Global governance is a concern of not only global organisations but also of all individual states and of regional co-operation agreements among sovereign states. In 2001, the United Nations University has launched UNU-CRIS, a research and training programme on comparative regional integration to study the role of regional integration in global governance. The present first volume of the World Report on Regional Integration is a timely product of the research undertaken at UNU-CRIS. This new series of World Reports will certainly contribute to the discussion on the interaction between regional and global governance. And by bringing together insights from different parts of the UN system, in particular the five UN regional economic commissions and UNCTAD, this report will also contribute to a better understanding of the role of regions in the UN. Hans van Ginkel, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Rector of UNU The World Report on Regional Integration brings together a well-balanced mix of economic analysis, facts and political perspectives on the topic of regional integration. The most valuable and unique contribution of this volume is the enhanced clarity it brings to the complex picture of trade and investment integration, the entanglement of which points to the need for more effective regional governance as a building block of multilateral governance in this area. As the world's most dynamic trading region, Asia and the Pacific is a key player in this process, and the UNESCAP secretariat, in its service to the region, will continue to accord high priority to this policy objective. Kim Hak-Su, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and ExecutiveSecretary of UNESCAP

This volume assesses the implementation of the EU's cohesion policy and the role that the policy has in stimulating ten new member states from eastern and southern European countries to join the EU in 2004 and in attracting another three to four countries that will join in the near future.

How can the notion of competitiveness be reasonably applied to an economy? What relation does high or low competitiveness have to the current account? Do huge and persistent imbalances really reflect competitive positions of local firms or are they merely due to a misalignment of exchange rates or even outright protectionism, as the US-Japan trade conflict suggests?All these questions are rigorously addressed in International Competitiveness and the Balance of Payments. In examining the determinants of current account balances the conventional competitiveness approach - in which deficits are assumed to indicate low competitiveness - is contrasted with an intertemporal view of the balance of payments. By emphasizing locational quality as the decisive factor in international competitiveness, the authors are able to offer fundamentally different conclusions about the determinants of current account debates. As well as theoretical evidence advocating the intertemporal view, the authors present four case studies in support of this approach: Germany before and after unification, Spain before joining the EMS, the United States since the early 1980s, and Japan's persistent current account surpluses.

This major Handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the key issues surrounding the rapid expansion of Latin America's manufacturing sector. It systematically examines the most important factors influencing the comparative advantages and the globalization of manufacturing industries in the region. The Handbook of Latin American Trade in Manufactures provides a detailed account of trade and investment policies, international technology transfers, macroeconomic stabilization and structural adjustment policies and industry-specific initiatives affecting the export competitiveness of Latin America's manufactures. The four major parts of the Handbook contain detailed assessments of regional and country-specific developments in manufacturing trade, and the statistical appendix provides essential information on the countries of the region. This Handbook will be welcomed by a wide range of economists in the fields of international trade and investment, industrial organization, development economics and Latin American Trade. It will also be of interest to business analysts and policymakers concerned with the formation of trade strategies.

In the curricula of highly ranked MBA programs, two areas of discussion are conspicuously absent: International Trade, and Global Macroeconomic Policy. In this post-financial crisis environment, as the US and other advanced economies continue to experience sluggish growth, persistently high unemployment, and political agitation for increasingly protectionist policies, discussions pertaining to trade, currencies, and international capital flows are often fraught with emotion, tension, and hysteria. This book cuts through the emotions and superficial "solutions" and provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the hard-hitting theoretical models that drive the global flow of goods, services, and capital in the real world. A key feature of this volume is the presentation of the theoretical models, and the discussion of their implications in the context of real-world applications. This text is uniquely designed for current and future business leaders who are, or will be, engaged in the global economy. Armed with an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings driving goods, capital and ideas across national boundaries, readers will learn to anticipate the effects of trade and macroeconomic policy changes, and will have the tools to make sound, informed decisions for themselves and their global organizations.

China and India already rank among the world's largest economies, and each is moving rapidly towards the centre stage of the global economy. In this process different priorities have been placed on economic reforms in the past two decades--China taking a more outward strategy and India, until recently, a more inward one. Can they continue to rank among the fastest expanding economies? This volumes addresses the issue, highlighting what has worked and what more needs to be done to ensure sustained rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. Addressing the two countries' recent experiences with growth and reform, this book provides important insight for other developing economies.

First published in 1975, this book traces the origins of our modern economy, showing the routes by which nations have either achieved wealth or have been impoverished. W. W. Rostow brings together issues of public policy, international trade and the world of science and technology, arguing that conventional economic thought has failed to relate scientific innovation to the economic process. Chapters consider the politics of modernization, the Commercial Revolution and the development of the world economy between 1783 and 1820.

