An Analysis of Concerns about the Draft Agreement to Undertake the Oyu Tolgoi Mining Project
April 2009 — A study by Dr. Robert Shapiro and Sonecon, LLC, Commissioned by World Growth Mongolia.
On February 18, 2009, the Mongolian Government Cabinet and two international mining companies, Ivanhoe Mines, Ltd. and Rio Tinto International Holdings, Limited, finalized a new draft agreement to develop the Oyu Tolgoi mine. The report, An Analysis of Concerns about the Draft Agreement to Undertake the Oyu Tolgoi Mining Project examines the agreement and the concerns of Mongolian analysts, policymakers and civic society NGOs, and concludes that the concerns are largely misplaced or substantially outweighed by the very substantial benefits which this agreement offers Mongolia’s economy and people.
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The Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement: Why It Works for Mongolia
April 2009 — A study by World Growth.
For the past five years the Mongolian Government has been negotiating an Investment Agreement with Ivanhoe Mines and its partner Rio Tinto to develop the mineral deposit at Oyu Tolgoi in the Southern Gobi. The deposit is huge and will require an investment of more than US$7 billion to bring it to fruition. As the Mongolian economy is also slowing rapidly, the economic benefits of the proposed Agreement now assume an even greater significance for the country. Even before the downturn, Mongolia was facing serious challenges in terms of inflation and its deteriorating fiscal position. The report argues that the proposed Agreement would help to ensure that Oyu Tolgoi proceeds, thereby making a major contribution to stabilizing the country’s public finances.
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Forestry and Development: Building the Foundations for Sustainability
April 2009 - A study by World Growth.
The first World Growth Forestry and Poverty Project report, “Winners All: How Forestry Can Reduce Both Climate Change Emissions and Poverty”, warned that sustainable forest management was being ignored by climate change policymakers as a cost-effective way of reducing emissions – that would also assist the world’s poor. The trends that have since followed in multilateral and intergovernmental aid-for-climate strategies have continued to ignore the economic and environmental benefits that sustainable forestry can bring. Worse, developed countries are attempting to introduce trade measures that will restrict exports from developing countries on environmental grounds with no real basis in fact. This approach must change. Aid agencies and intergovernmental agencies must begin to appreciate that the drivers of deforestation are economic. Increasing economic growth increases the resources available for sustainable approaches to the environment. Aid agencies and developed countries must focus upon building the foundations of sustainability – not curtail it with restrictions on growth.
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Economic Modernization in Mongolia: The Impact of Tax and Regulatory Policies on the Mining Sector
January 2009 – A study by Dr. Robert Shapiro and Sonecon, LLC, Commissioned by World Growth Mongolia
This detailed report, “Economic Modernization in Mongolia: The Impact of Tax and Regulatory Policies on the Mining Sector,” examines the potential impact of recent government policies on the prospects for six, new major mining projects. The study is authored by Dr. Robert Shapiro, Chairman of Sonecon, LLC, an international economic advisory firm, and commissioned by World Growth Mongolia. Dr. Shapiro finds that if these projects go forward, they should produce enormous, long-term economic benefits for the Mongolian economy. However, all of these future gains are at risk, because recent amendments to the 1997 Minerals Law and other legal changes have created major concerns for large foreign investors in Mongolian mining. This study specifically discusses the impact of the mineral royalty rate, the windfall profits tax, and public ownership or equity on these mining projects.
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Taxation and Mining in Mongolia
December 2008 - A study by World Growth.
"Taxation and Mining in Mongolia" reviews international best practices, examining the case of Chile in particular. After making major taxation reforms nearly 15 years ago, Chile quickly captured over 50 percent of the world’s investment in copper and gold. Chile’s tax model is based on the principle that lowering the tax rate will expand the tax base and provide greater revenue to the Government. This is the same principle upon which Mongolia’s general taxation system, regarded as best practice, rests. "Taxation and Mining in Mongolia" also carefully examines Mongolia’s current taxation policies and determines conclusively that the Windfall Profits Tax on gold and copper has severely damaged Mongolia’s economy and recommends that this tax be immediately repealed and replaced with a sensible alternative.
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Winners All: How Forestry Can Reduce Both Climate Change Emissions and Poverty — A Pro-Development Program
December 2008 - A study by World Growth.
