Free Trade and the Environment examines the impact economic integration has on the environment, using Mexico, as it transformed itself from one of the most closed economies to one of the world's most open, as a case study. As new nations join the Free Trade Area of the Americas or the World Trade Organization, they are considering the path taken by Mexico nearly 20 years ago. The author investigates two commonly held and opposing beliefs in the policy community about the impact of free trade on the environment. While some believe that free trade will raise incomes in developing countries, thus encouraging governments to protect the environment, others argue that free trade simply provides an incentive for heavily polluting industries to move to developing countries with lax environmental regulations. The author shows that for Mexico in fact neither position is correct, and concludes with suggestions for free trade policies that couple environmental benefits with economic integration.

Export Credit Agencies provide insurance and guarantees to domestic firms in the event that payment is not received from an importer. Thus, ECAs reduce uncertainties domestic firms face in exporting their goods. Most countries have ECAs that operate as official or quasi-official branches of their governments and they therefore represent an important part of government strategies to facilitate trade, promote domestic industry and distribute foreign aid. The Political Economy of Trade Finance provides a detailed analysis as to how firms use the medium and longer-term financing provided by ECAs to export goods to developing countries. It also explains how ECA arrears have contributed to the debt of developing countries and illustrates how the commercial interests of ECA activity are evident in decisions about IMF arrangements and related to Paris Club debt rescheduling agreements. Finally, the book documents how the medium and longer-term export credit insurance support provided by the G-7 ECAs was a central component in mitigating steep declines in international trade during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. This book is of great interest to both academics and students in the field of political economy, finance and politics of international trade. It is also of importance to policy makers.

This book provides the reader with a comprehensive analysis of US Federal Antitrust and EC Competition Law. It is encyclopaedic in coverage: examining every constituent element of the law and landmark decisions from the perspectives of economics and policy goals, explaining their implications for commercial operations and advocating policy reforms where necessary.

Twenty years after NAFTA, the consensus seems to be that the regional project in North America is dead. The trade agreement was never followed up by new institutions that might cement a more ambitious regional community. The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), launched with some fanfare in 2005, was quietly discontinued in 2009. And new cooperative ventures like the US-Canada Beyond the Border talks and the US-Mexico Merida Initiative suggest that the three governments have reverted to the familiar, pre-NAFTA pattern of informal, incremental bilateralism. One could argue, however, that NAFTA itself has been buried, and yet the region somehow lives on, albeit in a form very different from regional integration in other parts of the world. A diverse group of contributors, from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with experience in academia, government service, think tanks and the private sector bring to bear a sophisticated and much needed examination of regional governance in North America, its historical origins, its connection to the regional distribution of power and the respective governments' domestic institutions, and the variance of its forms and function across different issue areas. The editors begin by surveying the literature on North American regional politics, matching up developments there with parallel debates and controversies in the broader literatures on comparative regional integration and international policy coordination more generally. Six contributors later explore the mechanisms of policy coordination in specific issue-areas, each with an emphasis on a particular set of actors, and with its own way of characterizing the relevant political and diplomatic dynamics. Chapters on the political context for regional policy coordination follow leading to concluding remarks on the future of North America. At a time when scholarly interest in North America seems to be waning, even while important and interesting political and economic developments are taking place, this volume will reinvigorate the study of North America as a region, to better understand its past, present and future.

Globalization and international economic governance offer unprecedented opportunities for cultural exchange. Foreign direct investments can promote cultural diversity and provide the funds needed to locate, recover and preserve cultural heritage. Nonetheless, globalization and international economic governance can also jeopardize cultural diversity and determine the erosion of the cultural wealth of nations. Has an international economic culture emerged that emphasizes productivity and economic development at the expense of the common wealth? This book explores the 'clash of cultures' between international law and international cultural law, and asks whether States can promote economic development without infringing their cultural wealth. The book contains original chapters by experts in the field. Key issues include how international courts and tribunals are adjudicating culture-related cases; the interplay between indigenous peoples' rights and economic globalization; and the relationships between culture, human rights, and economic activities. The book will be of great interest and use to researchers and students of international trade law, cultural heritage law, and public international law.

