead to competitive disadvantages in ever dynamic business environments. While current research is strongly focused...

The significance of data as an economic good in the digital economy quickly raises the question of who owns the data. More specifically, within the context of a data marketplace in which data is being exchanged or traded and where different bundles of rights (property rights) are trans-ferred...

We calculate social and private cost for the use and production of payment services in Norway for 2007. The calculations include banks', merchants' and households' cost for cash, cards and giro payments. The social cost is calculated to be 0.49 % of GDP, or NOK 11.16 billion. Costs are also...

In this memo, questionnaires for the study: "Costs in the Norwegian payment system" are shown. The study included three surveys, towards Merchants, Households and Banks.

The impact of digitalisation is not fully reflected in economic statistics. Even though commonly used economic metrics such as GDP are still relevant in assessing the state of the economy, the production of statistics should be developed to measure the digital economy better. The most...

This paper is about social relations in customary lands for the matrilineal uxorilocal culture of the Lomwe, Nyanja and Yao tribes in Southern Malawi. The study was carried out in the districts of Chiradzulu and Phalombe. Qualitative methods were used to examine local histories and practices to...

Over the past three decades, all three German automobile producers (BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen) have built production facilities in the United States. Despite the similarities among the firms when it comes to collective employee representation in Germany, the employee-relations practices of...

Trade economists have for long considered gravity models to estimate unexhausted potentials for bilateral trade. Similar to the discrepancy between "normal" and "actual" bilateral trade, one may ask the question about the difference between "normal" and actual bilateral multinational activity....