In The Floating World, Emeritus Professor of Economics Wilfred Ethier collates 22 papers that delve deep into the study on International Trade Theory. These papers are grouped into six distinct sections. Each covers an overarching research program in trade theory — Factor-Endowments Theory, Economies of Scale, International Factor Markets, Regional Integration, the Political Economy of Trade Policy, and Administered Protection. An additional section for important papers outside of those programs is also included. With papers originally written in the 1970s all the way up to recent times, Ethier provides contemporary commentary for each section, referring to further sources, candid accounts on the state of international trade theory at the time and how each paper contributed to further improvements of their respective research program.
A deranged publisher decided to produce a volume of some of my papers and asked me to write some comments. Since these amount to a summary of my views about international trade theory over the latest forty years or so, I'm giving the comments a separate alternative existence as a discussion paper.
The aim of the book is to provide interested readers with access to a number of articles that have been written over the years on the subject of the linkages between domestic farm policies (particularly in developed countries) and world markets for agricultural goods. The scope of the book includes the measurement of protection and the estimation of transfers to agricultural producers, the effect of these policies on consumers and the consequent impact on international trade. A major theme is that the monitoring of the trade and transfer implications of farm policies is an essential first step to addressing the need for internationally agreed disciplines on their nature and extent. The topic of trade impacts of farm policies has become important in two different market situations. When agricultural commodity prices are depressed, attention turns to the activities of countries (particularly developed countries) that support the income of their own farmers but at the expense of farmers in other countries. When prices rise, as they have done in the last five years, the question is reversed: what is the impact of the farm and food policies that restrict exports to keep domestic prices low on food security in other countries? Thus, the narrative of the monitoring of farm policies by international organizations such as the OECD and the disciplining of such policies under the rules of the WTO is as relevant today as in the 1970s when the first efforts in this direction were made.
In Evolving Patterns in Global Trade and Finance, Professor Sven W Arndt offers succinct and rigorous explanations of important developments in trade, finance and international monetary relations. Topics include economic and monetary integration, cross-border production networks, and stabilization policy in orthodox and mixed exchange-rate regimes. The theoretical framework developed in this volume provides critical assessments of existing policies and practices, develops theoretical foundations for new and emerging patterns in trade and finance, and evaluates how well economists and policy makers are dealing (or have dealt) with the challenges they face. Readers will find the most in-depth and comprehensive discussion of international production networks (“off-shoring”), a detailed analysis of the implications for US economic stability and policy autonomy of its unorthodox exchange rate regime of fixed and floating rates, and insights into the causes of recent economic and financial turmoil in the global economy.
International Trade, Distribution and Development brings together a collection of papers that have sought to assess empirically the impacts of policy measures affecting trade. The carefully selected papers analyze the impact of trade barriers and their removal, with a focus on distributional consequences and economic development.Grounded in rigorous empirical analysis, this book covers a range of policy issues such as impacts of trade on wages, non-tariff barriers, trade preferences, export survival and carbon labelling. An invaluable reference for readers seeking to understand the impact of trade policies, the book also seeks to shed light on future research, especially for research on developing countries.
This book compares the experiences of the Philippines and Vietnam to gain insight into how openness to trade and financing can increase prosperity. In contrast, theoretical and empirical work in the 20th and early 21st centuries have returned mixed results regarding this assertion. The book also demonstrates the impracticality of any attempt to pursue prosperity in isolation. Chapter 1 discusses recent data and research on international trade and capital mobility. Chapter 2 describes the economy of Vietnam that has grown rapidly since beginning to open in 1994. Chapter 3 relates the stagnation of the Philippines as it remained closed from 1960 to 1994 and examines the recent rapid growth in spite of the continued relative restrictiveness of Philippine policy. Chapter 4 compares the two experiences and then conjectures about the feasibility of a prosperous autarky.
The advent of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 transformed international economic law for states, enterprises, and nongovernmental organizations. This book analyzes how the WTO is changing the path of international trade law and examines the implications of these trends for the world economy and the global environment. Containing 18 essays published from 1999 to 2011, the book illuminates several of the most complex issues in contemporary trade policy. Among the topics covered are: Is there a normative theory of the WTO's purpose? Can constitutional theory provide guidance to keep the WTO's levers in balance? Should the WTO use trade sanctions for enforcement? What can the WTO do to enhance sustainable development and job creation?
Differences in the choices of trade and macro policies, both by developing countries and by developed countries towards developing countries, have been critical in determining the overall performance of developing countries. All too often, the performance of developing countries has not been assessed using appropriately conducted studies. The papers in this book are chosen to bridge this gap and show how a quantitative approach to policy evaluation can help resolve controversies and explain the choice of observed policies.The book brings together carefully selected papers that assess the impacts of various trade and macro policies, by quantifying the policies of developing countries at the macro level (exchange rate, investment, savings) and at the sector level (trade and industrial policies), in addition to policies of developed countries towards developing countries (trade preferences, quotas, VERs and migration policies). Facets of the political economy of trade, migration, and climate policies are explored (such as the enlargement of the EU, the rise of regionalism and how it can ease the pains of adjustment to trade liberalization, openness and inequality). Growing tensions between trade and the environment are also investigated. In short, this book covers a wide area of events ranging from external and internal shocks to external and internal policies, showing how the consequences of these events can be brought to rigorous quantitative analysis.
This book focuses on the World Bank projects, led by the author, based on computable general equilibrium models of international trade policy. The chapters show an unusual combination of policy relevance, advice and impact, with academic rigor and international trade theory insights. The author discusses some of the policy contexts for the requests from developing and transition countries to the World Bank, the key trade theory or policy insights, policy recommendations and conclusions, and the policy impacts.
Policies affecting resource allocation across tradable sectors and those affecting the incentives to produce tradable activities are key determinants of macroeconomic balance and growth. Computable general equilibrium models have made significant contributions to both types of policies. With advancements in computing power and software, these models have become easy to implement and are now widespread. The question then is when and how to formulate them to avoid the ‘black box’ syndrome.This book seeks to address these issues through carefully selected essays that analyse how to model general equilibrium linkages in a single economy, across developing and developed economies, and across both micro and macro policies. Micro policies examined include tariffs quotas and VERs, the choice of taxes to maximize government revenue, migration and remittances, and the political economy of tariff setting. Applications on macro policies cover capital inflows, real exchange rate determination, and the modeling of the effects of adjustment policies on income distribution.The book provides insights on the development of a family of models for diverse policy choices, focusing on the ways to model the following: links between tradable and non-tradable activities, labor markets, and portfolio choices given limited capital mobility. Selected essays are all inspired by specific policy problems, including the adaptation to external shocks (i.e. oil), consequences of capital inflows, determinants of migration and associated remittances, the productivity of foreign aid, and rent-seeking activities under trade regimes with non-price trade restrictions. Examples in this book lay out the theoretical foundations, alongside a variety of applications, to help formulate coherent and transparent models for policy analysis. Archetype economies are extensively used to show how differences in economic structure influence the effects of policies. Graduate students and policy analysts interested in modeling will find this a useful compendium of studies.
