Institutions Trade & Economic Development
“For a century, economists have driven forward the cause of globalization in financial institutions, labour markets, and trade. Yet there have been consistent warning signs that a global economy and free trade might not always be advantageous. Where are the pressure points? What could be done about them?…” [Publisher’s Book Website] Author’s Book Presentation, August […]
“Meet the economic gangster. He’s the United Nations diplomat who double-parks his Mercedes on New York City streets at rush hour because the cops can’t touch him–he has diplomatic immunity. He’s the Chinese smuggler who dodges tariffs by magically transforming frozen chickens into frozen turkeys. The dictator, the warlord, the unscrupulous bureaucrat who bilks the […]
Ever since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994, there has been a growing sense that the GATT, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that has superseded it, favours the interests of developed countries. In response to this, a line of research has developed to […]
“In One Economics, Many Recipes, leading economist Dani Rodrik argues that neither globalizers nor antiglobalizers have got it right. While economic globalization can be a boon for countries that are trying to dig out of poverty, success usually requires following policies that are tailored to local economic and political realities rather than obeying the dictates of […]
“Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.” So wrote Adam Smith a quarter of a millennium ago. Using the tools of modern […]
<style=”font-size: 14px;”>”World hunger, jobs, the overall economic prospects of developing and developed countries alike are all being shaped more and more by the international negotiations about trade, agriculture, services, investment and intellectual property rights going on at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Based on interviews with people actually participating in the negotiations, this remarkable book […]
It is understood that intermediaries are an important bridge between supply of and demand for agricultural products. In many cases they identify buyers in foreign markets. It is apparent that their activity has direct effects on the welfare and efficiency of local producers. Whether or not these effects are positive depends on intermediaries’ bargaining power, […]
“Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is […]
Paradoxically, for developing countries the abundance of natural resources can be a curse. With the lack of property rights protection and rule of law, natural resource abundance contributes to political instability, conflict, and corruption. From the perspective of international trade they can cause the so called ‘Dutch disease,’ whereby a natural resource discovery triggers exchange […]
Since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1994, participation in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has proliferated rapidly. In 1990, there were only about 70 PTAs in force. By 2010 the number of PTAs increased to almost 300. On one hand we have known since Viner (1950) that PTA formation could potentially reduce world welfare. More […]