Sudan
Source: allafrica.com

Khartoum — President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al-Bashir has underscored strength of Sudan relations with BRICS countries and Sudan keenness to boost cooperation with the members of the group in a way that serves the common interest in all fields.

The President was informed during meeting with the Deputy Chairman of the Higher Committee on Overseeing Sudan Relations with BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India , China, and South Africa), Dr Awad Al-Jaz in the Republican Palace, Thursday, on performance of the Committee and its projects, programs and future plans.

Dr Al-Jaz said he briefed the President on work for consolidating relations with all members of the BRICS group, referring to projects being prepared to these countries.

He added meeting discussed development of Sudan-BRICS relations at popular level via Sudanese communities existing in these countries and through continued contact with official bodies and private sector.

Pakistan
Source: tribune.com.pk

ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan could not blame anyone when five emerging economies, during a conference in September, named two Pakistan based militant organisations for disrupting the region's peace. These names had already come up as a part of the Heart of Asia declaration, which Pakistan is also a signatory to.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif indirectly admitted this in the policy statement he delivered before the Senate on Tuesday, while briefing them on the Summit of five emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) held in Xiamen, China in September.

"The Heart of Asia declaration came before the BRICS declaration. It was even harsher than BRICS", he remarked. He said it is the government's official policy to declare the organisations that the Security Council declares as terrorist groups.

The groups that have been named in BRICS for violence in the region, besides the Haqqani network, include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

"We, in this regard, express concern on the security situation in the region and violence caused by the Taliban, ISIS/Daish, Al-Qaida and its affiliates including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizb-ut-Tahrir" read clause 48 of the BRICS declaration.

The inclusion of the two organisations in the final BRICS declaration has caught many in Pakistan by surprise and has also raised the question of why China did not try to omit this clause. However, diplomatic sources said the Chinese side played its role in diluting the wording of the clause.

Asif assured the Senate that Pakistan was not being isolated. He added that diplomatic support has increased recently, especially after United States President Donald Trump's speech, highlighting the new US policy on Afghanistan while criticising Pakistan's role in August this year.

"Support for us on the diplomatic front has increased, especially after Trump's speech. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China and Iran continue to support us," he said in a brief statement.

Concluding an adjournment motion on water shortage and contamination, Minister for Water Javed Ali Shah criticised Ayub Khan's government for signing the Indus Water Treaty with India.

He said that the treaty made Pakistan give up its rights over three eastern rivers, Ravi, Sutlaj and Biyas. According to Shah, Pakistan was using 80 per cent of its water from these three rivers before the treaty was signed.

"Nowhere in the world does a country using river water is barred from doing so. The areas that became a part of Pakistan after the partition, got 80 per cent of their water from these rivers," he said.

He lamented that India also took advantage of the treaty's clause which states that if the country in question cannot store the water coming on their side, the other country is allowed to build a damn on it.

Some of the remarks that were critical for those who opposed Kalabagh dam's construction caused uproar in the House. However the Senate chairperson was able to maintain decorum.

PPP's Sherry Rehman, who moved the motion, said it is estimated that around 0.25 million children in Pakistan die due to water-borne diseases while contaminated water is the main cause of 50 per cent of the diseases in the country.

According to a United Nations Development Programme's study, Pakistan will face a drought after 2025. While neighbouring countries including India, Bangladesh, and Nepal have national water policies since 2003, Pakistan is yet to formulate one. Her stance was backed by many senators from both sides of the House.

Senate chairperson Raza Rabbani referred the water issues to the committee of the whole House.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister of State Talal Chaudry informed the Senate that the missing JUI-F Vehari chapter chief was not in the custody of any of the organisations under the Interior Ministry.

He said that the ministry has sought a report from the Punjab government as well however his family has not registered an FIR with the police. Chaudhry said the missing cleric's name was in the fourth schedule.

India
Source: in.news.yahoo.com

Brasilia, Nov 11 (IANS) The BRICS bloc of emerging economies has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting competition and combating monopolies.

