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Copyright of Estudios Internacionales is the property of Instituto de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medunarodni Problemi is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In light of recent developments such as the African Continental African Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA), incrementalist approaches to regional inte gration that focus on sub-regions seem to have been pushed to the backburner as more focus puts the entire African continent at the centre of integration processes. With all its potential, gradual macro-economic convergence has accordingly been neglected. Discussions on macro-economic convergence have on the other hand been cast over the broader sub-region such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where a number of indicators and targets have been identified and pursued closely. Whilst looking at Botswana as a point of departure, this paper argues that incremental macro-economic convergence is pivotal to broader regional integration and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) provides an ideal stepping-stone. An incrementalist approach to macro-economic convergence as well as broader regional integration should begin with identifying key formal institutions that serve as custodians of macro-economic policy such as the central banks and departments of finance or treasuries. Using secondary data sources, with Botswana as a case study, this paper foregrounds macro-economic convergence, macro-economic policy making institutions, and SACU as critical building blocks for broader regional integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify the impact of a "deep" (economic union) and "shallow" (Common Commercial Policy) integration on 4 Visegrad countries' trade with the EU and non-EU industrialized countries. Trade flows are analysed on the basis of sectors over the period of 1995-2011: the gravity model also utilizes sectoral value-added and sectoral output as proxies for the market size. The impact of regional trade agreements (RTAs) is evaluated for 17 WIOD sectors based on the research methodology developed by Baldwin (2006), Flam and Nordstrom (2003) and Fernandes (2006). Contrary to the mentioned research studies, this paper uses a more advanced econometric technique - the Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood method displayed in Silva and Tenreyro (2006). This paper concludes that both "deep" and "shallow" trade arrangements have a more pronounced effect on Visegrad high value-added product exports than on Visegrad low value-added product exports. Common Commercial Policy's trade effects on RTAs, for instance in the case of Mexico and Turkey, are comparable to its trade effects with EU countries. The Common Commercial Policy's effect on RTAs is almost absent in low-value-added product sectors of Visegrad countries. Thus, we conclude that integration with the EU influenced Visegrad countries' trade of higher value-added goods with both the EU and non-EU industrialized countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There exists controversy and potential conflict over transboundary water-sharing and management of rivers in South Asia. • The article provides a comparative view on water and energy cooperation and discusses its implications. • Water diplomacy in the region is impacted by each country's domestic politics and diplomatic approach, India's hegemonic role, and (lack of) functioning regional institutional frameworks. • Water discourses are heavily securitized; energy is perceived as a commodity of exchange. • Energy diplomacy focussing on mutual benefits and shared interests offers a path for cooperation in other sectors such as water. The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute resolution. A more recent wave of electrical grid interconnections and hydro-energy cooperation has emerged with governments increasingly shifting from bilateral to multilateral energy-sharing agreements. This trend holds considerable potential for regional transboundary water governance. Based on documentary and media analysis along with interviews of key BBIN policy-makers, we identify and examine in this paper four factors for future progress: 1) technical cooperation can be extended to information-sharing for policies and institutions to regulate and manage water resources; 2) India must seize the opportunities and benefits of enhanced regional leadership in the region; 3) simultaneous informal discussion and diplomatic negotiation of water, energy and their nexus can provide BBIN countries the opportunity to highlight potential gains of cooperation and interstate interdependencies; and 4) regional cooperation can give a strong impetus to nations for advancing structural reforms, building institutions and capacity, developing a shared knowledge base, bridging infrastructural gaps, attracting private sector participation, and addressing poverty alleviation goals including job creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia –Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) is one of the major Preferential Trade Agreement integrating two major markets of India and China in the Asia-Pacific region. The textile industry is one of most important industry that requires APTA trade liberalisation to promote intra-regional trade. The present paper highlights how the export and import share of the select economies within APTA have changed and it provides a scenario analysis with a commitment to expand the sector. The paper also brings out significant improvement which India may focus on to improve the trade scenario of the textile industry and how APTA may provide a direction in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Economic Studies is the property of University of the West Indies - Mona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of corruption on trade. Design/methodology/approach - The authors estimate gravity equations with the last econometric advances on a wide sample of countries and years using three different measures of corruption. Two of them belong to the so-called perception-based indexes and the third is derived from a structural model that takes into account the causes and indicators of corruption across countries. Findings - A negative effect of corruption on trade appears with perceptions, but it is not widespread. However, the authors find sensible evidence of the "grease the wheels" view with the structural index if low and middle income countries are implicated. Additionally, when using this measure, differences in corruption levels negatively impact trade. Both results are in line with expectations. Originality/value - Moreover, membership in regional trade agreements does not seem to significantly alter these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: African countries have created many regional trade agreements with the economic objectives of reducing trade barriers and encouraging economic growth. The COMESA is an example of regional integration singed on 1993 by 19 African countries including Sudan. COMESA represents a chance for member countries to enhance their economic and social relations through increasing intra-trade. