Oil makes up one-third of Venezuela's entire GDP, and the United States is far and away Venezuela's largest trading partner. Relations between Venezuela and the United States, traditionally close for most of the last two centuries, began to fray in the last decade as the end of the cold war altered the international environment. The United States and Venezuela attempts to place the events of the past ten years in historical perspective and to explain the reasons why the changes occurred. It also examines the impact of new actors on the international scene: drug traffickers, common citizens, human rights and environmental activists and the media.

This book brings together a collection of papers that Robert M Stern and his co-authors have written in recent years. The collection addresses a variety of issues pertinent to the global trading system. One group of papers deals with globalization in terms of what the public needs to know about this phenomenon and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whether some countries may be hurt by globalization, how global market integration relates to national sovereignty, and how and whether considerations of fairness are and should be dealt with in the global trading system and WTO negotiations. A second group of papers consists of analytical and computational modeling studies of multilateral, regional, and bilateral trading arrangements and negotiations from a global and national perspective for the United States and other major trading countries. The remaining papers include an empirical analysis of barriers to international services transactions and the consequences of liberalization, and issues of international trade and labor standards.

This comprehensive and accessible book examines the evolution of the multilateral trade regime in the ever-changing global economic environment, particularly during the WTO era and the ongoing Doha Round. Professor Das explores how the creation of the multilateral trade regime, or the GATT/WTO system, has been fraught with difficulties. He describes the ways, by means of various rounds of negotiations, the multilateral trade regime has constantly adjusted itself to the new realities of the global economy. One glance at the recent history indicates that the evolution of the multilateral trade regime was far from even-handed and steady. The GATT/WTO system was repeatedly pushed to the brink of utter and ignominious disaster. Yet, as the author illustrates, the participating economies persevered. Consequently, the fabric of multilateral trade regime is stronger, its foundation deeper and its framework wider now than it was a generation ago. Unlike the GATT era, membership of the present trade regime is close to universal. The author concludes that of the two phases, the latter has turned out to be the more arduous, intricate and complex phase of evolution. Students and scholars of economics, international trade, international political economy and international relations will find this study of great interest. The definitions and explanations of terminology and advanced concepts make the book accessible to those without an extensive economic background.

This book examines the relationship between international trade and domestic economic growth in Britain since the eighteenth century. It was during this time that Britain enjoyed first a dominant role in world trade and then, from the outbreak of the First World War, saw its economic strength eclipsed by other emerging international powers. The essays here focus on two central concerns in the history of British economic development in the period: was overseas and colonial trade in the eighteenth century the principal motor of British industrial development? Has the structure of Britain's overseas trade in the twentieth century been one of the factors contributing to the "decline of the British industrial economy"?

In exploring these central ideas, the book examines the evolving structures of British commercial relations, the development and impact of commercial policies and Britain's changing international economic position. The volume contains both general essays which survey current debates and chapters dealing with more specific issues, including, for example, the role of the Atlantic trade in British economic growth in the eighteenth century; the impact of British trade on Continental Europe in the first half of the nineteeth century and the commercial factors which determined Britain's reaction to the founding of the European Community. The collection draws on distinguished scholars, whose work together offers an important contribution to our understanding of Britain's economic development during this pivotal period and to the wider debate on the relationship between trade and economic growth.

This book answers the recently topical questions of how China's processed trade affects the trade of Southeast Asia. What is Southeast Asia's role in Factory Asia, the region's complex of cross-border supply chains? What is Southeast Asia's involvement in building or joining production networks in the region? And, most important, how can Southeast Asia increase the value added of its products and improve its competitiveness? This book provides rigorous analysis of how trade policy affects value added, highly disaggregated at the firm and product level, of the six Southeast Asian countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam - and combines this with thorough examinations of their trade, industrial and labour policies.

Against the backdrop of growing anti-globalisation sentiments and increasing fragmentation of the production process across countries, this book addresses how the Indonesian economy should respond and how Indonesia should shape its trade and industrial policies in this new world trade environment. The book introduces evaluation not on tariffs but on new trade instruments such as non-tariff measures (SPS, TBT, export measures and beyond border measures), and looks at industrial policies from a broader perspective such as investment, accessing inputs, labour, services, research and innovation policies.

When can a country be said to benefit from free trade?
This question has obsessed economists for more than 200 years, and a definitive answer has never been provided. Continuing the influential work begun in The Gains from Trade and the Gains from Aid, (Routledge 1995), Murray Kemp here presents the recent progress he and his co-workers have made in tackling this important question.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203425634

Based on archival sources, this history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im), focuses on its role in the growing involvement of the U.S. in the international economy. Over the last two decades the Bank has carried on its Congressionally-mandated mission in an increasingly complicated environment; brought on by changes in private capital markets, Congressional constraints on its budgets, major financial crises in Latin America and Southeast Asia. It has survived despite the latest developments in communications and information technology, and the demands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) devoted to environmental protection.