The five BRICS members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- gathered here for their 5th International Competition Conference, issued a joint declaration on Friday pledging continued efforts to implement policies and practices that encourage competitiveness.

Organised by Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE), the event brought together officials and experts from BRICS and other countries.

"In addition to discussions of an academic nature and topics of interest to policies for competition, we had concrete proposals that will help cooperation over the coming years," CADE President Alexandre Barreto told Xinhua news agency.

"We will have an exchange of information that will help the respective authorities in (the area of) competition, in their daily work, which will be reflected in better services in their respective countries and for their people."

Delegates from more than 25 countries attended this year's conference, said Barreto, including academics from 26 universities, and representatives from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Previous conferences were held in Russia in 2009, China in 2011, India in 2013 and South Africa in 2015.

Russia
Author: E. I. Hook
Source: csef.ru

Over the last 8 years there has been a significant influence of the BRICS countries ( Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) on the global economy. What was the prerequisite for the unification of the countries, so different geographical location, and the level of political and economic development? What changes are expected to the largest economic bloc in the long term to 2025?

The unipolar model is unable to cope with the global office. Exhausted and its financial structure which in fact serve only the interests of developed countries. It does not suit developing countries that put forward new approaches to reforming the system of economic regulation. BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa inter-state bloc formed by countries with economies in transition, is a fundamentally new form of international cooperation based on equal access by countries to sources of funding and markets, combined state planning and a market economy, polycurrency financial system, while respecting their sovereignty and cultural and civilizational identity.

The countries belonging to BRICS is 26% of the land area and the total population is 43%. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to 18.5% of (PPP – 26,7%) the global average [1]. The participating countries account for 11% of accumulated investment and nearly 20% of world trade.

What was the prerequisite for the unification of the countries, so different geographical location, and the level of political and economic development? One of the prerequisites made by the high potential for further growth and existence of common goals and long-term interests, aiming to strengthen its position and become full players in the international arena. Their economies over the past 10 years has increased in 4.2 times, while the developed economies grew by only 61%. In addition, they are largely complementary. In particular, Brazil's economy focused on agricultural production and energy of Russia and mining energy and hydrocarbon resources, India is manufacturing IT, as well as intellectual resources, China is a relatively low-cost labor in the production of goods, South Africa – natural resources, giving them an opportunity for further cooperation.

To date, the activities of the BRICS bloc is more political in nature than economic. Participating countries hold a point of view that implies the existence of several major centers of power. Based on this, the partners intend to create a counterweight to U.S. policy. The strategic plan places primary emphasis on reform of the global centers of management, primarily the global financial system. The task of strengthening the position of the BRICS in the IMF (have of 14.81% of the vote, which allows you to block unacceptable solutions) and the International Bank for reconstruction and development (the BRICS countries increased their share of votes to 13.2%), the inclusion of the Renminbi and perhaps other currencies of member countries in the basket of major world currencies. In the long term, the creation of an alternative global financial and economic institutions. In this context, as the first steps, consider the creation of a New BRICS development Bank and currency reserve Pool the BRICS, the financial potential of each will be up to us $ 100 billion. In the framework of the currency reserve Pool the BRICS decisions will be made by a majority vote, to refinance all of the participating countries of the BRICS will be with different coefficients proportional to their contributions. China contributes 41% of the 100 billion. Russia, Brazil, India – 18%, Africa 5%, respectively the coefficient of refinancing will be for China – 0,5, Russia, Brazil, India 1, Africa – 2. While each BRICS country, if necessary, can obtain from 30% of their quota, the rest 70% - in the presence of programs with the IMF. Payments in national currency and the abandonment of the dollar will allow the participants of foreign trade operations to save from 2 to 4% of the transaction amount [2]. The new BRICS development Bank will generate additional funds, primarily with the participation of Chinese capital, the funds which can be spent on specific projects. Financing projects in the NBI will be selected by a majority vote. Started, the BRICS Business Council, which promotes informal integration of the countries – participants of the block, formed by a stock Exchange Alliance, which provides a cross-listing of shares from over 7 thousand BRICS companies with a total capitalization of about 8 trillion dollars.