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of COMESA in promoting intra-regional agricultural trade between Sudan and COMESA countries. A multi-market model with Armington non-linear specification was applied. The paper results showed that there is a great potential for Sudan to increase its agricultural exports to other COMESA countries. The domestic agricultural markets are expected to be hampered by imports surge and increase in competition, while the producers of agricultural export commodities will be better off. In order to compete and benefit from potential in the COMESA markets, the paper recommended improving efficiency in the Sudanese agricultural sector through increasing productivity, lowering cost of production, enhancing marketing services, attaining economies of scale and attracting foreign investment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many recent papers have pointed to ambiguous trade effects of developing regional trade agreements, calling for a reassessment of their economic merits. This paper focuses on 22 RTAs involving mostly developing countries and covering all the continents and use trade flows over the period 1962-2006. It proposes a two-step estimation approach to assess their trade impact: first estimate a gravity equation excluding the RTA variables, and then use the trade residuals estimated to run a kernel regression for each of the RTAs. This approach allows capturing the non-monotonic trade effects of the RTAs over time while imposing minimal structure on the model, and is flexible enough to be extended to any new RTA. As existing RTAs are deepened and new ones are being negotiated, ensuring that trade creation dominates trade diversion will be essential, particularly in the post-crisis world where resources will be limited for all countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is an ongoing debate about best ways to assess the compatibility of RTAs with WTO rules and the possible negative impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on individual members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. Therefore, rules defining the WTO compatibility of RTAs are one of the issues in the WTO Doha negotiations. Taking the current EPA negotiations between ACP and EU as an example, this paper examines two sorts of questions: (i) the implications for developing country members of the current proposals to tighten the rules on WTO compatibility of RTAs; (ii) the impact that the proliferation of RTA formation may have on non-RTA members and on the stability of the multilateral trading system as a whole. More specifically, the paper assesses quantitatively using a partial equilibrium framework the implications for ACP countries of some of the proposals to reform GATT Art. XXIV, in particular the "substantially all trade" criteria. Based on a CGE approach, the paper then looks at the implications of EPA negotiations on third countries and its linkages with the ongoing Doha negotiations, in particular on how the future EPA agreements could be non-trade diverting, in line with Ohyama-Panagariya- Krishna version of the Kemp-Wan theorem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how income inequality affects the probability of signing free trade agreements (FTAs) in a political economy framework. The median voter approach to FTA formation within a Heckseher-Ohlin framework predicts that an increase in inequality lowers the desirability of an FTA if the partner country is relatively labor abundant, ceteris paribus, and raises the desirability of such an agreement if the partner country is relatively capital abundant. The lobbying model based on the argument of the free rider problem, however, offers the opposite predictions. This paper proposes a duration analysis for bilateral FTA panel data and finds strong support for the predictions from the median voter model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to remain economically competitive in an increasingly global market, a growing number of countries have begun adapting bilateral and multilateral trade agreements between each other. Legal conflicts between countries with differing regulations and international obligations must be negotiated before trade partners can sign onto an agreement. However, even after implementation, disputes can still arise between signing member states and foreign businesses operating in their markets. A popular method of resolving these disputes is investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), a system by which individual companies can sue countries for alleged discriminatory practices in an arbitral tribunal, rather than through a national court system. While ISDS is renowned for its efficiency and cost saving, many NGOs and international groups feel its growing influence creates a potential for companies to circumvent environmental regulations set forth by countries, by binding countries to sentences created by privately selected arbiters, rather than through traditional judicial mechanisms. This is particularly a concern in the negotiating of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), an agreement between the European Union and the United States that began negotiation in 2013, especially because of their different levels of environmental safeguards. Critics have argued that both the United States and the European Union will expose themselves to litigation by private actors under the implementation of this trade agreement, incurring large costs and increasing the potential for biased or one sided results. This paper examines the benefits and the potential dangers of ISDS, considering the increasing importance of free trade agreements in the global economy, and exploring solutions to the current draft ISDS provisions. ISDS mechanisms provide a much needed efficiency and consensus to large-scale economic agreements. Any rules or mechanisms that are written into T-TIP must balance efficiency and environmental interests of contracting states, so that they may serve as a viable long-term solution to global disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the research on globalization and the survival of autocracies through economic integration, the knowledge regarding the relationship between these two events, the importance of which has noticeably increased in the last decades, is still limited. This paper examines the influence that economic integration has on the consolidation and therefore the durability of autocratic regimes. I use Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models