Download or read book Preferential Trade Agreement Policies for Development written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Regionalism versus Multilateralism written by L. Alan Winters and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: November 1996 Do the forces that regional integration arrangements set up encourage or discourage a trend toward globally freer trade? We don't know yet. The literature on regionalism versus multilateralism is growing as economists and political scientists grapple with the question of whether regional integration arrangements are good or bad for the multilateral system. Are regional integration arrangements building blocks or stumbling blocks, in Jagdish Bhagwati's phrase, or stepping stones toward multilateralism? As economists worry about the ability of the World Trade Organization to maintain the GATT's unsteady yet distinct momentum toward liberalism, and as they contemplate the emergence of world-scale regional integration arrangements (the EU, NAFTA, FTAA, APEC, and, possibly, TAFTA), the question has never been more pressing. Winters switches the focus from the immediate consequences of regionalism for the economic welfare of the integrating partners to the question of whether it sets up forces that encourage or discourage evolution toward globally freer trade. The answer is, We don't know yet. One can build models that suggest either conclusion, but these models are still so abstract that they should be viewed as parables rather than sources of testable predictions. Winters offers conclusions about research strategy as well as about the world we live in. Among the conclusions he reaches: * Since we value multilateralism, we had better work out what it means and, if it means different things to different people, make sure to identify the sense in which we are using the term. * Sector-specific lobbies are a danger if regionalism is permitted because they tend to stop blocs from moving all the way to global free trade. In the presence of lobbies, trade diversion is good politics even if it is bad economics. * Regionalism's direct effect on multilateralism is important, but possibly more so is the indirect effect it has by changing the ways in which groups of countries interact and respond to shocks in the world economy. * Regionalism, by allowing stronger internalization of the gains from trade liberalization, seems likely to facilitate freer trade when it is initially highly restricted. * The possibility of regionalism probably increases the risks of catastrophe in the trading system. The insurance incentives for joining regional arrangements and the existence of shiftable externalities both lead to such a conclusion. So too does the view that regionalism is a means to bring trade partners to the multilateral negotiating table because it is essentially coercive. Using regionalism for this purpose may have been an effective strategy, but it is also risky. This paper - a product of the International Trade Division, International Economics Department - was prepared for a conference on regional integration sponsored by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, La Coru-a, Spain, April 26-27, 1996, and will appear in the conference proceedings.

Download or read book Multilateralism Or Regionalism written by Guido Glania and published by CEPS. This book was released on 2005 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book highlights the multifaceted effects of regional trade agreements and outlines the strategic options for EU trade policy. It points out what is new about this most recent phase of regionalism and analyzes the effects on economic welfare and trade transaction costs. The authors draw upon elements of game theory to explore a self-reinforcing mechanism that is resulting in a potentially damaging race for markets. They focus in particular on the multiple impacts of regionalism on the WTO and the multilateral trading order. The book arrives at an opportune time, as the Doha Round is reaching a critical phase.

Download or read book Bilateral and Regional Free Trade Agreements written by Martin Khor and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mega Regional Trade Agreements written by Thilo Rensmann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.

Download or read book Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements written by Aaditya Mattoo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2020-09-23 with total page 821 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).

Download or read book Regional and Multilateral Trade in Developing Countries written by Shahid Ahmed and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-11-29 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides fresh insights into the theory and policy of regional and multilateral trade from the perspective of developing countries. With the collapse of talks at the WTO Doha round, regionalism has proliferated in the form of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). This in turn has raised a number of critical issues in global trade policy debate. Given the implication of RTAs and WTO negotiations on economic development, the book emphasises that it is essential to examine the macro and micro effects of international trade flows on welfare, revenue, poverty and environment, particularly in the light of diversities, heterogeneities and limited financial capacity of developing countries. It discusses various issues of trade, investment, poverty, gender and legal dimensions in the regional and multilateral framework and is a useful guide to formulation of trade and economic policies for the benefit of developing countries. The book will be of primary interest to those in economics, commerce and management, and will be a useful reference for alternative research in this area.