The author has virtually incomparable experience in both providing trade policy advice to more than 25 countries on behalf of the World Bank and also publishing quality journal articles in most of those cases. In this volume, he focuses on his work on: (i) trade policies for countries making the transition from planned to market economies; (ii) his trade policy guideline papers for the World Bank on trade policies for poverty alleviation, uniform tariff policy, adjustment costs of trade liberalization, exchange rate overvaluation, globalization and technology transfer and rules of thumb on regional trade policies; (iii) multilateral, dynamic and environmental issues in trade policy using computable general equilibrium models; (iv) trade policy of the United States in the auto and steel industries; and (v) mathematical methods for modeling. The papers show an unusual combination of policy relevance, advice and impact, with rigor and international trade theory insights.The papers in this volume have appeared in many of the economics profession's more prestigious journals, including Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economic Journal, the Journal of International Economics, International Economic Review, European Economic Review, Canadian Journal of Economics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Comparative Economic, Review of International Economics, World Economy, the Southern Economic Journal, the World Bank Economic Review, the Japanese Economic Review and the Latin American Journal of Economics. In this book, the author elaborates on the articles by discussing some of the policy contexts for the requests for the work from developing and transition countries to the World Bank, the key trade theory or policy insights, policy recommendations and conclusions and the policy impacts.

Our post-industrialised global economy has achieved spectacular success and pushed back poverty to an extent previously thought impossible. This success is ultimately based on the continued supply of both renewable and non-renewable resources. Will this supply of primary commodities remain sufficient to support global economic growth? Why are the gains for countries specialising on commodity production often so limited? Can commodity dependent countries diversify into other economic activities? Primary Commodities and Economic Development addresses the changing position of primary commodities in the world economy and investigates their importance for commodity exporting under-developed countries. The book commences with a review of the theoretical foundations for inter-dependence between commodity specialisation and economic underdevelopment. Having related the role of commodity exports and the commodity terms of trade to growth models relevant to developing economies, the discussion shifts to an in-depth review of the statistical properties of the commodity terms of trade. The review of commodity price trends at the global level is then rounded off with a series of country case studies showing the concrete threats and opportunities surrounding commodity specialization. This book will be of essential reading for those with an interest in development economics and international economics, as well as for scholars of natural resource and agricultural economics.

An important read for academics and policy-makers alike, Hard Choices, Soft Law asserts that voluntary standards, or 'soft' law, are an important supplement to international law in a number of areas. This key work firstly outlines the approach taken to combining soft and hard law and trade, environment and labour values in the WTO and NAFTA, and in the prospective Millennium Round. Then, using the forestry sector - a realm where formal international law remains largely absent - the book provides a detailed examination of the role of soft law in action. It demonstrates how soft and hard law can be combined to promote trade, environmental and social cohesion, in ways that also permit sustainable development. The book presents a wealth of knowledge from a range of contributors familiar with the work of the G7/G8, the OECD, the Biodiversity Convention and the Codex Alimentarius.

The diversity of Latin American trade agreements established since the mid-1980s reflects a broadening range of strategic perceptions and orientations. The argument of this volume is that this increasing divergence among the arrangements reflects fundamental and growing differences among their broader strategic perceptions and political and economic objectives. These, in turn, are grounded in each country's economic profile, the institutional configuration of its trade policy process, and the constraints and opportunities policymakers perceive at the domestic and international levels. The opening chapter in this volume provides a theoretical framework that highlights the political-economic tradeoffs entailed in different trade strategies. The remaining chapters in sections I and II focus on domestic and international constraints involved in the formulation, pursuit, and implementation of trade policies. The last half of the volume contains detailed, empirically grounded studies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the dynamics of Mercosur.

Multinational Enterprises and Trade Policy comprises a selection of Alan Rugman's most important and influential articles on the multinational enterprise and government policy. This volume focuses on trade and investment policy as well as applications of the theory of internalization to government policy. Topics covered include: strategic trade policy, the 'double diamond' framework, the 'shelter' theory, the issue of foreign control, the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA and recent contributions on business networks and competitiveness. Special attention is given to the role of multinational enterprises in Canada, Japan and Europe. This book will be essential reading for both academics and policymakers interested in the relationships between multinational enterprises and governments. Together with its companion volume, The Theory of Multinational Enterprises, it will improve access to the work of Alan Rugman, one of the most cited scholars working on the multinational enterprise.

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 Maritime Europe, 1500 1800 looks at early modern China in some of its most complicated and intriguing relations with a world of increasing global interconnection. New World silver, Chinese tea, Jesuit astronomers at the Chinese court, and merchants and marauders of all kinds play important roles here. Although pieces of these stories have been told before, these chapters provide the fullest and clearest available summaries, based on sources in Chinese and in European languages, making this information accessible to students and scholars interested in the growing connections among continents and civilizations in the early modern period.

