Economiquity

History repeating itself at WTO
United States president George Bush complained bitterly to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a telephonic conversation late last month that India’s trade negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva were “not cooperating”. Surely, Bush meant that the Indian team was not acquiescing to Washington’s grab-and-grab approach in the long running Doha round of trade negotiations. What Manmohan Singh exactly said ………
http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11194.pdf

Regulatory Shift: The Rise of Judicial Liberalization at the WTO
In the early years of the GATT/WTO regime, trade regulation occurred through a negotiated legislative process associated with trade rounds. Over the last fifteen years, however, the focus of GATT/WTO trade regulation has moved to the judicial process. GATT negotiations, reliant on reciprocity between big territories, non-reciprocity for developing countries, and the extension of Most Favored Nation status to all, created a regulatory system ………
http://ilreports.blogspot.com/2007/11/goldstein-steinberg-regulatory-shift.html

Russian WTO accession : what has been accomplished, what can be expected
This paper summarizes the principal reform commitments that Russia has undertaken as part of its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession negotiations, providing detailed assessments in banking, insurance, and agriculture. The paper assesses the gains to the Russian economy from these commitments, based on a summary of several modeling efforts undertaken by the author and his colleagues. The author compares Russian commitments with those of other countries that have recently…………
http://econ.worldbank.org/

Fulfilling the Marrakesh Mandate on Coherence: Ten Years of Cooperation between the WTO, IMF and World Bank
Contributing to achieving more coherent global economic policy-making is one of the five core functions of the WTO, as defined by Article III.5 of the WTO Agreement. Its ability to do so depends on it carrying out its other functions successfully – providing a forum for liberalization, ensuring a strict observance of its multilateral rules and disciplines, and contributing to policy surveillance. In 1994, WTO Members added to the WTO Agreement a Ministerial Declaration On Achieving Greater Coherence in Global Economic Policy Making ……….
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/discussion_papers13_e.pdf

The Optimal Design of Trade Policy Flexibility in the WTO
This paper is a contribution to the literature on rational design of trade agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an incomplete contract among sovereign states. Incomplete contracts contain gaps. Ex post, contractual gaps may leave gains from trade unrealized; they may create “regret” in signatories once unanticipated contingencies or sudden protectionist backlashes have occurred. Trade policy flexibility mechanisms, such as the “safeguards clause” under Art. XIX GATT, are geared ………
http://ideas.repec.org/p/gii/giihei/heiwp27-2007.html

The Reform of The EU Sugar Sector: Implications for ACP Countries and EPA Negotiations
This note is to provide comprehensive account of the legal and political background of the current reform of the EU sugar sector and of the implications of the reform and related EU policies for ACP countries. An assessment of the impact of the EU reform on sugar imports from ACP countries is provided against the background of the ongoing negotiations of EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements.
http://www.southcentre.org/

Flexibility on FTA with Asean
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised the “necessary flexibility” in settling the outstanding issues in order to reach a trade agreement with the Asean by March 2008. Trade ministers of India and Asean after an informal meeting expressed satisfaction over the progress made since the last major summit in the Philippine city of Cebu in January. However, a breakthrough in the talks — the free trade agreement was originally scheduled to start by January 1, 2006 — remains elusive even though ………
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/28/stories/2007112854521000.htm

EPA Negotiations In The Pacific Region: Some Issues of Concern
This Analytical Note explores some of the main challenges related to the EPA negotiations in the Pacific ACP region, particularly with respect to Market Access and regional integration, Agriculture, and trade in Services. This note highlights some of the region’s main concerns and explores some possible positive linkages between the EPAs and the WTO Doha Round of negotiations in an effort to increase negotiators’ understanding about the EPA developmental implications.
http://www.southcentre.org/

Asean FTA: Time to introspect on domestic oilseed cultivation
Some sensitive agricultural products (palm oil, tea, coffee and pepper) have become the sticking point in India’s engagement with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a free trade agreement (FTA). A feeling that India is vulnerable and would in course of time succumb to pressure and further open up its market seems to be gaining ground. Indeed, it is only logical that overseas supplier countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia continue to persuade India to further lower the customs duty on palm oil.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/

Evolving Economic Architecture in East Asia
This paper examines how East Asia’s economic architecture has been evolving over the last ten years and how it will shape itself in the future. With the progress of market-driven economic integration, East Asian economies have developed various cooperative initiatives for trade and finance, including free trade agreements (FTAs), the Chiang Mai Initiative, the Economic Review and Policy Dialogue, and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative. The paper suggests policy directions for ………
http://www.adbi.org/files/dp84.evolving.economic.architecture.east.asia.pdf

Grappling with the ‘Success trap’ in China
The rapid growth of China over the past three decades has brought about a remarkable economic transformation. It has also brought with it major problems, a “success trap” of a certain kind. The 17th congress of the communist Party of china focused on how to climb out of this trap. The 17th congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which concluded its week-long session on October 21 not only took stock of the many successes China ………
http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11196.pdf

What is missing between agricultural growth and infrastructure development? cases of coffee and dairy in Africa
Although it is commonly believed that aggregate economic growth must be associated with public infrastructure stocks, the possible infrastructure needs and effects are different from industry to industry. The agriculture sector is typical. Various infrastructures would affect agriculture growth differently depending on the type of commodity. This paper finds that a general transport network is essential to promote coffee and cocoa production, perhaps ………
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/

Education and Health in G7 Countries: Achieving Better Outcomes with Less Spending
Enhancing the efficiency of education and health spending is a key policy challenge in G7 countries. The paper assesses this efficiency and seeks to establish a link between differences in efficiency across countries and policy and institutional factors. The findings suggest that reforms aimed at increasing efficiency need to take into account the nature and causes of inefficiencies. Inefficiencies in G7 countries mostly reflect lack of cost effectiveness in acquiring real resources, such as teachers and pharmaceuticals.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp07263.pdf

Sectoral Engines of Growth in Developing Asia: Stylized Facts and Implications
This paper provides an analysis of developing Asia’s growth experience from the point of view of its structural transformation during the last three decades. The most salient feature of this transformation has been the significant decrease in the share of agriculture and the parallel increase in the share of services. The analysis uses Kaldor’s framework to discuss whether industry plays the role of engine of growth in developing Asia. The empirical results show first, that both industry and services ………
http://www.adb.org/Documents/ERD/Working_Papers/WP107.pdf

More growth or fewer collapses? A new look at long run growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
Low and highly volatile growth define Africa’s growth experience. But there is no evidence that growth volatility is associated to long term economic performance. This result may be misleading if it suggests that volatility is not important for economic and social progress. In this paper we use a variant of the method developed by Hausmann, Pritchett, and Rodrik (2005) to identify both growth acceleration and deceleration episodes in Africa between 1975 and 2005.
http://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/4384.html

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