All these factors generally contribute to the strengthening of BRICS, however, historical and religious specificity, different levels of economic development, geographical distance, problems in bilateral relations, political and economic opposition to developed countries, determine the particular approaches of member countries of BRICS to global and regional issues. It is obvious that the effective interaction in the framework of BRICS to establish will not be easy. Each country has its own interests both inside and outside of this Association. If one of Russia's priority partners is the EU (about 48% of foreign trade turnover), China - development of relations with the Asia-Pacific region, India with South Asia, Brazil, Western hemisphere (Latin America and USA), Africa – countries of Africa. In addition, there are a number of internal problems which hinder the development of the economies of the BRICS countries:

1 inflation (in 2013 inflation rate in India was 10.9 %, Russia – 6,8, Brazil at 6.2%, South Africa up 3.3%, China – 2.6%).

2nd – unemployment. According to world Bank data, the highest unemployment rates in South Africa 25%, and the lowest is observed in India and China, where the rate over the last 10 years has not exceeded the 5% mark.

3-I – demography today one of the acute problems of the countries of the Association. China and India suffer from overpopulation, in Russia and especially in South Africa, on the contrary, the lack of population.

4th – corruption. According to the rating of corruption for 2016год South Africa ranked 67, Brazil – 69, India – 85, China 100, Russia - 136.

5 - lack of infrastructure.

7th - the underdevelopment of the financial market.

8th – the volatility of the national currency [3].

What are the prospects of the BRICS bloc? In recent years, increasingly raised the issue of its further expansion. In 2005 Western economists introduced the concept of "next eleven" - Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam - a group of countries with developing economies and large populations are potential candidates for accession to the BRICS. Note especially Mexico and South Korea, have sufficient economic potential. However, further expansion of the group of BRICS countries today is inappropriate. Ill-conceived expansion at the expense of new members may lead to greater fragmentation and ineffective coordination of the Association. The BRICS countries have yet to complete the process of formation, and at the moment is more important for them to develop internal communication than to grow outwards.

Economists suggest four development models of the BRICS. Each of them denies the possibility of others. Most likely in practice will be implemented three models.

1. Conservative, which involves the development of integration processes on the basis of the traditional options to expand in different fields and projects of cooperation in which the interests of all BRICS countries. Similar directions in many spheres of life, in particular, such as: political, economic, social etc. a Bright example is "the Strategy of economic partnership of the BRICS countries up to the year 2020", which was adopted at the summit in UFA in 2015. In this strategy outlined the main underlying principles on which it was subsequently built economic cooperation, and also identified priority areas of cooperation in trade, investment, industry, energy, agro-industrial complex and other industries. In addition to the strategy was proposed "road map", bringing together promising joint projects, the implementation of which the interests of all participating countries of the BRICS. To date, a conservative model is the leading direction in the development and improvement of policy of the BRICS.
2. The second model supports the targeted development of bilateral relations between individual countries, members of BRICS. The main mission of this model is the use of the world's best bilateral practices to create multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the framework of BRICS development. For 2016 there were two practices of such cooperation in the face of Russian-Indian and Russian - Chinese relations. So, in the last practice, Russia and China have created a Russian-Chinese Commission on investment cooperation. Through such cooperation the agreement was reached on creating a Russian-Chinese investment Bank, which should become a platform to attract Chinese investors to place securities of Russian companies on the stock markets in China and other Asian countries. As for another positive practice is the cooperation between China and India, have signed for 2016 around 26 deals worth $ 22 billion. These agreements affect the financial sphere, construction, development of alternative energy and the creation of industrial parks.
3. The third model can be described as a "Union of unions". This is due to the active interaction between the individual countries-participants of the BRICS in the framework of other international associations. Practical experience today shows that China is included in East Asia summit (BAC), India in the South Asian Association for regional cooperation (SAARC), Russia in the EEU, Brazil – in the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), South Africa – the South African development community (SADC). It should take into account multilateral organisations, such as the Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO) which includes already three members of the BRICS – Russia, China, and India, Union of India, Brazil and South Africa – IBSA.
4. Under the fourth model, it is necessary to create institutions in the BRICS, which will have a multiplier effect on the development of this economic bloc. Another important project contributing to the deepening cooperation of the BRICS countries is the establishment of a zone of free trade and investment in the framework of the Association. So, during the abolition of customs duties, taxes and charges, and quantitative restrictions in mutual trade, possible trade barriers between the member countries of the FTA. This becomes especially apparent in the new TRANS-regional agreements (TRANS-Pacific partnership (TPP) 13 countries, the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) – the EU and the US, the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (SETA) – the EEC countries and Canada, the FTA EU – Japan, etc.).