Nontariff Measures and International Trade includes 20 chapters authored by John Beghin and co-authors over the last 20 years on the economics of quality-standard like nontariff measures in the context of international trade. This book provides a coherent and comprehensive treatment of these nontariff measures, from their measurement to their effects on trade and welfare. In Part I, the authors use different perspectives to make the case that, unlike tariffs, quality-standard like nontariff measures are complex to measure and analyze and do not easily lead to general policy prescriptions. Then, Part II contains contributions on measurements of welfare and trade effects of nontariff measures, accounting for potential market imperfections. Part III presents chapters on the potential protectionism of nontariff measures when they are used to favor some economic agents over society. The last part presents cases studies of nontariff measures in different industries, markets, and countries.

Britain's Place in the World examines the establishment and effectiveness of import controls, particularly quotas. Placing quotas back in the centre of British history, Milward and Brennan make some radical claims for Britain's economic performance in a global context. Looking into a wide variety of industries from motorcars to typewriters, raw chemicals to food produce, they examine the intended and actual obstruction to imported goods represented by quotas, and the political and financial ramifications beyond the statistics. This is the fourth book to be published in the Routledge Explorations in Economic History series.

This volume provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of the Multilateral Non-Proliferation Export Control system and the national and international context within which it functions. Key features: "

"Developments of International Trade Theory" offers the life-long reflections of a distinguished Japanese scholar who pioneered the application of general equilibrium theory to international trade. Written in a style that makes it easily accessible to scholars and students, the book combines standard topics on international trade with a discussion of the evolution of the theory and as well as recent discussions on topics such as immiserizing growth.

This book consists of two parts. Part I examines the historical progression of international trade theory, and Part II addresses the modern theory and recent developments of international trade. In this way the book offers a comprehensive evaluation of the non-monetary problems of international economics.

Taking advantage of the publication of this new edition, the author includes two new chapters, Adam Smith and Disequilibrium Economic Theory and Complete Specialization in Classical Economics, which readers will profit from reading after they have studied the basic theories of international trade in the main part of the book."

Following its foundation in 1957, the European Economic Community set about establishing itself as a major player on the world stage. One of the first key arenas in which the new organisation began to make its presence felt was the GATT negotiations that took place between 1963 and 1967, known as the Kennedy Round. Through a reconstruction of these on-going negotiations, this book charts the emergence of the EEC as a world trading power and the strategies it adopted that were to have a lasting effect upon European trade policies. As well as proving an important background to the Kennedy Round, the study explains how the EEC/European Union became a powerful actor in international trade, championing a liberal attitude toward the industrial sector but a protectionist one in agriculture. It also addresses the impact of the EEC/EU as regional trading area on the multilateral and global trading system and the EEC/EU trade policy-making. Through an historical analysis of these topics, a much fuller understanding of the actual role and stance of the EEC/EU in world trade is provided, one that not only illuminates events at the time, but provides essential background to the challenges still faced by the international trading system and the World Trade Organization. Based on a wealth of documentary research drawn from European and US archives, this book will be welcomed by all wishing to better understand the complex nature of international trade in an increasingly globalised market place.

During the 1990s, the Eastern Caribbean was caught in a bitter trade dispute between the US and EU over the European banana market. When the World Trade Organization rejected preferential access for Caribbean growers in 1998 the effect on the region's rural communities was devastating. This volume examines the "banana wars" from the vantage point of St. Lucia's Mabouya Valley, whose recent, turbulent history reveals the impact of global forces. The author investigates how the contemporary structure of the island's banana industry originated in colonial policies to create a politically "stable" peasantry, followed by politicians' efforts to mobilize rural voters. These political strategies left farmers dependent on institutional and market protection, leaving them vulnerable to any alteration in trade policy. This history gave way to a new harsh reality, in which neoliberal policies privilege price and quantity over human rights and the environment. However, against these challenges, the author shows how the rural poor have responded in creative ways, including new social movements and Fair Trade farming, in order to negotiate a stronger position for themselves in the in a shifting global economy.

