This book is based on the premise that Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in the Asia-Pacific significantly impact on the material progress of the peoples of this region. These impacts - in terms of the benefits and costs associated with RTAs - will vary greatly from country to country. The internationally acclaimed contributors examine the theoretical perspective of RTAs in relation to exchange rates, the role and goals of the WTO and agriculture. The tensions and trade frictions resulting from the formation of trade blocs and their conflicts with the roles and goals of the WTO are also examined in the book. Those economies that are considered the economic powerhouses of the region including China, Japan, South Korea, major ASEAN countries and Australia are discussed in depth. The findings of the book suggest that RTAs are becoming increasingly popular in the Asia-Pacific region. However the associated costs and benefits depend on a number of complex factors including exchange rates, negotiation skills, the sectors included or excluded from the RTA, and the level of economic development of the nations signing the RTAs. The book will be particularly useful to academics, researchers, consultants, students, policy makers (including trade negotiators), and practitioners involved in trade and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

The second half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of international economic law as a major force in the international legal system. This force has been severely tested by the economic crisis of 2008. Unable to prevent the crisis, the existing legal mechanisms have struggled to react against its direst consequences. This book brings together leading experts to analyse the main causes of the crisis and the role that international economic law has played in trying to prevent it, on the one hand, and worsening it, on the other. The work highlights the reaction and examines the tools that have been created by the international legal field to implement international cooperation in an effort to help put an end to the crisis and avoid similar events in the future. The volume brings together eminent legal academics and economists to examine key issues from the perspectives of trade law, financial law, and investment law with the collective aim of reform of international economic governance.

First published in 1978. This book provides a simple, systematic, yet rigorous treatment of the key aspects of the pure theory of international trade and distortions. The opening chapter presents the standard two-factor, two-commodity barter model of international trade and a comprehensive treatment of the important properties and relationships. The rest of the book consists of four sections: parts One and Two are devoted to an analysis of factor market imperfections, and Parts Three and Four consider the trade-theoretical consequences of product market imperfections. A concluding chapter presents some generalised theorems. This book would be of interest to students of economics.

China's recent economic reforms have opened its economy to the world. This policy, however, is not new: in the late nineteenth century, the United States put forward the Open Door Policy as a counter to European exclusive 'spheres of influence' in China. This book, based on extensive original archival research, examines and re-evaluates China's Open Door Policy. It considers the policy from its inception in 1899 right through to the post-1978 reforms. It relates these changes to the various shifts in China's international relations, discusses how decades of foreign invasion, civil war and revolution followed the destruction of the policy in the 1920s, and considers how the policy, when applied in Taiwan after 1949, and by Deng Xiaoping in mainland China after 1978, was instrumental in bringing about, respectively, Taiwan's 'economic miracle' and mainland China's recent economic boom. The book argues that, although the policy was characterised as United States 'economic imperialism' during the Cold War, in reality it helped China retain its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In a deeply iniquitous world, where the gains from trade are distributed unevenly and where trade rules often militate against progressive social values, human health, and sustainable development, NGOs are widely touted as our best hope for redressing these conditions. As a critical voice of the poor and marginalized, many are engaged in a global struggle for democratic norms and social justice. Yet the potential for NGOs to bring about meaningful change is limited. This book examines whether improvements in participatory opportunities for progressive NGOs results in substantive and normative policy change in one of the major trading powers, the European Union. Hannah advances a constructivist account of the role of NGOs in the EU's trade policymaking process. She argues that NGOs have been instrumental in providing education, raising awareness, and giving a voice to broader societal concerns about proposed trade deals, both when they take advantage of formal participatory opportunities and when they protest from the streets and in the media. However, the book also highlights how NGO inputs are mediated by the social structure of global trade governance. Epistemes-the background knowledge, ideological and normative beliefs, and shared assumptions about how the world works-determine who has a voice in global trade governance. Showing how NGOs succeed only when their advocacy conforms broadly to the dominant episteme, this book will be of value to scholars and students with an interest in NGOs and international trade negotiations. It will also be of interest to policymakers, national trade negotiators, government departments, and the trade policy community.