to test the impact that foreign direct investment, trade agreements, investment treaties and membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) have on the durability of autocracies within 120 countries between 1961 and 2008. The results generally support my theoretical assumptions that a higher level of economic integration leads to increased durability and hence consolidation of autocracies. However, WTO membership decreases the durability, and FDI inflows have an impact only within a certain range while trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties extend the lifespan of the examined cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to investigate the impact of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) and common commercial policy (CCP) on export performances of Visegrad group of countries (The Visegrad Four, V-4: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) preceding and following the EU accession. The V-4, before becoming the EU members, have participated actively in regionalism, signing free trade agreements and customs unions which often also resulted in the extended economic integration. But since the EU accession in 2004, all RTAs of the new members were no longer valid as these countries became the parties of the CCP of the EU. To analyse whether CCP was beneficial on the export performances of the V-4 countries, we estimate the augmented gravity model by employing Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood (PPML) estimator for time periods before and after the EU accession, in 1999-2003 and 2004-2013, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Economic Studies is the property of University of the West Indies - Mona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social & Economic Studies is the property of University of the West Indies - Mona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Considering the benefits that enterprise agreements (EAs) can bring to Indigenous employees, this paper considers the question of whether respectful cultural policies that are aligned with reconciliation and included in EAs can be achieved to Close the Gap on reducing Indigenous disadvantage. A document analysis of EAs at eight Australian universities was conducted to conceptualise and compare information about Indigenous staff needs and remuneration. A number of specific sections relating to Indigenous employment and leave arrangements were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anáhuac Journal is the property of Universidad Anahuac del Sur S.C. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a process for systematically identifying, predicting and responding to the potential impact on human rights of a business operation, capital project, government policy or trade agreement. Traditionally, it has been conducted as a desktop exercise to predict the effects of trade agreements and government policies on individuals and communities. In line with a growing call for multinational corporations to ensure they do not violate human rights in their activities, HRIA is increasingly incorporated into the standard suite of corporate development project impact assessments. In this context, the policy world's non-structured, desk-based approaches to HRIA are insufficient. Although a number of corporations have commissioned and conducted HRIA, no broadly accepted and validated assessment tool is currently available. The lack of standardisation has complicated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of HRIA as a risk mitigation tool, and has caused confusion in the corporate world regarding company duties. Hence, clarification is needed. The objectives of this paper are (i) to describe an HRIA methodology, (ii) to provide a rationale for its components and design, and (iii) to illustrate implementation of HRIA using the methodology in two selected corporate development projects—a uranium mine in Malawi and a tree farm in Tanzania. We found that as a prognostic tool, HRIA could examine potential positive and negative human rights impacts and provide effective recommendations for mitigation. However, longer-term monitoring revealed that recommendations were unevenly implemented, dependent on market conditions and personnel movements. This instability in the approach to human rights suggests a need for on-going monitoring and surveillance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that a China-Korea-Japan Free Trade Agreement (CJK FTA) will have large benefits to the three Northeast Asian countries and significant implications for global multilateral trade. However, several hurdles seem to make an expeditious completion of a CJK FTA, or even bilateral FTAs between Japan and China or between Japan and Korea extremely difficult. Thus, a pragmatic approach would be to follow a dual-track approach in which China and Korea fast-track the completion of a bilateral FTA between them and the three countries continue their negotiations for a trilateral FTA on a steady track. Neither of these attempts should, however, deter these countries from joining the larger multilateral deals they are pursuing such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or the Transpacific Partnership (TPP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to assess the discriminatory impact that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement could have on the EU economy. It gives robust evidence that the discriminatory impact will be dramatic if the TPP is successful in reducing or abolishing "behind the border" barriers among member countries. This situation leaves the EU with only two options. First option consists in doing nothing. It is costly from the beginning, as East Asian economies are already quite large. More importantly, the cost of this option will keep rising because EU's weight will decline whereas the East Asian weight will keep rising. In such a context, threatening to close the EU markets as a leverage to open non-EU markets damages credibility. The second option consists in insuring the EU against a successful TPP by reaching a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Japan, and then with Taiwan. Concluding PTAs with Japan and Taiwan is not only an insurance policy against the TPP, but it also allows the EU to boost the development of Europe, East Asia, and global trade.JEL Classifications: F13, F15 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trading pattern of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) by employing an augmented gravity model. The econometric specification followed Egger (2000, 2002), Baltagi et al. (2003) and Serlenga and Shin (2007). Diagnostic checks imply the presence of serial correlation, heteroscedasticity and contemporaneous correlation in both import and export panels, which are allowed for in the Prais-Winsten regression with panel-specific AR(I). Regression estimates show that