Rhys has over thirty years experience of research in developing countries with a particular interest in Latin America and has also worked in East Asia and South Africa.  He has acted as a consultant for a number of international bodies including UNCTAD, UNIDO and UNRISD and for the Department of International Development.

His research interests are in the broad area of the impact of globalisation on developing countries.  He has led research projects on globalisation and the environment, and globalisation and poverty.  His published books include Transnational Corporations and Uneven Development (Methuen), Environmental Regulation in the New Global Economy (Edward Elgar), Industry and Environment in Latin America (Routledge) and Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights (Earthscan).  He has recently been researching the impacts of China’s global expansion on poverty in other developing countries.

Rhys holds an MA from the University of Cambridge and a D.Phil. from the University of Sussex.

CV and Experience

Click here to download Rhys' CV.

 

Transnational corporations; international economic relations; industrial development and policy; trade and environment. Latin America and South-east Asia.

Research Groups: Business, Accountability, Regulation and Development

Research Activities

The Implications of China’s Growth and Integration with the Global Economy for Developing Countries 
The rapid growth of China over the past quarter century and its increased integration with the global economy is having a major impact on other developing countries, both directly in terms of bilateral trade and investment flows and indirectly through competition for export markets and investment and impacts on the terms of trade between manufactures and primary products.  A research project under the ESRC’s World Economy and Finance programme looked at ‘The Impact of China’s Global Economic Expansion on Latin America’. (Download here)  

A new project funded by the ESRC Pathfinder Programme 'Brazilian Manufacturing in the Face of Chinese Competition: Economic Restructuring, Competitiveness and Employment' is looking in more depth at some of the impacts of China on Brazil.

Previous to this, several consultancy studies were undertaken for DfID on the effects of China’s growth on poverty reduction in Africa, Asia and Latin America (http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001045/index.php); the effects of China and India’s growth and liberalization on poverty in Africa (http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001312/index.php); and an agenda setting paper on the impact of China in Latin America (Download here) 

Two articles co-authored with Chris Edwards have analysed relations between Sub-Saharan Africa and China and India in the IDS Bulletin (http://www.ids.ac.uk/idS/bookshop/bulletin/bull371abs.htm) and The Journal of Asian Economics.  

Link to the IDS Asian Drivers’ programme: http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/research-teams/globalisation-team/research-themes/asian-drivers

Link to the Open University Asian Drivers’ programme: http://asiandrivers.open.ac.uk/

Globalization, Production and Poverty 
The debate over the impact of globalization is one of the central issues in development studies today.  However the mechanisms which link global trends to poverty outcomes are poorly understood. A  DfID funded project looked at the impacts of globalization on production and poverty in four countries (Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Vietnam) at the macro, meso and micro-levels.  These studies show that poverty outcomes are highly dependent on both global processes and the local context. 

Results from the project were published in two special issues of the Journal of International Development, Vol. 16, No.1, 2004 and Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 9 (2), 2004, as well as a number of other journal articles and Working Papers.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Transnational Corporations 
The growing significance of transnational corporations (TNCs) as actors in the global economy and the declining role of the state in regulation has led to calls for greater self-regulation by business reflected in the growth of voluntary codes of conduct, particularly in the areas of labour rights and environmental behaviour.  A critical perspective on corporate social responsibility is needed to counteract the hegemonic discourse of the CSR industry. 

Early research on codes of conduct resulted in the publication of an UNRISD Discussion Paper on “Corporate Codes of Conduct: Self-Regulation in a Global Economy” (Download from here and a book co-edited with Ruth Pearson and Gill Seyfang, Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights,  

More recent research has contributed to the development of a critical perspective on CSR with the International Research Network on Business, Development and Society (http://bdsnetwork.cbs.dk/menu/home.asp). 

 

Publications

2011

Jenkins, R. (2011) The "China effect" on commodity prices and Latin American export earnings. Revista CEPAL 103 (April) pp. 77-93 Spanish version: El "efecto China" en los precios de los productos básicos y en el valor de las exportaciones de América Latina).
Link to Article

2009

Rhys Jenkins and Enrique Dussel Peters (eds.) 2009, China and Latin America: Economic Relations in the Twenty-first Century, Bonn, German Development Institute
Link to document

Jenkins, R., 2009. “El impacto de China en América Latina” Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, No.85-6
Link to Journal Article

 

2008

Jenkins, R., 2008. “Measuring the Competitive Threat from China for other Southern Exproters”, The World Economy, 31(10).
Link to Journal Article
 
Rhys Jenkins and Alfonso Mercado, (editors), 2008, Ambiente e industria en México: Tendencias, regulación y comportamiento empresarial (with A. Mercado), Mexico City: El Colegio de México.