This book analyses whether, and how, equity and equitable principles can be employed as juridical tools in the legal reasoning of judges and lawyers in World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes where there is interaction between norms derived from the multilateral trade regime and other international legal regimes. Bringing the literature on equity and equitable principles in international law up to date this book tackles several legal problems which have emerged in WTO dispute settlement practice as well as engaging with the concept of the fragmentation of international law. The book provides an original argument about the role and significance of equity and equitable principles in the debate over fragmentation by providing a coherent methodology for addressing conflicts and overlaps between WTO and non-WTO norms in the context of Dispute Settlement Body proceedings.

This two volume set reprints 37 important contributions dealing with international trade throughout the world during the rise of Great Britain to world dominance, the industrialization of Western Europe, and the political and economic expansion of European powers into Asia, Africa and the Americas.The period from 1700 to 1850 saw many dramatic changes in the world economy. Frequent war among the European nations also affected these changes, influencing the timing and perhaps the ultimate magnitude of intercontinental trade. In addition to discussions of commodity trade in different parts of the world, essays in these volumes deal with the effects of governmental policies towards the flows of capital and labour and the emergence of trading institutions and their impacts on economic development. Many deal with controversial topics such as the role of slavery and the slave trade on European development, the burdens of mercantilism, and the impact of European expansion on the economies of the less developed parts of the world.

For almost fifty years Japan pursued a single-track approach focusing trade negotiation efforts exclusively on the global multilateral forum while shunning regionalism as harmful to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs/ World Trade Organisation system. However, following the tsunami disaster of March 2011 and widespread economic downturn Tokyo has engaged much more actively in pursuing bilateral Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs). This book explores the turnaround in Japanese strategy and trade policy. Drawing on case studies and including interviews with FTA policymakers within the government and key interest groups it focusses on the domestic political process of FTA and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to investigate the cause of the policy shift. This work will prove useful to students, scholars and policymakers interested in international political economy, Japanese trade policy, East Asian regionalism and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The European Union (EU) has emerged as a key actor in the global investment regime since the 1980s. At the same time, international investment policy and agreements, which govern international investment liberalisation, treatment and protection through investor-to-state dispute settlement, have become increasingly contentious in the European public debate. This book provides an accessible introduction to international investment policy and seeks to explain how the EU became an actor in the global investment regime. It offers a detailed analysis of the EU's participation in all major trade and investment negotiations since the 1980s and EU-internal competence debates to identify the causes behind the EU's growing role in this policy domain. Building on principal-agent and historical institutionalist models of incremental institutional change, the book shows that Commission entrepreneurship was instrumental in the emergence of the EU as a key actor in the global investment regime. It refutes business-centred liberal intergovernmental explanations, which suggest that business lobbying made the Member States accept the EU's growing role and competence in this domain. The book lends support to supranational and challenges intergovernmental thinking on European Integration. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of European and regional integration, EU foreign relations, EU trade and international investment law, business lobbying, and more broadly of international political economy.

Since the days of Adam Smith, Mercantilism has been a hotly debated issue. Condemned at the end of the 18th century as a "false" system of economic thinking and political practice, it has returned paradoxically to the forefront in regard to issues such as the creation of economic growth in developing countries. This concept is often used in order to depict economic thinking and economic policy in early modern Europe; its meaning and content has been highly debated for over two hundred years. Following on from his 1994 volume Mercantilism - The Shaping of an Economic Language, this new book from Lars Magnusson presents a more synthetic interpretation of Mercantilism not only as a theoretical system, but also as a system of political economy. This book incorporates samples of material from the 1994 publication alongside new material, ordered in a new set of chapters and up-date discussions on mercantilism up to the present day. Tracing the development of a particular political economy of Mercantilism in a period of nascent state making in Western and Continental Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, the book describes how European rulers regarded foreign trade and industrialisation as a means to achieve power and influence amidst international competition over trades and markets. Returning to debates concerning whether Mercantilism was a system of power or of wealth, Magnusson argues that it is in fact was both, and that contemporaries almost without exception saw these goals as interconnected. He also emphasises that Mercantilism was an all-European issue in a time of trade wars and the struggle for international power and recognition. In examining these issues, this book offers an unrivalled modern synthesis of Mercantilist ideas and practices.