Beginning with a detailed discussion of the World Trade Organisation and the Uruguay Round and its achievements, this book delves into the causal factors behind the failure to launch the new round of multilateral trade negotiations in Seattle in December 1999. Dilip K. Das tries to determine the precise point reached by the global trading system and map out a way forward, exploring the likely items to be included in the agenda for the new round of multilateral trade negotiations and provides contours for a post-Seattle global trading system.
This book provides an excellent overview of the contemporary global trading system and will be very useful to advanced students and professional economists. It will also greatly benefit policy makers and active participants in trade and global diplomacy.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203522281

The recent downturn in the Chinese economy has become a focal point of global attention, with some analysts warning that China is edging dangerously close to economic meltdown. Is it possible that the second largest economy in the world could collapse and drag the rest of the world with it? Or will China simply implode under the strain of its many problems and recede from the world stage like Japan? Does it have the resilience and preparedness to tackle the multiplicity of economic challenges it faces? In this penetrating essay, leading expert on China's economic relations Ann Lee explains why China's economy will not sink us all and what policy options it is drawing on to mitigate against such a catastrophic scenario. Dissecting China's economic challenges with realistic clarity, she makes a compelling case for China's continued economic robustness in multiple sectors in the years ahead.

Explores the functioning of commercial networks in Asia, from the mid-19th century when transport and communications revolutions began to change those networks to the 1930s. The essays throw new light on these multi-layered, overlapping regional trading networks that transcend national borders and shaped the structure and development of the modern Asian economy and society.

This book presents new research on combining the theory of economic growth with the theory of international trade and international factor movements. As growth theory, it studies the behavior of the fundamental dynamic models (deterministic and stochastic) of trading economies. As trade theory, it is concerned with gains from trade and dynamic welfare implications of regulations and strategic trade policy. It exhibits a dynamic general equilibrium of a small open economy, which is not only gainful but also deterministically chaotic. It also demonstrates that skilled worker migration and welfare gains of the home country need not be mutually exclusive. The celebrated Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis is contrasted with the experience of many fast-growing Asian countries. An extended model with endogenous productivity growth in the distribution service sector is analyzed. The crucial role played by well-informed intermediaries in a world of imperfectly informed agents is examined for the trade relations between China, Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

This is an overview of the interactions between the world's dominant country and the world's most developed institution. The book examines the major events in the history of US-EU relations, and suggests that changes in the international political economy play a key role in shaping this relationship: the US and the EU are in a constant state of competition and cooperation that varies by issue and policy area.

This book draws together key issues resulting from the World Trade Organisation's planned 'Millennium Round' and the hope that it will lead to freer trade as we begin this new century.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203469704

Since 1999, intensive research efforts have vastly increased what is known about the history of coerced migration of transatlantic slaves. A huge database of slave trade voyages from Columbus's era to the mid-nineteenth century is now available on an open-access Web site, incorporating newly discovered information from archives around the Atlantic world. The groundbreaking essays in this book draw on these new data to explore fundamental questions about the trade in African slaves. The research findings--that the size of the slave trade was 14 percent greater than had been estimated, that trade above and below the equator was largely separate, that ports sending out the most slave voyages were not in Europe but in Brazil, and more--challenge accepted understandings of transatlantic slavery and suggest a variety of new directions for important further research. For the most complete database on slave trade voyages ever compiled, visit www.slavevoyages.org.

This title was first published in 2002: Anthony Bende-Nabende focuses on the ongoing globalization process, which has sparked an unprecedented world-wide debate. He provides a one-stop centre for a balanced coverage of the theoretical, empirical and policy issues linking globalization with foreign direct investment, regional economic integration, and economic growth and sustainable development. This stimulating book comprehensively explores the theoretical and empirical literature inter-linking the aforementioned factors from the anti-globalization activists' viewpoint, and from the pro-globalization proponents' perspective. It proposes policies that individual countries should pursue, based on the recognition that globalization generates both positive and negative effects. These comprise policies required to maximise the economic benefits globalization may generate, and those that aim to eliminate or at least minimize the negative development-oriented effects globalization may engender and, hence, to propel sustainable development. The book will be an essential guide for students, academics and those involved in international economics, environmental studies, international relations, and growth and development studies.

