From direct foreign investment to the flow of capital, there are endless factors that affect the economies of the world's poorest countries. Knowledge of the struggles of these countries--also known as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)--is essential to understanding the impact of globalization. This work provides a platform for grasping why developed countries are reaping the benefits of globalization while the LDCs are being left behind. Topical chapters seek to uncover the processes that LDCs should take to reverse their marginalization and build their economies so that they can receive the benefits of globalization. Subjects include: *The relationship between the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund *Multilateral trade regimes *Tariff and non-tariff barriers in developed countries *Global Commodity Prices *Trends in Poverty and Human Development *Technology

This is an academic inquiry into how labor power has been dehumanized and commodified around the world through the ages for capital accumulation and industrialization, and colonial and post-colonial economic transformation. The study explores all major episodes of slaveries beginning from the ancient civilizations to the end of Transatlantic Slave Trade in the eighteenth century; the worlds of serfdoms in the context of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia; the worlds of feudalisms in the context of Latin America, Japan, China, and India; the worlds of indentured servitudes in the context of the Europeans, the Indians, and the Chinese; the worlds of guestworkers in the contexts of the United States and Western Europe; the worlds of migrant labor programs in the context of the Gulf States; and the contemporary world of neoslavery focusing on human trafficking in both developing and developed countries, and forced labor in global value chains. The book is designed not only for students and academia in labor economics, labor history, and global socio-economic and political transformations, but also for the intelligent and inquiring policy makers, reformers, and general readers across the disciplinary pursuits of Economics, Political Science, History, Sociology, Anthropology, and Law.

This book presents an in-depth understanding of the transformation of modern economy in the twenty-first century by examining the interface and interplay of three key forces of contemporary global economy-Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), and Global Value Chains (GVCs)-and how the emerging nexus of these forces has already ushered in revolutionary transformation in global production, investment, trade, and employment in recent decades. A distinctive feature of the book is that it situates the contemporary GVC revolution-that envisages fragmentation and dispersion of production processes across the world based on competitive costs and quality-as a natural progression of the traditional FDIs-MNEs nexus, which emphasized internationalization of production and trade in search of profits, resources, markets, or cheap labour. Moreover, the book provides a comprehensive analysis, from historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives, of both traditional FDIs-MNEs Nexus that dominated the world economy until the end of the twentieth century, and of the New Nexus of FDIs-MNEs-GVCs, that has opened grand opportunities for global prosperity by providing short-cut paths to industrialization and economic growth for less developed countries. As an exemplar, the book examines GVCs in automobiles-a medium-tech manufacturing activity with numerous backward and forward linkages-to demonstrate how the FDI-MNE-GVC interface in this sector has wedged industrialization, employment, and trade in six emerging countries/regions-Brazil, Central and Eastern Europe, China, India, Mexico and Thailand.

This is an academic inquiry into how labor power has been dehumanized and commodified around the world through the ages for capital accumulation and industrialization, and colonial and post-colonial economic transformation. The study explores all major episodes of slaveries beginning from the ancient civilizations to the end of Transatlantic Slave Trade in the eighteenth century; the worlds of serfdoms in the context of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia; the worlds of feudalisms in the context of Latin America, Japan, China, and India; the worlds of indentured servitudes in the context of the Europeans, the Indians, and the Chinese; the worlds of guestworkers in the contexts of the United States and Western Europe; the worlds of migrant labor programs in the context of the Gulf States; and the contemporary world of neoslavery focusing on human trafficking in both developing and developed countries, and forced labor in global value chains. The book is designed not only for students and academia in labor economics, labor history, and global socio-economic and political transformations, but also for the intelligent and inquiring policy makers, reformers, and general readers across the disciplinary pursuits of Economics, Political Science, History, Sociology, Anthropology, and Law.