Economic theory and empirical research confirm that the rising international integration caused an increase in aggregate income at least for the industrialized countries, although trade liberalization is no Pareto improvement. In the empirical literature, there is a consensus that the international integration implies a destruction of low-skilled job vacancies and an increase in income, while the conclusions are mixed concerning the implication for the overall unemployment rate. This book seeks to find theoretical explanations to these empirical regularities. The book poses three questions: What are the implications of trade liberalization for the labor market in the presence of trade unions if we account for both firm and worker heterogeneity? What are the implications of a redistribution policy if the government chooses unemployment benefits to partially compensate the losers of trade liberalization?, and what is the optimal redistribution scheme for trade gains if the government explicitly takes into account the consequences for the income distribution? This book presents a rigorous theoretical analysis to answer the questions posed. Beside the well-known firm-selection effect on goods markets caused by trade liberalization, a selection process on the labor market -the worker-selection effect - is presented. The book also argues that if welfare is measured in the traditional manner, i.e. income per capita, compensating the loser of trade liberalization by paying unemployment benefits decreases welfare, but the intensity of the reduction differs with respect to the chosen funding of the unemployment benefits. Another significant contribution of this book is that if the objective function of the government, i.e. the modified welfare function, includes both aggregate income and income inequality, the redistribution of trade gains can lead to an increase in welfare.

Dedicated to the measurement and definition of market power across a broad array of industries, this text should provide economists and lawyers with an insight into how anti-trust economists actually go about measuring market power in a given industry. The "Contributions to Economic Analysis" series consists of a number of previously unpublished studies. The term economic analysis is used because it covers the activities of the theoretical economist and the research worker.

This book focuses on East Asia, which has been attracting FDI and a centre of industrial agglomeration, and because of this, the production structure in the world has been dynamically transforming. This book analyzes this world trend and provides a framework for strategy that is required not only for Japanese local governments to implement industrial cluster policy, but also for firms to survive the global competition.

Alan R. Posner discusses the ways state government agencies can and do promote and facilitate the overseas exports of producers in their respective states. He presents detailed case studies of successful state programs and outlines how business can utilize these programs and what opportunities export trading companies can provide. The contributions made by state labor relations specialists and universities to export promotion are described. The author provides a comprehensive directory and listing of the export promotion services each state offers. Posner focuses attention on specific problems and opportunities in agricultural exports. The long-term consequences of continued U.S. emphasis on the export of services and capital investment versus agricultural products and manufactures are evaluated in depth.

When the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in late 2008, the news sent shockwaves across the global economy. The drop in confidence decimated world trade, leading to what the authors of this book call the Great Trade Collapse. The fall in trade was sudden, severe and synchronised - falling faster than during the Great Depression and by more than at any time since the Second World War; more than during the oil-price hikes of the 1970s, the recession of the early 1980s and the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2001. It affected all 104 nations on which the WTO reports. This book, first published as an eBook on VoxEU.org to inform world leaders ahead of the WTO's Trade Ministerial conference in Geneva in late 2009, presents the economics profession's received wisdom on the causes, consequence and prospects of the Great Trade Collapse - a wisdom that continues to serve the trade community today. The authors are: Dony Alex, Carlo Altomonte, Sonia Araujo, Richard Baldwin, Rudolfs Bems, Fred Bergsten, Gilberto Biacuna, Ingo Borchert, Peter Draper, Simon Evenett, Michael Ferrantino, Lionel Fontagne, Joseph Francois, Caroline Freund, Jeffry Frieden, Guillaume Gaulier, Leonardo Iacovone, David Jacks, Robert Johnson, Tonia Kandiero, Anne Krueger, Rajiv Kumar, Aimee Larsen, Andrei Levchenko, Logan Lewis, Aaditya Mattoo, Christopher Meissner, Jesse Mora, Leonce Ndikumana, Dennis Novy, Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Kevin O'Rourke, Gianmarco Ottaviano, William Powers, Raymond Robertson, Peter Schott, Daria Taglioni, Kiyoyasu Tanaka, Linda Tesar, Ruyhei Wakasugi, Julia Woerz, Kei-Mu Yi, Veronika Zavacka.

This book examines the nature of the evolutionary relationship that developed between the United States and the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) system, and considers the effects of this relationship on their individual evolution and development. These effects were felt, within the GATT system, on its role in international trade, manner and method of functioning, form, and the very nature of its existence; and, within the United States, on its international trade policy and role in the system, the nature of the relationship between the executive and legislative branches vis-a-vis trade, and the relationship between the branches of government and private industry.
The book begins by looking at the events, particularly in the 1920's and 1930's, that predated and created the environment out of which the GATT system developed. It then looks at the formation process and the development of the GATT system as a whole. Since the role of the United States was crucial throughout this entire process, the book examines that role in particular depth, especially as it reflected and helped to form US trade legislation. The role of the other countries throughout this entire process is included in the examination and analysis only in so far as they had an effect upon the evolution and development of the GATT system and affected the course of US action.

This two volume book presents an in-depth analysis of many of the most important issues facing today's shipping and port sectors. Volume 2 of Dynamic Shipping and Port Development in the Globalized Economy focuses on the emerging trends in ports.