BIMSTEC's imports follow the Linder hypothesis, while the exports exhibit Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson prototype. Results also suggest that distance elasticity is negative and significant. Real depreciation is import-reducing and export enhancing. Common language and bilateral trade agreement are found to be import and export enhancing, respectively. Governance of both local and destination countries impact trade of the bloc positively. Finally belonging to the bloc accounts for about 29 percent of its exports, which is an indication of good prospect if trade policies are liberalised within the bloc. Thus, gravity model can successfully explain the pattern of the bloc's trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preferential trade agreements could lead to a reallocation of resources across sectors and countries. Production patterns resulting from North-North regional integration initiatives have been documented in several studies. However, empirical evidence on South-South trade agreements is limited. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the empirical literature by looking at the effects of the establishment of MERCOSUR on manufacturing production patterns in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay over the period 1985- 1998. We find that deepened preferential trade liberalization has fostered a reshaping of manufacturing production structures according to regional comparative advantage in labor and skilled labor. Furthermore, declining internal tariffs have weakened agglomeration forces determined by the distribution of market sizes. By using GMM estimation techniques, we ensure that these results are robust to endogeneity and serial correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional trade arrangements are becoming an increasingly popular vehicle for the promotion of trade and growth. In East Africa the previously defunct East Africa Customs Union has been resurrected to improve trade between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. To facilitate the development of the East African Community, transitional arrangements have been put in place to liberalise inter and intra-regional trade. Using a partial equilibrium approach this paper quantifies and evaluates the trade and welfare effects of these arrangements for Uganda, particularly for products classified as sensitive products from the Ugandan perspective. Results vary with the level of product aggregation applied which questions whether transitional arrangements confer any real benefits on the stakeholders. The policy implications that follow suggest that selecting industries for protection should be based on predicted welfare outcomes rather than on pressure from vested interests for the partner countries to benefit from trade liberalisation within the customs union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with IP protection for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) under the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). It outlines the potential of GMOs and shows why effective patent protection is a necessary prerequisite for research in this area. It argues that the TRIPs minimum requirements do not mandate sufficient standards for GMO patents - they do not require patent protection for most biotechnological inventions. Subsequently, it explores the consequences of this lack of harmonization. Employing salient arguments for and against IPharmonization, it demonstrates that harmonized effective patent protection for GMOs confers significant advantages on the participating countries, but hardly any disadvantages. Moreover, it indicates that effective IPRs mitigate the more widespread use of Genetic Use Restriction Technology(ies) (GURTs). It concludes with showing why multilateral harmonization is necessary and why developing countries are deterred from unilaterally raising the standard of IP protection for GMOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, fourteen Arab countries concluded an agreement, aimed at achieving the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) by 1.1.2007 at the latest. This paper provides a first ex-post appraisal of the GAFTA agreement's trade effects. Based on new theoretical developments of the gravity equation, we estimate a panel data model which covers trade within the GAFTA area as well as with 35 other reference countries, over the period 1988-2005. Several estimators are presented, especially transformed fixed-effects, Hausman and Taylor as well as a GMM dynamic estimator. As a main finding, the calculation of gross trade creation shows that regional trade has increased by 20% since GAFTA has been implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the potential effects from trade facilitation in terms of increased trade flows both on average and specifically for the six regional groups of ACP countries negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. Data from the World Bank's Doing Business Database on the time required to export or import are used as indicators of cross-border transaction costs, and a gravity model on two-way bilateral trade between 22 EU countries and 100 developing countries is estimated using a sample selection approach. The results suggest that time delays on the part of the exporter and the importer generally significantly decrease trade flows, but also that this effect is not constant, in the sense that the elasticity of trade with respect to border delays declines at higher levels of time requirements. On average, lowering border delays in the exporting country by one day from the sample mean would yield an export-increasing effect of about 1 percent, while the same reduction in the importing country would increase imports by about 0.5 percent. Significant negative effects are also found of both export and import transaction costs for most EPA groups, and the effects tend to be at least as large as the average or larger. The results are generally robust for a number of alternative estimation methods such as Poisson estimation, IV estimation taking sample selection into account and the sample selection approach suggested by Helpman et al. (2007). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows a new exposition of the Trade Diversion Effect when Free Trade Agreements are created. Hub and spoke type of trade networks cause systemic overproduction, and member countries exit from the markets, whereas perfectly connected networks create sustainable markets in any number of markets. Since there are two basic patterns for creating FTAs, bilateral and multilateral, a network pattern is derived from these negotiation patterns. The hub country may be aggressive in pursuing Free Trade Agreements with various countries, but accumulation of bilateral negotiations may cause Trade Diversion Effect in the regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)