The study provides an in-depth, up-to-date, and scholarly analysis of the liberation war and the Sheikh Mujib Regime of Bangladesh. Situating the emergence of Bangladesh in the broader historical context of the partition of British India in 1947, the study re-examines: a) how Mujib successfully galvanized the legitimate grievances of Bangladeshi people during the united Pakistan period (1947-71) and how a highly successful guerilla warfare of Bangladeshi people led to dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971 with crucial military and political support from neighboring India; (b) how in the post-liberation Bangladesh the Mujib regime toyed with contradictory political ideologies of democracy and socialism, and eventually ended up with a one-party monolithic rule; (c) how in the economic sphere the Mujib regime vacillated between petty bourgeoisie and socialist inclinations by half-heartedly pursuing socialization of agriculture and nationalization of industries, which resulted in plundering of the economy and plunging of millions of people in famine and near-famine situations; (d) how in 1975 the assassination of Mujib and collapse of his ill-fated regime, that failed to deliver both economically and politically, evoked little sympathy from the masses; and (e) how the trial of the killers of Mujib after 21 years of his death, and the trial of the collaborators of the liberation war after four decades of the country's liberation war, orchestrated by Sheikh Hasina government, keep the nation's political discourse still sharply divided.

This book presents a comprehensive review of cross-border labor mobility from the ancient forms of slavery to the present day. The book covers African and Amerindian slaveries, indentured servitude of the Indians and the Chinese, guestworker programs, and contemporary labor migration focusing on the United States, the European Union, and the Gulf Region. The book highlights the economics and politics that condition such trends and patterns by addressing growing anti-immigrant sentiments, as well as restrictive measures in the developed world, and outlines inexorable forces that are likely to propel further expansion of cross-border mobility in the future. This multidisciplinary volume provides a highly dependable scholarly reference to researchers, students, academics as well as policy makers.

This book presents an in-depth understanding of the transformation of modern economy in the twenty-first century by examining the interface and interplay of three key forces of contemporary global economy-Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), and Global Value Chains (GVCs)-and how the emerging nexus of these forces has already ushered in revolutionary transformation in global production, investment, trade, and employment in recent decades. A distinctive feature of the book is that it situates the contemporary GVC revolution-that envisages fragmentation and dispersion of production processes across the world based on competitive costs and quality-as a natural progression of the traditional FDIs-MNEs nexus, which emphasized internationalization of production and trade in search of profits, resources, markets, or cheap labour. Moreover, the book provides a comprehensive analysis, from historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives, of both traditional FDIs-MNEs Nexus that dominated the world economy until the end of the twentieth century, and of the New Nexus of FDIs-MNEs-GVCs, that has opened grand opportunities for global prosperity by providing short-cut paths to industrialization and economic growth for less developed countries. As an exemplar, the book examines GVCs in automobiles-a medium-tech manufacturing activity with numerous backward and forward linkages-to demonstrate how the FDI-MNE-GVC interface in this sector has wedged industrialization, employment, and trade in six emerging countries/regions-Brazil, Central and Eastern Europe, China, India, Mexico and Thailand.

Available research suggests that less developed countries have significant competitive advantage over developed countries in three major areas of international trade: agriculture, textiles and clothing (T&C), and cross-border labor mobility. Incidentally, these are also the trade sectors which experienced widespread protectionist measures, especially in developed world, for decade after decade. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), which replaced the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) in 1995, much of the restrictions in T&C trade has been phased out, but still this sector faces much higher tariff and non-tariff barriers than any other manufacturing sector in world economy. The agricultural sector also experienced significant dismantling of deeply entrenched trade barriers under the WTO over the course of last two decades, but the sector still remains plagued with quite extensive domestic supports, export subsidies, and tariff barriers. At the same time, despite both theoretical expositions and empirical trends point to significant potential gains from cross-border labor mobility, the sector remains mired in a complex quagmire of economic and political restrictions around the world. Thus, all three sectors in which less developed countries have exports interests still remain less liberalized than the sectors in which developed countries have exports interests. This book provides an in-depth and up-to-date scholarly analysis of all three trade sectors-agriculture, T&C and cross-border labor mobility-with a penetrating scrutiny of historical backgrounds and developments, crosscurrents of interests and perspectives of both developed and developing countries, and evolving trade patterns and potentials in a more liberalized and globalized world economy. The book also identifies critical economic issues and options for less developed countries in the WTO negotiations for further liberalization of agriculture, T&C, and cross-border labor mobility. This volume will be an important point of reference for students, scholars, and practitioners of international trade, economic development, development economics, and WTO-related issues.