Many mega-projects are cross-character due to the participation of the same States (countries in EEC, USA, Japan), which actually brings the conditions for the functioning of these economic partnerships. Probably, the world economy enters a new stage of globalization, the hallmarks of which is the formation of new economic alliances and their subsequent splicing. BRICS countries cannot ignore these profound changes in the global economy related to the development of transregionalism. Some of them realized the necessity of liberalization of mutual trade and investment.

At the beginning of 2015 China signed 12 and preparing 7 more FTA agreements with the Republic of Korea, Australia, Japan, ASEAN countries, the cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, Israel. Huge FTA will arise in connection with the project of a new "silk road", which will cover 20 countries. The project of construction of infrastructure objects, providing ties between China and the EU, provides for the creation around them of a common economic space. Russia participates in the Eurasian Union, where there is a Customs Union will create common space for the movement of capital, and in the CIS free trade area[4]. The EEU signed an agreement on the FTA with Vietnam, is in talks with Egypt, Israel and other countries. India and Brazil announced the conclusion of an FTA with the EU in the near future.

In the liberalisation processes of development in the terms of trade and investment in BRICS is actively interested in business. The Agency for strategic initiatives (ASI) made a proposal to create a BRICS Business Council a new working group on supporting investment and remove administrative barriers. The heads of the national parts of the Business Council of Africa, India, Brazil and China suggested the use of a common approach to standardisation and regulations for enterprises of the BRICS, and also to join forces in the efforts to reduce administrative barriers in the sphere of tax and customs administration, the organization of the visa regime and phytosanitary standards.

According to world Bank forecasts, it is expected that by 2025 the size of the BRICS economies will be equivalent to half of the Big Six economies, and by 2040 will exceed them. Consideration of economic indicators of the BRICS countries leads to the conclusion that although the BRICS countries and have significant potential for further successful development requires coordination of efforts and the transition from quantitative development paths to quality.

Sources

1. B. A. Kheyfets, "Prospects for the institutionalization of the BRICS"/ Economic portal, 2015.;
2. E. N. Alexandrov, Orlov V. I. the Role and development of the BRICS countries in the global economy/ Theory and practice of public consciousness, in 2015. -36-37 P.;
3. Makarevich D. A. BRICS in the world economy. Prospects of development/ Management of economic systems, 2015.;
4. D. B. rezvanova, A. A. Maltsev, V. A. Maltsev, "the Prospects of development of the economies of the BRICS countries. Russian-Chinese relations as an alternative to the Western vector of Russia" Actual problems of modern international relations, 2015.-178-180 C.;
5. T. A. Kulakov, S. A. Kaverzneva "Perspectives of new development institutions of the BRICS countries" / Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University, 2017.- 23-25 C.

New Zealand
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz

The so-called BRIC grouping will become "almost irrelevant", says a senior partner at consulting giant McKinsey.

The BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - were once the poster children for economic growth. However, the block's fortunes reversed from 2012 through to 2016, after Brazil hit the doldrums, China's growth slowed and Russia's oil returns tanked.

Investors began betting on BRICs again this year, but McKinsey senior partner Andrew Grant isn't convinced they're on the rebound.