Download or read book Multilateralizing Regionalism written by Patrick Low and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 743 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of revised papers from the 'Multilateralizing Regionalism' conference, held at the WTO in September 2007.

Download or read book Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System written by Rohini Acharya and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

Download or read book Regional Trade and Economic Integration written by Ram Upendra Das and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2012 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as a dominant player in trade and will continue to be an influential component of world trade and economics. This book presents an informative outlook on the various regional and trade agreements (RTAs) and their beneficial effects on bilateral trade. In particular, the authors concentrate on India and China, the two major rising powers, and the impact of exchange of information and sharing of resources between these two countries in wide-ranging areas. It provides an incisive analysis and a roundup of all major RTAs and also presents an overview of all major agreements between the countries involved, which might propel their trade numbers and influence future economic engagements. The book also discusses possible obstacles that are encountered during the implementation of RTAs and circumvention routes that can be taken to ensure the successful execution of the agreements. International trade agreements, such as General Agreements on Trade and Tariffs, which have revolutionized the trade dynamics by opening up new areas of trade and formulating specific guidelines for the member countries to adhere to during trade negotiations, are discussed. The book also provides new insights into some of the issues under negotiation, such as sensitive lists, trade, investment cooperation, and trade in services. The existing economic cooperation arrangements in the region as well as those that are at various stages of study and negotiations, empirical insights and policy suggestions are elucidated in detail.

Download or read book Six Faces of Globalization written by Anthea Roberts and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential guide to the intractable public debates about the virtues and vices of economic globalization, cutting through the complexity to reveal the fault lines that divide us and the points of agreement that might bring us together. Globalization has lifted millions out of poverty. Globalization is a weapon the rich use to exploit the poor. Globalization builds bridges across national boundaries. Globalization fuels the populism and great-power competition that is tearing the world apart. When it comes to the politics of free trade and open borders, the camps are dug in, producing a kaleidoscope of claims and counterclaims, unlikely alliances, and unexpected foes. But what exactly are we fighting about? And how might we approach these issues more productively? Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp cut through the confusion with an indispensable survey of the interests, logics, and ideologies driving these intractable debates, which lie at the heart of so much political dispute and decision making. The authors expertly guide us through six competing narratives about the virtues and vices of globalization: the old establishment view that globalization benefits everyone (win-win), the pessimistic belief that it threatens us all with pandemics and climate change (lose-lose), along with various rival accounts that focus on specific winners and losers, from China to AmericaÕs rust belt. Instead of picking sides, Six Faces of Globalization gives all these positions their due, showing how each deploys sophisticated arguments and compelling evidence. Both globalizationÕs boosters and detractors will come away with their eyes opened. By isolating the fundamental value conflictsÑgrowth versus sustainability, efficiency versus social stabilityÑdriving disagreement and show where rival narratives converge, Roberts and Lamp provide a holistic framework for understanding current debates. In doing so, they showcase a more integrative way of thinking about complex problems.

Download or read book Regionalism and the Multilateral Trading System written by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and published by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This book was released on 2003-07-21 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are increasingly portrayed as a threat to the free global exchange of goods and services. They involve an ever-growing share of world trade. The proportion of world trade covered by such accords is expected to grow from 43% today to 55% in 2005, if all regional agreements now in discussion are actually put into place. Moreover, in the event of a log jam in the ongoing Doha round of multilateral trade talks under the WTO, many WTO members are ready to place even greater emphasis on regional initiatives. Against this backdrop, this study compares rule-making provisions in regional trade agreements with those of the WTO in individual chapters covering ten specific areas: services, labour mobility, investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, government procurement, intellectual property rights, contingency protection, environment, and rules of origin. Three main questions are addressed: How far do RTAs go beyond existing multilateral trade rules in the WTO? Do they present a divergence from or a convergence with the multilateral system? What are the effects on non-members? It emerges clearly from the ten papers that precisely because they are both a sub-set of liberalisation and an exception to the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, RTAs have both positive and negative impacts. How these positive and negative elements play out is, accordingly, a central theme of this study. The principal purpose of this book is to clarify the relationship between regionalism and the multilateral trading system. It also aims to provide an analytical framework for WTO members' ongoing consideration of how best to manage that relationship and how to foster the complementarities between RTAs and the multilateral system.