The keys to global business success, as taught by a T-shirt's journey The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is a critically-acclaimed narrative that illuminates the globalization debates and reveals the key factors to success in global business. Tracing a T-shirt's life story from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory and back to a U.S. storefront before arriving at the used clothing market in Africa, the book uncovers the political and economic forces at work in the global economy. Along the way, this fascinating exploration addresses a wealth of compelling questions about politics, trade, economics, ethics, and the impact of history on today's business landscape. This new printing of the second edition includes a revised preface and a new epilogue with updates through 2014 on the people, industries, and policies related to the T-shirt's life story. Using a simple, everyday T-shirt as a lens through which to explore the business, economic, moral, and political complexities of globalization in a historical context, Travels encapsulates a number of complex issues into a single identifiable object that will strike a chord with readers as they: Investigate the sources of sustained competitive advantage in different industries Examine the global economic and political forces that explain trade patters between countries Analyze complex moral issues related to globalization and international business Discover the importance of cultural and human elements in international trade This story of a simple product illuminates the many complex issues which businesspeople, policymakers, and global citizens are touched by every day.

This book examines the contemporary production of economic value in today's financial economies. Much of the regulatory response to the global financial crisis has been based on the assumption that curbing the speculative 'excesses' of the financial sphere is a necessary and sufficient condition for restoring a healthy economic system, endowed with real values, as distinct from those produced by financial markets. How, though, can the 'intrinsic' value of goods and services produced in the sphere of the so-called real economy be disentangled from the 'artificial' value engineered within the financial sphere? Examining current projects of international legal regulation, this book questions the regulation of the financial sphere insofar as its excesses are juxtaposed to some notion of economic normality. Given the problem of neatly distinguishing these domains - and so, more generally, between economy and society, and production and social reproduction - it considers the limits of our current conceptualization of value production and measurement, with specific reference to arrangements in the areas of finance, trade and labour. Drawing on a range of innovative work in the social sciences, and attentive to the spatial and temporal connections that make the global economy, as well as the racial, gender and class articulations of the social reproductive field within it, it further asks: what alternative arrangements might be able to affect, and indeed alter, the value-making processes that underlie our current international regulatory framework?

Controlling Capital examines three pressing issues in financial market regulation: the contested status of public regulation, the emergence of 'culture' as a proposed modality of market governance, and the renewed ascendancy of private regulation. In the years immediately following the outbreak of crisis in financial markets, public regulation seemed almost to be attaining a position of command - the robustness and durability of which is explored here in respect of market conduct, European Union capital markets union, and US and EU competition policies. Subsequently there has been a softening of command and a return to public-private co-regulation, positioned within a narrative on culture. The potential and limits of culture as a regulatory resource are unpacked here in respect of occupational and organisational aspects, stakeholder connivance and wider political embeddedness. Lastly the book looks from both appreciative and critical perspectives at private regulation, through financial market associations, arbitration of disputes and, most controversially, market 'policing' by hedge funds. Bringing together a distinguished group of international experts, this book will be a key text for all those concerned with issues arising at the intersection of financial markets, law, culture and governance.

Water scarcity is an increasing problem in many parts of the world, yet conventional supply-side economics and management are insufficient to deal with it. In this book the role of water trading as an instrument of integrated water resources management is explored in depth. It is also shown to be an instrument for conflict resolution, where it may be necessary to reallocate water in the context of increasing scarcity. Recent experiences of implementation in different river basins have shown their potential as instruments for improving allocation. These experiences, however, also show that there are implementation challenges and some limitations to trading that need to be considered. This book explores the various types of water trading formulas through the experience of using them in different parts of the world. The final result is varied because, in most cases, trading is conditioned by the legal and institutional framework in which the transactions are carried out. The role of government and the definition of water rights and licenses are critical for the success of water trading. The book studies the institutional framework and how transactions have been undertaken, drawing some lessons on how trading can improve. It also analyses whether trading has really been a positive instrument to manage scarcity and improve water ecosystems and pollution emission problems in those parts of the world which are most affected. The book concludes by making policy proposals to improve the implementation of water trading.