Jenkins, R., 2008, "The Impact of China on Latin America and the Caribbean", (with Enrique Dussel Peters and Mauricio Mesquita Moreira), World Development, 36(2), pp.235-253
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2008 "Trade, Technology and Employment in South Africa" Journal of Development Studies, 44(1) pp.60-79.
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2008, 'Trade Liberalization and Export Performance in Bolivia' in Development & Change 27 (4): 693-716  
Link to Journal Article
 

2006

Jenkins, R., 2006. “Contrasting perspectives on globalization and labour in South Africa”, Progress in Development Studies, 6 (3) pp.185-200
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R. and C. Edwards, 2006. “The economic impacts of China and India on Sub-Saharan Africa: Trends and Prospects”, Journal of Asian Economies, 17, pp.207-225
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R. and K. Sen, 2006. “International Trade and Manufacturing Employment in the South: four country case studies”, Oxford Development Studies, 34(3), pp.299-322
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2006.“Globalization and the labour market in South Africa”, Journal of International Development, 18, pp.649-664
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2006. “Globalization, FDI and employment in Vietnam” Transnational Corporations, 15(1),  pp.115-142,  
Link to document

Jenkins, R. and C. Edwards, 2006, “The Asian Drivers and Sub-Saharan Africa” IDS Bulletin, 37(1) pp 23-32
Link to Journal Article
 

2005

Jenkins, R., 2005. “Globalization, corporate social responsibility and poverty”, International Affairs, 81(2) pp. 525-540 Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2005. “Globalisation of Production, Employment and Poverty: Three Macro-Meso-Micro Studies”, The European Journal of Development Research,17(4), pp.601-625,
Link to Journal Article
 

2004

Jenkins, R., 2004, "Globalization, Production, Employment and Poverty: Debates and Evidence", Journal of International Development, 16(1) pp.1-12
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2004. "Vietnam in the Global Economy: Trade Employment and Poverty", Journal of International Development, 16(1), pp.13-28. 
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 2004. 'Why has employment not grown more quickly in Vietnam?' in Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 9(2),  191-208 
Link to Journal Article
 

2003

Jenkins, R., 2003 . 'Has trade liberalization created pollution havens in Latin America?', CEPAL Review 80

Jenkins, R., R. Pearson and G. Seyfang,2002, Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights, London: Earthscan,

Jenkins, R. J. Barton, A. Bartzokas and M. Knutsen, 2002. Environmental Regulation in the New Global Economy: The Impact on Industry and Competiveness, Cheltenham, Gloucs., UK: Edward Elgar Publishing,
Link to publisher
 

2001 and earlier

Jenkins, R., 2001, 'Trade, Investment and Industrial Pollution - Lessons from Southeast Asia' in W. Neil Adger, P. Mick Kelly, Nguyen Huu Ninh (eds) Living with Environmental Change: Social Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience in Vietnam, Routledge, London & New York,  Part III. Development Pathways, Ch. 11 

Jenkins, R., 2000, Industry and Environment in Latin America, London/New York: Routledge

Jenkins, R., 2000, ”Regulacion ambiental y competitividad internacional en algunos paises europeos”, Comercio Exterior, 50(3),  pp.196-209. 

Jenkins, R., 1999, 'The Changing Relationship Between Emerging Markets and Multinational Enterprises' in Ghauri, P. & Buckley, P. The Global Challenge for Multinational Enterprises: Managing Increasing Interdependence, Pergmon, Oxford, 489-508 

Jenkins, R.,  1998, Environmental Regulation and International Competitiveness: A Review of Literature and Some European Evidence, Maastricht, The Netherlands: Institute for New Technologies Discussion Paper , United Nations University,

Jenkins, R., 1998, 'Globalizacion y Contaminacion en Mexico y Malasia' in Comercio Exterior 48 (12),

Jenkins, R., 1997, 'Structural Adjustment and Bolivian Industry' in The European Journal of Development Research 9(2), 107-128, 
Link to Journal Article

Jenkins, R., 1996, 'Trade Liberalisation in Latin America: the Bolivian Case' in Bulletin of Latin American Research 16 (3): 307-325,

Jenkins, R.,1995. `Does Trade Liberalization lead to Productivity Increases? A Case Study of Bolivian Manufacturing', Journal of International Development, 7(4)  pp.577-597,  

Jenkins, R., l995.,Trade Liberalization and Bolivian Manufacturing, London, Institute of Latin America Studies, Research Paper 39, 

 

I have taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate units in DEV over a number of years.  Currently I teach two units focussing on globalization, Globalization and Economic Development at the undergraduate level and Globalization, Industrialization and Development in the Masters’ Programme.

I also contribute to teaching on the MA in Development Economics in the unit on International Economic Policy.

I have also taught on basic economics units in the undergraduate programme and contributed to the regional unit on Latin American Development.
 

Rhys is currently supervising the following research students:

Manuel Araujo; ‘Promoting Employment Through Foreign Direct Investment: The Case of Post-war Mozambique’

Kenji Hosono; ‘Argentine Institutional Development and Policy Change’

Fabiola Lopez Gomez; ‘Outsourcing in the Mexican Auto Industry: Effects on the Structure of the Industry and Technology Upgrading of Local Suppliers’

Baruch Ramirez; ‘Between Pro-growth and and Pro-poor Strategies for Poverty Reduction: A Revision of the Mexican Experience 1984-2004’

Ben Taylor; 'Ethiopia's Growth Set to Bloom? A GPN Analysis of Ethiopian Floriculture'

Pablo Wong-Gonzalez; ‘The Emerging Global Division of Labour in the Automative Industry: Mexico and China in the Competitive Arena’