Download or read book Termites in the Trading System written by Jagdish Bhagwati and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-14 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jagdish Bhagwati, the internationally renowned economist who uniquely combines a reputation as the leading scholar of international trade with a substantial presence in public policy on the important issues of the day, shines here a critical light on Preferential Trade Agreements, revealing how the rapid spread of PTAs endangers the world trading system. Numbering by now well over 300, and rapidly increasing, these preferential trade agreements, many taking the form of Free Trade Agreements, have re-created the unhappy situation of the 1930s, when world trade was undermined by discriminatory practices. Whereas this was the result of protectionism in those days, ironically it is a result of misdirected pursuit of free trade via PTAs today. The world trading system is at risk again, the author argues, and the danger is palpable. Writing with his customary wit, panache and elegance, Bhagwati documents the growth of these PTAs, the reasons for their proliferation, and their deplorable consequences which include the near-destruction of the non-discrimination which was at the heart of the postwar trade architecture and its replacement by what he has called the spaghetti bowl of a maze of preferences. Bhagwati also documents how PTAs have undermined the prospects for multilateral freeing of trade, serving as stumbling blocks, instead of building blocks, for the objective of reaching multilateral free trade. In short, Bhagwati cogently demonstrates why PTAs are Termites in the Trading System.

Download or read book Regionalism in Standards written by Maggie Xiaoyang Chen and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: "Regional agreements on standards have been largely ignored by economists and unconditionally blessed by multilateral trade rules. Chen and Mattoo find, theoretically and empirically, that such agreements increase trade between participating countries but not necessarily with the rest of the world. Adopting a common standard in a Region--that is, harmonization--boosts exports of excluded industrial countries to the region. But it reduces exports of excluded developing countries, possibly because developing country firms are hurt more by an increase in the stringency of standards and benefit less from economies of scale in integrated markets. Mutual recognition agreements are more uniformly trade promoting unless they contain restrictive rules of origin, in which case intra-regional trade increases at the expense of trade with other, especially developing, countries. The authors propose a modification of international trade rules to strike a better balance between the interests of integrating and excluded countries. This paper--a product of the Trade Team, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the implications for trade of agreements on standards"--World Bank web site.

Download or read book New Dimensions in Regional Integration written by Jaime De Melo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume considers the implications of revived interest in regional integration for the world trading system.

Download or read book Trade and the Developing World in the 21st Century written by Beverly May Carl and published by Brill Nijhoff. This book was released on 2001 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines trade problems developing nations face now and in the future and points out serious flaws in the "New World Order." Overviews world trade law as it affects developing nations, taking an issue oriented approach, and analyzes the effects of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and the rules of 37 other regional trade agreements on the economic infrastructures of developing nations. Material is in chapters on mechanisms for trade control, worldwide and regional patterns of international trade, non-reciprocal trade structures, and global dismantling of barriers to trade in merchandise. Appendixes list member countries of various trade organizations. Carl taught international trade law at Southern Methodist University for 20 years. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

Download or read book Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements written by Simon Lester and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Doha Development Round trade negotiations have stalled, bilateral and regional free trade agreements have become an important alternative. These agreements have proliferated in recent years, and now all of the major trading countries are engaging in serious bilateral and regional trade negotiations with multiple trading partners. This book provides a comprehensive study of recent bilateral and regional trade agreements. There are two main aspects. First, it situates bilateral and regional trade agreements in the context of economics, international law and international relations. Second, it surveys the most important recent agreements in relation to each substantive topic covered (e.g. intellectual property, investment, services and social policy) and provides an overview of the law being created in these areas.