"When you look at the BRICs concept, more than 85 per cent of the growth actually came from China, so BRICs wasn't the BRICs concept at all - it was actually the China concept," he said during a keynote address at the 2017 INFINZ - Institute of Finance Professionals NZ - conference last week.

Grant said McKinsey was "quite peeved" when a Goldman Sachs economist penned the BRIC acronym.

"But we are now pleased that it proved to be quite inaccurate.

"And we would argue that going forward, that BRICs is going to become almost irrelevant as a concept - that India, China and actually Africa now will primarily be the dominant force." The "ICA effect", as Grant called it, was going to drive global growth.

"Not that other places are not going to grow, but disproportionately, the global growth is going to be in those places and they will be the places that add the mega cities."

China's gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund, will grow by 6.8 per cent in 2017 - slightly up on earlier forecasts. The IMF last month slashed its 2017 growth expectations for India to 6.7 per cent from an earlier forecast of 7.2 per cent.

Africa has wildly varying growth rates - as high as 8.5 per cent in Ethiopia but contraction of 6.3 per cent in South Sudan.

Grant said the reason that China, India and Africa are growth hotbeds is their rate of urbanisation - "the greatest value creation engine on earth".

"In China, if you move someone from a rural environment to an urban environment, you add one zero to their net income and you add two zeros to their net worth," he said.

The density of populations and a closer proximity of people also helped new business models like the gig and sharing economies to flourish.

"Tinder doesn't work so well for you if you live in Eketahuna as opposed to if you live in a city environment."

Although urbanisation had started to level off in China and growth was beginning to slow, Grant said in absolute terms it was still extraordinary.

"When I moved to China in 2004, China had only just become Italy in terms of the size of the economy. Last year China added Italy, so the absolute growth that the percentage growth now implies is dramatically different."

China
Source: www.ndb.int

On 8 November 2017, Mr. K.V.Kamath, the President of the New Development Bank met in Shanghai Mr. Yuri Chikhanchin, the Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring). The NDB VP, CAO Mr. Vladimir Kazbekov and Mr. Vladimir Glotov, Deputy Director of Rosfinmonitoring also participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, perspectives for cooperation between the Bank and Rosfinmonitoring in the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) were discussed, with a focus on developing the Bank's Compliance Division in line with Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) principles and international best practices.

The participants of the meeting exchanged views on further steps by the NDB aimed at obtaining the status of observer organization with the Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.

A high potential for the NDB staff training and knowledge exchanges in the sphere of AML/CFT between the Bank and Rosfinmonitoring was highlighted.

USA
Author: Oliver Stuenkel
Source: www.americasquarterly.org

Provided a moderate wins in 2018, Brazil could quickly regain some of the diplomatic heft it lost under Rousseff and Temer.

The government of Michel Temer has dealt Brazilian foreign policy a body blow. Not only has the president traveled abroad less than any of his predecessors since Itamar Franco in the 1990s, but, more importantly, Brazil nowadays contributes remarkably little to dealing with urgent regional challenges. These include the crisis in Venezuela, transnational crime, China's growing presence in Latin America, and physical infrastructure integration. Nothing suggests that this will change during the remaining 14 months of Temer's scandal-ridden mandate.

Yet while some of the causes of Brazil's current international lethargy are structural (such as its corruption-prone system of presidential coalitions), several others are superficial. Provided that a moderate candidate wins in 2018 – such as Marina Silva, Fernando Haddad, Luciano Huck, Geraldo Alckmin or a 2003-style Lula – many of the major obstacles facing Brazil's government in the foreign policy realm could be overcome with relative ease.

The first has to do with the president's international profile. Temer is one of the world's most domestically unpopular heads of state. His government faces a constant battle for political survival, reducing the time and energy it can dedicate to foreign policy. Much of this is tied up in the country's ongoing Lava Jato corruption investigations. Brazil's chief public prosecutor recently said there was "no doubt" that Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes received undeclared Odebrecht money to finance one of his campaigns (Nunes has denied participating in any corruption).

