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To what extent do psychological factors determine individuals' support for trade? Previous studies find that predispositions such as nationalism, patriotism, xenophobia, and isolationism predict opposition to imports. However, it is unclear whether this relationship holds when trade is framed in ways other than imports and for international institutions (IIs) governing trade between countries. In this study, I use a cross-national dataset to test whether the relationship between psychological factors and trade/II attitudes is conditional on the frame used (imports vs. consumer choice vs. neutral), the dimension of trade (principle of free trade vs. IIs governing trade), and the level of political integration of trade-related IIs (deep vs. shallow). Controlling for self-interest factors and other covariates, I find that, while xenophobia consistently predicts protectionism regardless of the frame and dimension, and patriotism mostly predicts trade/II support, the effect of nationalism and isolationism highly depends on the frame used. Moreover, the negative effect of xenophobia and isolationism on support for trade-related IIs increases as they become deeper. The findings in this study call for a greater exploration on how the interaction between elite framing and psychological predispositions affects attitudes towards trade and other globalization issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile and Korea subscribed a free trade agreement in 2003, which entered into force in 2004. One of the main objectives behind the agreement was to modify the concentration of the Chilean export basket, traditionally dominated by primary products, through preferential access to the country's main export destinations. From here, this paper analyses the achievement of this objective through mixed-methods. Acknowledging that econometric models may not fully explain trade patterns, this article uses both quantitative data to understand the impact of the agreement on export flows, and qualitative information to complement these results. It concludes that Chile has not been capable of achieving the objective stated, due to constrains in the public and private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the importance of trade in services for global value chain participation in the ASEAN region. Using newly created data on GVCs as well as a new database on the services trade restrictiveness index to connect international trade policies in services to participation in GVCs, we show that restrictions on trade in services are detrimental for backward participation in GVCs and that such restrictions are harmful to ASEAN members when compared to other countries in the data set. Also, we show that services trade restrictions are especially detrimental to ASEAN countries when such backward integration is connected to forward participation, hence, central positions in GVCs. Restrictions on trade in services slow down the upgrading of value chain positions, which calls for policy actions to follow up trade liberalization in industrial products with a new round of lower restrictions on services trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's foreign policy in South Asia has recently suffered revisions following increased Chinese presence in the region. Since 2007 the Maldives has also witnessed a tremendous change in its foreign policy from the 'India First' to the 'India Out' campaign. Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise in the Maldives and is impacting its foreign policy choices. China has shown great interest in the Maldives. While the Maldives has signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China and recorded enormous Chinese investments in various projects, the Indian ground in the island state has shrunk in the last decade. This article discusses how the Maldives has realised its geostrategic significance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and how India has succeeded in restoring its traditional clout in Malé after the return of President Ibrahim Solih in 2018. It also discusses the Indian role in the Maldives during the pandemic and the signing of several Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), maritime security understandings and partnerships with the United States in the Indo-Pacific in view of groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Also examined is how the sharing of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision (FOIP) has brightened the scope of India's relations with the Maldives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to the Two-Country Representative Agents and the Small Open Economy Heterogeneous Agents models, this paper develops a Two-Country Heterogeneous Agents New Keynesian model, building a heterogeneous and endogenous channel of mutual investments on foreign illiquid assets and exploring two countries' wealth distribution and inequality. This model explores the impacts of trade barriers on the two countries' economic structures and behaviors. In the symmetric economy, the first launcher of tariffs suffers higher losses from the trade war, the other that does not launch tariffs suffers fewer losses. The two countries both suffer higher losses if the two sides simultaneously launch the trade war. However, in the asymmetrical economy, the country with a larger economic scale and higher productivities suffers lower losses from the trade war. Thus the high-tech country has the motivation to launch the trade war at a lower cost than the low-tech country. This paper implies that the trade war only occurs in asymmetric economies. The low-tech country can change its dilemma by improving technology because higher technology can enhance the quality level of products, stimulate economic consumption and investments, and finally offset the loss from tariff friction. Meanwhile, the trade detour is also an effective means to reduce the loss resulted from trade friction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary economic thinking does not acknowledge that the human economy is embedded in Nature; it instead treats humanity as a customer that draws on Nature. In this paper, we present a grammar for economic reasoning that is not built on that error. The grammar is based on a comparison between our demand for Nature's maintenance and regulating services and her ability to supply them on a sustainable basis. The comparison is then used to show that for measuring economic well-being, national statistical offices should estimate an inclusive measure of their economies' wealth and its