The need for countries to facilitate trade and to reduce the transactions costs plaguing trade is receiving a lot of interest in policy circles, and in particular in the WTO, where trade facilitation has been one of the few good stories in recent multilateral negotiations. Is this interest justified? What have economic theory and empirical findings to contribute to our understanding of the value of free trade? This authoritative two-volume set, edited by two leading scholars in the field, offers a collection of seminal articles that have led our economic thinking on these issues and encouraged a new and growing literature. This important work, along with an original introduction by the editors, will be of immense value to scholars and practitioners interested in the topic of trade costs and facilitation.

It was 1905 when the man destined to become Waco's photographer first opened his shop.Fred Gildersleeve documented the city he loved, establishing his legacy through iconic images that have become Waco's visual memory. The 186 Gildersleeve images within capture the spirit of early Waco. Born in 1880 in Boulder, Colorado, Gildersleeve spent most of his childhood in Kirksville, Missouri. Throughout his early years, Gildersleeve sold his pictures for 25 cents apiece to pay for his education, working his way through photography school in Effingham, Illinois before launching his career in Waco. An adventurer, Gildersleeve was known for speeding through town on an Excelsior motorbikeaand later in a Model T Fordawith his assistant in the sidecar. He avidly took pictures of everyday life in Waco, becoming the official photographer for Baylor and the State Fair of Texas. From special occasions to sporting events, from construction projects to key figures, Gildersleeve documented Waco's growth as a thriving industrial city during the early days of the twentieth century. Gildersleeve's photos are not just history; they are art. He pioneered panoramas and aerial shots using Waco as his subject. Gildersleeve's photos are now known for their clarity and detail that resemble and surpass modern-day digital photography. The photos in this book take viewers back in time to their favorite Waco landmarks and do so with timeless creativity.

3,822 perimeter miles. 11,247 rivers and streams. 8,749 feet at its height. 268,596 square miles in total. Texas is big. Julius Caesar once quipped that all of ancient Gaul could be divided up into three parts. Texas resists such easy division. Mapping Texas, edited by John S. Wilson, presents an array of early maps, dating from 1561 to 1860. The volume features selections from the extensive material housed in the Frances C. Poage Map Room of The Texas Collection at Baylor University. The painstaking labors of Spanish, French, English, and Mexican mapmakers illustrate the progressive and differing views of Texas geography and boundaries. Originally used as guides to new destinations, these maps also staked new claims, fueled by new dreams, on new territory that settlers had heard about but never seen. Page by page, Texas' iconic shape gradually emerges. As now-familiar cities dot this vast expanse of land, railroads trace the outline of rivers and mountain ranges, and ports anchor the curve of the Gulf of Mexico, Texas' rich history comes to life one map at a time. The volume concludes with an analysis of map art and cartouches - beautiful images that both name the map and highlight flora and fauna. A sumptuous delight for mind and eye, this volume lavishly documents the early outlines of the land over which six flags have proudly flown.

In expanding trade, the link between standards, access to foreign markets, and development is at the forefront of policy debate. This is particularly true for African countries, which face critical challenges in improving domestic capacity to meet production and quality standards required in foreign markets. In case studies of five African countries Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda Standards and Global Trade demonstrates the importance of addressing the impact of product standards both as barriers to trade and as opportunities to expand market access. This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth case-by-case assessment of the current and anticipated use of international standards and capacity for compliance. Each chapter details the economic context in which standards apply to each country and examines the mechanisms with which the country and its representatives have participated in the process of setting/revising standards and technical regulations at the local and international level. The analysis includes a review of existing laws and regulations and the extent to which they are consistent with current international norms. Standards and Global Trade examines each country's physical infrastructure and organizational capacities to design and implement standards and technical regulations. The authors also discuss and analyze the implementation processes and some estimated impact of various standards, technical regulations, and related production/marketing practices in about five specific industry segments in each country."

This book provides an up-to-date discussion of economic issues involved in analyzing regulations of product quality and performance in international trade. Among the issues addressed in this collection are restrictions on genetically modified foods and pesticide use and compatibility standards for computers. While such regulations may serve important goals, they may also interfere with international trade flow by raising the costs of compliance. This is of special concern to developing countries, which have found it difficult to meet the increasingly exacting regulations imposed by the United States and Europe.
Keith E. Maskus and John S. Wilson gather prominent international trade specialists to ask whether the impacts of such regulations may be quantified systematically in order to inform the international policy debate. The essays included here cover all fronts of the debate over regulatory issues and trade conflicts. The discussion ranges from a review of how trade conflicts emerge and how they are managed by the international trading system to a technical analysis of the potential impact of European restraints on trade in genetically modified products to an examination of methods for estimating the costs of compliance with environmental regulations. Considerable attention is paid to whether the emergence and enforcement of stronger standards among developed economies could result in diminished trade opportunities for developing countries. At the same time, the possibility that standards could expand market access through resolving consumer information problems is analyzed.
This book will appeal to international economists, international relations specialists, andindividuals concerned about appropriate regulation of safety and health issues in the global economy.
Keith E. Maskus is Professor of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder. John S. Wilson is Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank.

Profinite groups are of interest to mathematicians working in a variety of areas, including number theory, abstract groups, and analysis. The underlying theory reflects these diverse influences, with methods drawn from both algebra and topology and with fascinating connections to field theory. This is the first book to be dedicated solely to the study of general profinite groups. It provides a thorough introduction to the subject, designed not only to convey the basic facts but also to enable readers to enhance their skills in manipulating profinite groups. The first few chapters lay the foundations and explain the role of profinite groups in number theory. Later chapters explore various aspects of profinite groups in more detail; these contain accessible and lucid accounts of many major theorems. Prerequisites are kept to a minimum with the basic topological theory summarized in an introductory chapter.