As a consequence, the current government lacks the legitimacy – particularly in the region – to take the lead on any international issue. While the results of next year's election are extremely difficult to predict, the next government will almost by default enjoy higher approval ratings than the Temer administration, at least early on. That will create new opportunities for presidential diplomacy, a key element in Brazil's foreign policy under former presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the aforementioned Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Second, irrespective of the government's popularity, Temer's top diplomats face a powerful and often overlooked limitation that makes implementing sophisticated foreign policy initiatives difficult: a very short policy horizon due to the interim nature of the administration. Temer's successor in 2019, by contrast, will have the opportunity to consider and articulate policies during a full four-year mandate.

Third, despite global economic conditions that are less benign than in the early 2000s (when Brazil was the second biggest contributor to global growth), the incoming government's first year is likely to come amid some cautious optimism vis-à-vis the economy. That makes the 2018 election radically different from the one in 2014, when it was obvious that whoever won would preside over an economy that was heading for the cliffs.

Fourth, on Jan. 1, 2019, the incoming Brazilian administration will assume the temporary presidency of the BRICS grouping of countries, providing it with a golden opportunity to articulate and present its narrative to a global audience. The 11th BRICS Summit will take place in Brazil in 2019, allowing the new president to host China's Xi Jinping, arguably the world's most powerful leader. The leaders of India, Russia and South Africa will also come to Brazil, as well as heads of state from throughout South America who could potentially be invited as part of the BRICS outreach process. This could make the summit one of the world's most important diplomatic meetings of 2019. If prepared carefully, it would allow the new government to promote its policy priorities and thus re-emerge as an important agenda setter on the global stage, using foreign policy to promote its domestic policy goals and gain legitimacy.

Finally, the next president may also preside over Brazil's accession to the OECD club of developed economies. Brazil filed a formal request to join the group in June; accession would mark a major diplomatic win, and make Brazil the only country in the world to participate in both BRICS and the OECD, a powerful symbol of the country's pivotal role in the 21st century's emerging multipolar order. No other country in the world is as well placed as Brazil to play a credible role in both groupings. The new president could further lead the revival of IBSA, a trilateral grouping consisting of India, Brazil and South Africa, highlighting Brazil's status as the world's third most populous democracy.

Granted, the upcoming presidential election is likely to be an unpredictable affair with a dispersed field of candidates, similar to what Brazil saw in 1989. Yet that should not keep analysts from discussing the next government's opportunities and priorities in the foreign policy realm. As the five points above show, whoever succeeds Temer will face a unique opportunity to articulate the country's global re-engagement. That would be good news for both Brazil and the international community. After all, the failure to address key challenges over the past decades are a clear sign that actors such as Brazil are needed if the world is to find meaningful solutions to global problems.

Germany
Author: Chunxia Jiang, Shujie Yao
Source: www.springerprofessional.de

Banks are the cornerstone of the financial system, especially in developing countries where capital markets are underdeveloped. The global financial crisis in 2007–2008 caused great turmoil in the banking sectors of the developed world with the clustered collapses of international financial giants in the advanced economies. However, there have been fewer bank failures in transitional and emerging economies and it is important to understand the role of the banking sector in developing countries and transitional and emerging economies. This chapter takes a comparative approach and puts Chinese banking into the context of the emerging economies. The importance of the banking systems in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (hereinafter the BRIC refers to Brazil Russia, India, and China and the BRICS includes South Africa) has been rising in the global banking marketplace, noticeably witnessed by the launch of the New Development Bank in 2015. Moreover, BRICS' banking sectors have withstood the storm wave of the 2008–2009 global financial crisis without major bank failures. This chapter, in particular, examines the impact of bank risk-taking and market concentration on bank performance from the perspective of emerging economies. The rest of this chapter unfolds as follows. Section 4.1 reviews related literature on developing countries and transitional and emerging economies. Section 4.2 introduces the economies and the evolutionary background of the banking systems in BRICS. Section 4.3 outlines the research methodology—the output distance function approach—and describes data. Section 4.4 discusses empirical results, and Sect. 4.5 concludes.