The opening up of world markets, rapid growth of trade and foreign direct investment create manifold problems for competition policy. Thus, international mergers may have adverse effects on many countries, international cartels may carve up world markets and dominant firms may seek to maintain their global position by exclusionary conduct. These problems have been recognised for more than half a century and some attempts have been made internationally to address them, so far with limited success. This progressive book seeks to explore the problems and concerns that globalisation has created for competition policy. The book begins by setting out the principles of competition and trade policies, and then goes on to address the impact of market globalisation on what are usually thought of as traditional antitrust concerns. These include the analysis of the difficulties arising from collusion and other restrictive practices, government sponsored 'voluntary co-operation', vertical restrictions and market access, pricing strategies of dominant firms and international mergers, all illustrated with a number of prominent case studies. The author concludes with an illuminating discussion on the feasibility of international co-operation on competition policy, the faltering progress that has been made so far and the prospects for future advances. This comprehensive volume will prove to be an invaluable resource to students and scholars of law and economics. It will also find wide appeal amongst researchers, policy makers and practitioners with an interest in industrial organisation, antitrust policy and globalisation.

This monograph offers the first systematic overview of the protection of human rights in trade agreements in the Americas. Traditionally, trade agreements in the Americas were concerned with economic questions and paid little attention to human rights. However, in the wake of the 'new regionalism', which emerged at the end of the last century, more clauses addressing social issues such as labour rights and environmental standards were inserted in trade agreements. As economic integration increased, a framework for the protection of human rights evolved. This book argues that this framework allows for human rights protection on a transnational level, while constructing regional identities. Looking at the four key regional integration processes, namely the Caribbean Community, the Central American Integration System, the Andean Community of Nations and the Southern Common Market, and also at the North American Free Trade Agreement, it shows how the integration process has reached a considerable degree of consolidation. Writing on key sources in English for the first time, this book will be essential reading for all free trade and human rights scholars.

Worldwide supplies of sugar and cotton were impacted dramatically as the U.S. Civil War dragged on. New areas of production entered these lucrative markets, particularly in the South Pacific, and plantation agriculture grew substantially in disparate areas such as Australia, Fiji, and Hawaii. The increase in production required an increase in labor; in the rush to fill the vacuum, freebooters and other unsavory characters began a slave trade in Melanesians and Polynesians that continued into the twentieth century. ""The White Pacific"" ranges over the broad expanse of Oceania to reconstruct the history of ""blackbirding"" (slave trading) in the region. It examines the role of U.S. citizens (many of them ex-slaveholders and ex-confederates) in the trade and its roots in Civil War dislocations. What unfolds is a dramatic tale of unfree labor, conflicts between formal and informal empire, white supremacy, threats to sovereignty in Hawaii, the origins of a White Australian policy, and the rise of Japan as a Pacific power and putative protector. It also pieces together a wonderfully suggestive history of the African American presence in the Pacific. Based on deft archival research in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, the United States, and Great Britain, ""The White Pacific"" uncovers a heretofore hidden story of race, labor, war, and intrigue that contributes significantly to the emerging intersectional histories of race and ethnicity.

Are Africa's world markets really contributing to development across the continent for individuals, nations and regions? This is the key question posed by Margaret Lee in this provocative book, in which she argues that all too often the voices of African traders are obscured amid a blizzard of statistical analysis. However, it is these very voices - from those operating on the ground as formal or informal traders - that must be listened to in order to form a true understanding of the impact trade regimes have on these individuals and their communities. Featuring a wealth of oral histories from across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, including Africans in China, Africa's World Trade offers a unique insight into how the complexity of international trade agreements can shape the everyday lives of ordinary Africans.

How might Russia and Eurasia attract private investment and trade from the West over the next several years, and what conditions in Russia and Eurasia may Western investors and traders expect? In this unprecedented volume, leading American experts and policymakers and their Russian and Eurasian counterparts survey economic prospects for the region and assess its important resources and institutions. The book begins by examining the overall trade and investment outlook in Russia and Eurasia. It then takes up critical sectors: energy, aerospace, automobiles, agriculture, and telecommunications. It turns to current institutional impediments to trade and investment such as problems in corporate governance, the banking system, and the rule of law. The final chapters look to the future and assess the prospects for economic reform, the movement to join the World Trade Organization, and the impact of political dynamics in the region. The experts are joined by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who in their forewords acknowledge not only the crucial importance of trade and investment for the future but also the necessity of bringing the integrity of institutions up to international standards. A third foreword by the former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, stresses the place of commerce in economic growth and in the integration of Russia and Eurasia with the world community.