Neither Free Trade Nor Protection provides a critical exploration of mainstream and alternative theories of international trade and presents original evidence of trade's consequences. It rejects the choice between openness and closure. Mainstream economists almost always support 'free trade' but their arguments for this are flawed and too often rely on a caricature of their opponents as simple-minded protectionists. Meanwhile, many critics successfully emphasize shortcomings of the orthodoxy but struggle to identify a more positive agenda, either seeing free trade as a desirable, if unachievable, end or equally simplistically blaming trade for international inequality. Both sides of the trade debate share much in terms of how they understand the objectives of national wealth and in how they overlook other economic processes and social questions. Bill Dunn's examination covers:- critical interrogation of both mainstream and heterodox theories - systematic evaluation of contemporary evidence - historical context - trade, restructuring and the crisis of the 2000s - economics as a social science Written in plain English, this book will appeal to students, researchers and political activists alike. It is an indispensable resource to those seeking a deeper understanding of alternative approaches to the mainstream theories of trade and economics.

In his foreword to the book, Sidney Weintraub argues that the negotiations leading to the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) may be the most important between the United States and Mexico since the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago. This book examines those negotiations from the vantage point of one of the key Mexican officials, Hermann von Bertrab. As an insider, but as someone on the other side of the discussions, he provides a prospective rarely offered of contemporary American foreign and economic policymaking.

Concentrating on the negotiations between the United States and Mexico, with some analysis of the Canadian component, von Bertrab characterizes the discussions as moving through four stages: an initial fast track, the detailed examination of the proposals, a stage of mobilization political support and working out side agreements, and a ratification stage. All in all, a fascinating report on a major diplomatic event and an opportunity to see ourselves as we are seen by foreign officials. Of considerable interest to scholars and researchers of contemporary American foreign and economic policymaking and Latin American Studies.

Fundamental changes in recent decades have heightened the need for new and viable solutions to the problems of world trade. In the new climate of internationalisation an expanding number of firms are engaged in international trade, barriers have been coming down, and trading blocs, whose members may share the advantage of lower tariffs and the absence of quotas, are beginning to predominate. Such systems, however, have a generally negative impact on global trade and can be catastrophic for developing and non-industrialised economies.

The degree of recent change has created an uncertainty that now demands new global trade systems - a new set of rules for the new environment. This book tackles some of the unresolved issues in international trade that will continue to press into the next century: the continuing controversy over NAFTA; globalised trade policy agreements vs local trade agreements; global leadership; the development and impact of the WTO; the Single European Market; trade controls; transition economies; trade policy reform; global airline competition; competition in financial services; trade wars; trade policies; commercial policy, and international technology cooperation.

The great inter-war depression has long been seen as an unprecedented economic disaster for the peoples of the non-European world. This book, with its detailed assessment of the impact of the depression on the economies of Africa and Asia, challenges the orthodox view, and is essential reading for those with a teaching or research interest in the modern economic history of those continents. Established specialists in the modern economic history of parts of Africa or Asia put forward a number of revisionist arguments. They show that some economies were left essentially unscathed by the depression, and that for many export-dependent peasant communities which did face a severe drop in cash income as world commodity prices collapsed from the late 1920s, there was a range of important responses and reactions by which they could defend their economic welfare. For many peasant communities the depression was not a disaster but an opportunity.

A collection of one-on-one discussions with 40 of the world's greatest thought and action leaders and prominent philanthropic figures. The Business of Philanthropy shares unique insights into the power of strategic philanthropy that will inform, inspire and mobilise the next generation of social innovators, philanthropy sector practitioners and social impact leaders to drive positive change. Prominent philanthropists such as Bill Gates, HRH King Charles, HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah and many more discuss their concerns and hopes for the world of today and tomorrow. They shed light on new revelations and insights regarding the increasingly important role that strategic philanthropy will play in solving some of the world's biggest problems. In a world that is wrestling with a host of existential risks, The Business of Philanthropy addresses the need for fresh, new perspectives on old and new problems, as well as an infusion of hope and optimism to face these problems.

With dynamic growth in China and India, recovery in Europe and Japan, and notable gains in U.S. productivity, the question arises: Can Latin America compete? Many argue that macroeconomic and trade reforms achieved in the 1990s merely put a handsome coat of paint over education, labor, judicial, and administrative reforms that remain incomplete. This book identifies and analyzes ten factors that most influence the competitiveness of Latin American nations and will shape their economic futures. In their frank and direct assessment--pulling no punches--the authors also present viable courses of action that Latin America can take to increase its ability to compete in the global economy.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of neo-liberal and progressive economic reforms and policies implemented in Chile since the Pinochet dictatorship. The core thesis of the book is that there is not just 'one Chilean economic model', but that several have been in force since the coup of 1973.

The physical distribution of products is an important element in the marketing operations of all productive enterprises, and in many cases efficient distribution is the most important single factor leading to success. With the emergence of post-industrial society the role of distribution has come to increasingly be viewed as a generator of wealth in the economy, attracting the interest of public policy makers anxious to influence investment, employment and efficiency in the sector.

First published in 1982, this book isolates the major trends affecting the main institutions in distribution and contrasts the processes of change amongst the countries and regions of the European Economic Community. Structural change in the industry is related to spatial change in the regions and comparisons made of the varied public policy responses in member countries. An interesting and relevant reissue, this title will be of particular value to economics and business students with an interest in the development of the European consumer and post-industrial Europe.