World Growth’s August 2007 report “Building a pro-development strategy on climate change”, warns about the risk of ignoring the interests of the world’s poor by acting too precipitately to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. The trends on discussion of forestry in the Bali process also carry the risk of disregarding the interest of the poor. It is time to avoid that risk and adopt a strategy in which everyone wins. Measures can be implemented which effectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time enable developing countries to foster productive forest industries where environmental values are protected and living standards increase. This new study, “Winners All: How Forestry Can Reduce Both Climate Change Emissions and Poverty — A Pro-Development Program,” examines this argument.
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A Path Forward for Mining in Mongolia
November 2008 - A study by World Growth.
This report addresses the key policy issues that confront the Mongolian Government and the State Great Hural in deciding the nature of the taxation and regulatory regimes which are to apply to commercial mining in Mongolia. During this process, it will be important for the Government and the State Great Hural to consider the roles that the public and private sectors are best suited to play in the exploitation of Mongolia’s mineral wealth. Only the public sector can establish the legislative framework that supports and enforces a system of transparent, secure and transferable property rights in mineral exploration, mining and processing. With that in place, the private sector is ideally placed to organise the extraction of economically useful minerals and metals.
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Averting the Resource Curse
April 2008 — A study by World Growth.
Mongolia is in the process of transforming itself into a nation that is based on secure property rights, economic freedom and democratic government – and even though it has lost its way in that regard over the past several years it is believed that it can and will get itself back on course. A major test of the progress it has made, as well as its resolve to continue with that process, will be how it handles the challenge represented by Oyu Tolgoi, a massive, world class mineral deposit located in the remote South Gobi region of Mongolia, near the China border. The study canvasses the requirements of a mining policy framework for Mongolia that would deliver international best practices in terms of investment attraction.
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The Real Climate Threat to Developing Countries — Early, Deep Cuts in Emissions
December 2007 — A study by World Growth.
Parties to the UNFCCC will meet in Bali in December 2007 to craft a fresh, g
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Technologies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Strategic Outlook
November 2007 – A study by World Growth.
This strategic review outlines the considerable scope that exists to accelerate the rate of technological progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The review of outlook and prospects encompass the technologies involved in increasing energy efficiency, capturing and storing emissions, reducing the carbon-intensity of the energy mix, and reducing emissions from productive processes other than energy consumption. The study also explores the wide range of voluntary initiatives by both government and the private sector. These initiatives are directed at the development and commercialization of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions world-wide.
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Building a Pro-Development Global Strategy on Climate Change
August 2007 – A study by Alan Oxley, Chairman of World Growth and former Chairman of the GATT.
The study proposes a “Multi-Track” process that would allow countries to develop
The “Multi-Track” strategy would allow for each nation to develop a strategy to tackle climate change that best suits it, giving nations more flexibility to reach emission reductions through a variety of strategies. This could include Kyoto-styled mandatory cuts, adopting new technologies, improving efficient energy consumption, or any combination of approaches.
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Economic Effects of Intellectual Property-Intensive Manufacuring in the United States
July 2007 – A study by Dr. Robert Shapiro, former Undersecretary of Commerce to President Clinton.
The study finds that which finds that two-thirds of the value of America’s large businesses springs from intellectual property (IP), especially patents and trademarks.
In addition, Dr. Shapiro and co-author Nam Pham calculate the concrete economic benefits of IP to the U.S. economy and find that IP-intensive jobs produce greater value added per employee, pay higher average wages, and have stronger records in job creation than those that are less IP-intensive.
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MAKE TRADE FREE
How the Doha Round can reduce poverty
November 2005 – A study by Alan Oxley, Chairman of World Growth and former Chairman of the GATT.
"It is fashionable to discredit “free” trade because it is not “fair”. Grave issues are obscured with word play like this. Open markets are the only tool that been have been effective at dramatically reducing poverty. Free trade created them.
The suggestion this is not ‘”fair” is callous. It sneers at governments which have labored to provide prosperity for its citizens. It seeks to deny one of greatest contributions of the twentieth century to human history: to cut by half the share of the world’s people living in poverty.
Poverty persists because not enough economies are open. Mistaken or misguided, “fair” trade would close them further and keep more people poor. That is why trade should be made free, not “fair”.
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