This work examines the endeavours of the Arabian Peninsula States - namely the Gulf Cooperation Council member States of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as Jordan and Yemen as prospective GCC members - in establishing national intellectual property protection regimes which both meet their international treaty obligations and are also congruent with their domestic policy objectives. It uses the WTO's TRIPS Agreement of 1995 as the universal benchmark against which the region's laws are assessed. The challenges faced by the States in enforcing their intellectual property laws receive particular attention. Protecting Intellectual Property in the Arabian Peninsula considers the changing nature of the States' intellectual property laws since 1995. It argues that the decade immediately following the TRIPS Agreement was marked by a period of foreign forces shaping or influencing the character of the States' intellectual property legislative regimes, primarily through multilateral or bilateral trade-based agreements. The second and current decade, however, see a significant shift away from foreign influences and a move towards domestic and regional imperatives and initiatives taking over. The work also examines regional initiatives for the protection of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage, as areas of intellectual property which fall outside the parameters of the TRIPS Agreement, but which are of significant concern to the States and other developing countries, and to which they are giving increasing attention in terms of providing proper protection.

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. "The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/10.4324/9781315161976, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license."

The World That Trade Created brings to life the history of trade and its actors. In a series of brief, highly readable vignettes, filled with insights and amazing facts about things we tend to take for granted, the authors uncover the deep historical roots of economic globalization. Covering over seven hundred years of history, this book, now in its fourth edition, takes the reader around the world from the history of the opium trade to pirates, to the building of corporations and migration to the New World. The chapters are grouped thematically, each featuring an introductory essay designed to synthesize and elaborate on key themes, both familiar and unfamiliar. It includes ten new essays, on topics ranging from the early modern ivory and slave trades across the Indian Ocean, to the ways in which the availability of new consumer goods helped change work habits in both Europe and East Asia, and from the history of chewing gum to that of rare earth metals. The introductory essays for each chapter, the overall introduction and epilogue, and several of the essays have also been revised and updated. The World That Trade Created continues to be a key resource for anyone teaching world history, world civilization, and the history of international trade.

This title was first published in 2000: United States economic assistance programs in Latin America have been frequently restructured during the course of the past four decades. This book examines the evolution of US aid to the region, describes and explains US aid to the region since 1960. Focus is placed on four successive initiatives, the Alliance of Progress for the 1960s, the New Directions Mandate of the 1970s, the Private Enterprise Initiative of the 1980s and the Democracy Initiative of the 1990s. Empirical examples of actual programs, drawn from primary source documents, are used to illustrate more general propositions. The primary objectives of this study are to describe and explain US assistance policy toward Latin America during the past four decades and account for changes in the aid regime over time. Such assistance is typically linked to either the developmental needs of recipient countries, or the economic interests of transnational corporations.

The year 2015 witnessed significant events in the area of finance, trade and investment, which brought Asia to the centre of the world stage. The Trans-Pacific Partnership reached its basic agreement among the 12 member countries in October; the Chinese Yuan was included into the Special Drawing Rights basket of currencies at the International Monetary Fund in November; the ASEAN Economic Community came into force; and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was established with the 57 founding members in December. Within and outside the region, there is an urgent need to understand the underlying economic structures that brought about these events, which have global implications. The Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the National University of Singapore launched a series of conferences on 'Evolving Finance, Trade and Investment in Asia' with the aim of strengthening research capacity in Asia to influence regional policymaking. Looking forward, the conference will provide an annual platform for scholars to discuss the latest findings and to disseminate them to business leaders and policymakers. This book contains scholarship presented at the inaugural international conference in September 2015, and was originally published as a special issue of the International Economic Journal.

This title was first published in 2001. This informative volume gives penetrating insight into why multinational enterprises (MNEs) headquartered in Spain invested so heavily in Latin America in the 1990s. This is an invaluable resource for scholars of international political economics, international relations, economics, business and development studies and those with an interest in Spain and Latin America.