This book contains studies measuring impediments to trade and investment in a variety of sectors, including telecommunications, finance, shipping, education and air transport. The authors explain how the measures were calculated and show how the results could be used in sophisticated economic models. The final part of the book looks at current issues in services negotiations in the World Trade Organization and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203520084

Using a series of twelve historical case-studies that are based on extensive archival research, this book explains why firms succeed or fail in communicating or transferring knowledge and discovering new expertise. By analysing how workable trade-offs between opposing forces have been achieved in the past, this study provides a set of guidelines for executives who embark upon inter-firm projects.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203187679

This volume provides a detailed up-to-date analysis of the strategic issues and policy options of China's accession to the WTO. Quantitative analysis demonstrates how tariff reduction resulting from China's accession to the WTO will benefit the Chinese economy as well as the rest of the world. The book argues that there is no single trade policy initiative likely to result in larger gains in international trade in the foreseeable future than China's accession to the WTO.

eBook available with sample pages: 020339822X

This title was first published in 2002: This compelling text is the first major application of Michael Porter's diamond framework to identify the sources of national competitive advantage in the case of Greece. Offering a useful evaluation of Porter's theory through an extensive literature review, the book also draws on empirical evidence from five selected Greek industries. It also provides information and commentary on many aspects of the Greek economy, its historical evolution and its current trends. International and Greek investors, international organizations, business consultants and financial institutions will certainly benefit from this analysis of the Greek economic environment. Moreover, universities and researchers will be interested in the evidence supporting or refuting parts of the widely used and cited "diamond" framework.

This title was first published in 2000: An investigation of the issue of financial markets interdependence or integration through the application of recently developed and powerful techniques in time series econometrics. The text provides coverage of theoretical analysis and applications in the context of the Asia-Pacific region.

This book describes and assesses an emerging threat to states' territorial control and sovereignty: the hostile control of companies that carry out privatized aspects of sovereign authority. The threat arises from the massive worldwide shift of state activities to the private sector since the late 1970s in conjunction with two other modern trends - the globalization of business and the liberalization of international capital flows. The work introduces three new concepts: firstly, the rise of companies that handle privatized activities, and the associated advent of "post-government companies" that make such activities their core business. Control of them may reside with individual investors, other companies or investment funds, or it may reside with other states through state-owned enterprises or sovereign wealth funds. Secondly, "imperfect privatizations:" when a state privatizes an activity to another state's public sector. The book identifies cases where this is happening. It also elaborates on how ownership and influence of companies that perform privatized functions may not be transparent, and can pass to inherently hostile actors, including criminal or terrorist organizations. Thirdly, "belligerent companies," whose conduct is hostile to those of states where they are active. The book concludes by assessing the adequacy of existing legal and regulatory regimes and how relevant norms may evolve.

This title was first published in 2002: Utilizing the case of the 1994 US decision to delink China's human rights record from most favoured nation status, Susan C. Morris addresses the critical issues where commercialism and human rights converge. This insightful addition to the literature on US foreign policy on human rights draws on both political and economic theory, touching upon the relationships between labour conditions and production, business and freedom of association, management and bargaining and ultimately the relationship between economics and human justice. Empirically, the work draws on US Congressional proceedings and debates throughout the decade of the 1990s. Although the trade and human rights debate has long been ingrained in the rhetoric of scholars, the research approaches the issue within the context of communism's last major threshold, making it a valuable contribution to the field of international relations.

In the post-Cold War world, trade is the new arena for competition-between nations, between groups, between ethical and theoretical ideas. In this revised and updated second edition of "Dilemmas of International Trade" political economist Bruce Moon puts contemporary trade events--NAFTA, United States-Japan controversies, the Uruguay Round of GATT, China's Most Favored Nation status, the founding of the World Trade Organization--into historical and theoretical perspective with the British Corn Laws, the Great Depression, the Bretton Woods system, and the origins of the European Union. Economic theory, terms, and concepts are clearly explained and contextualized with those from international relations.Throughout the book, three central dilemmas are examined: the unequal distribution of income and wealth created by international trade, the tradeoff among competing values that trade requires, and the difficult interrelationship between economic and foreign policy goals within and among trading nations. Though internationally framed, each dilemma has ramifications at a variety of levels all the way down to the individual's role in the global economy-as a consumer, as a citizen, and ultimately as a moral agent.

Business and NGOs are seen by many to be locked in a perpetual war of values and ideologies. What this book demonstrates is that the war has moved on. Many companies are now engaging with their stakeholders - even those with which they have traditionally had antagonistic relationships - as part of their strategies for improved social and environmental performance. With contributions from an outstanding and diverse group of experts from business, consultancy, research institutes, NGOs and academia, Terms for Endearment investigates the how and why of these new collaborations and provides concrete examples of business working with stakeholder pressure for sustainable development. The book forcibly argues the notion of organizations of civil society setting the standards for business behaviour in the 21st century. For those companies that choose not to pursue high standards of social and environmental performance, confrontation with NGOs must be expected, with negative consequences for sales, costs and social capital, i.e. the bottom line. Terms for Endearment therefore presents business with both a threat and opportunity as we move closer to establishing a social basis for global economic activity.