South Asia today is among the most unstable regions in the world, riddled by both intra- and inter-state conflict. This book presents a comprehensive technical analysis of the trade-conflict relationship within the region, and explores how South Asia demonstrates underperformance of its potential for economic integration. Using the gravity model framework, the book highlights quantitative estimates of the cost of conflict in terms of loss of trade for South Asia. Other variables representative of political and economic regimes are also included to make the model comprehensive, and the book goes on to discuss how the analysis reveals the overriding significance of the India-Pakistan relationship in the regional landscape. It looks at how the results of the econometric exercise reveal the extent to which a common border, when disputed, becomes a barrier rather than a facilitator to trade and, additionally, the extent to which long standing and persistent conflict can debilitate trade relationships. The book is a useful contribution for students and scholars of South Asian studies and international political economy, and assists in formulating policy to correct the anti-home bias that is evident in trade patterns of the South Asian economies.

An accessible introduction to multimodal contracts of carriage, Multimodal Transport Law works from general principles toward specific, technical problems. Adopting an international approach, it addresses such key topics as: Contracts of carriage Transport documents The parties to a contract of carriage International conventions on the carriage of goods Multimodal situations covered by unimodal conventions Conflict of laws The rules applicable to the individual legs of multimodal contracts of carriage The Rotterdam Rules Providing a close examination of the relevant rules, regulations and case law, this is essential reading for law students, useful for claims handlers and practitioners, and of interest for academics and legislators seeking a better appreciation of multimodal contracts of carriage.

Agriculture has been the unruly horse of the GATT/WTO system for a long time and efforts to halter it are still ongoing. This Research Handbook focuses on aspects of agricultural production and trade policy that are recognized for their importance but are often kept out of the limelight, such as the implication of national and international agricultural production and trade policies on national food security, global climate change, and biotechnology. It provides a summary of the state of the WTO agriculture negotiations as well as the relevant jurisprudence, but also, and uniquely, it focuses on the new and emerging issues of agricultural trade law and policy that are rarely addressed in the existing literature. With contributions from a multi-disciplinary team of leading analysts from around the world, this Research Handbook will appeal to trade negotiators, international trade law and policy academics as well as postgraduate students in the field. Contributors include: K. Anderson, D. Blandford, M. Cardwell, I. Carreno, M.G. Desta, G. Dutfield, C. Haberli, L.A. Jackson, T. Josling, E. Laurenza, A. Matthews, J.A. McMahon, F. Smith, S. Switzer

The current value of global trade has reached a staggering annual figure of $6 trillion in merchandise crossing borders. Such prolific global trading has, at the same time, begun to raise fears of pandemics and concerns for global health. Yet, investment in public health infrastructure and disease control was never designed to cope with international trade of this volume and diversity. Indeed, most health systems lag far behind, especially in poor countries. This has created new vulnerabilities for global populations to the introduction and amplification of infection through trade. Public fears have been further heightened by frightening news reports of deadly diseases such as Mad Cow disease and E. Coli. Risky Trade: Infectious Disease in the Era of Global Trade provides a thorough examination of the actual risks posed by disease in the age of globalization. Drawing on the economics of international trade and epidemiology, the author explores the critical health issues arising from the enormous increase in global trade and travel. Issues covered include: c The scale of the problem with particular reference to the Sakai outbreak of E. Coli; c Risks from particular microbes - Enteric and viral infections; Highly infectious agents; Antimicrobial resistance; and, Stealth agents; c Global outbreaks as a result of human travel and trade; c Prevention, surveillance and control; c The future health of global trading. In addition to highlighting the problems, the book also addresses some of the potential benefits the same globalization can bring to epidemic control through surveillance, diagnostics, treatment and investigation. The empirical approach ties together existing descriptions and case studies of epidemics building a comprehensive framework for examining new events and considering historical experience with infectious outbreaks. The volume will be a valuable guide to students, academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the areas of international trade, health economics, epidemiology, international/public health and disease control.

Between the 1930s and the 1950s rural life in Europe underwent profound changes, partly as a result of the Second World War, and partly as a result of changes which had been in progress over many years. This book examines a range of European countries, from Scandinavia to Spain and Ireland to Hungary, during this crucial period, and identifies the common pressures to which they all responded and the features that were unique to individual countries. In particular, it examines the processes of agricultural development over western Europe as a whole, the impact of the war on international trading patterns, the relationships between states and farmers, and the changing identities of rural populations. It presents a bold attempt to write rural history on a European scale, and will be of interest not only to historians and historical geographers, but also to those interested in the historical background to the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, to which the changes discussed here provided a dramatic prologue.