distribution, not GDP and its distribution. The concept of 'inclusive wealth' is then used to identify policy instruments that ought to be used to manage such global public goods as the open seas and tropical rainforests. Trade liberalization without heed paid to the fate of local ecosystems from which primary products are drawn and exported by developing countries leads to a transfer of inclusive wealth from there to rich importing countries. Humanity's embeddedness in Nature has far-reaching implications for the way we should view human activities—in households, communities, nations and the world. This article is part of the theme issue 'Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the long run sustainability of a growth path led by multiple non-creating capacity autonomous expenditures in a demand led-supermultiplier model for a small open economy. Using two different models the results show that it is impossible to have in the same model long-term economic growth driven by the non-capacity creating component of domestic demand, exogenous income distribution, long-run balance between productive capacity and aggregate demand and balance of payments equilibrium. Economic viability of the balanced-growth path demands growth to be led by exports, at least for small open economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exchange rates and international prices are fundamental to explaining inflation in open economies. Conflict inflation models account for these variables by including imported inputs and, sometimes, a distribution effect of exchange rates since firms' mark-up cannot be independent of foreign competition in open economies. We analyze the different assumptions on distribution underlying conflict inflation models. We propose an alternative approach building on the Classical–Keynesian theory of distribution for a price-taker open economy. Thus we model conflict inflation in a framework compatible with the Classical–Keynesian approach for the open economy. The model includes tradable prices, considering their direct impact on distribution. Therefore, it addresses a cause of inflation overlooked in the literature. Finally, conflict inflation affects the real exchange rate, which becomes a fundamental distributive variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an analytical solution to the differential equation that regulates the motion of the neo-Kaleckian model in the short run. After presenting a simple open economy neo-Kaleckian model with government activity, the paper analytically derives an expression for the time of adjustment, defined as the time required for the system to make a k percent adjustment from one steady-state to another. The solution shows that there is an inverse relationship between the time of adjustment and (i) the strength of the Keynesian stability condition; (ii) the behavior of entrepreneurs underlying their decisions to more rapidly/slowly respond to changes in goods market conditions. Last, the model is calibrated for the US, showing that the vicinity of the new equilibrium is reached after a period of about 5 quarters under a baseline calibration. By formally analyzing the out-of-equilibrium trajectory of the neo-Kaleckian model, this contribution moves away from the method of comparative dynamics and provides a historical-time representation of the model's traverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-lasting, distributive changes in Argentina during the 1970s have been extensively studied from different theoretical perspectives. What has not yet been sufficiently examined, however, are the reasons behind the non-monotonic trends observed on income distribution during this period and, in particular, under the dictatorial regime (1976–83). To fill this gap, we have developed a model inspired in the modern Classical-Structuralist approach to income distribution. We argue that the irregular trend of the real wage reveals that only a partial correspondence exists between the class interests of the 1976 coup and the effects on income distribution of the successive economic programs implemented by the dictatorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political economy literature extensively discusses how great powers use asymmetric power relations as a tool in trade negotiations, yet discussion regarding how asymmetric power relations can account for the variety of power asymmetry dynamics in international relations, especially in the cases of middle power countries such as South Korea, is scarce. This paper examines how South Korea's free trade agreement (FTA) strategies with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were enabled under the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern Policy (NSP) by analyzing the sources of South Korea's power asymmetry with ASEAN. Understanding power asymmetry as an evolving process, this paper takes the constructivist approach to middle power to demonstrate how South Korea's development of a middle power identity shaped the country's negotiation leverage in trade negotiations. This enabled South Korea to secure in-depth FTAs with ASEAN at the bilateral level under the NSP, despite ASEAN members' initial reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What determines people's preferences regarding trade policy? Existing studies have assumed that people consider trade policy merely trade politics; accordingly, these studies have focused on economic factors, such as benefits to individual or national welfare; ideational factors, such as xenophobia; or domestic political factors. This paper reveals that the international political factor of national security influences ordinary people's preferences for trade policy. While several studies have addressed the effect of the national security factor, they did not persuasively reveal the causal mechanism of the relationship between the national security factor and people's trade preferences. The present study conducted a factorial survey experiment to investigate the causal effect and the causal mechanism of the security factor on people's preferences regarding free trade agreements (FTAs). The results of the experiment conducted in Japan reveal that ordinary people consider the national security factor along the so-called realism path in forming their opinions regarding FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neomercantilism is commonly portrayed as a central mechanism of China's global agribusiness engagement. It implies reordering the international food regime by moving away from financial and trade liberalization and securing stable import supplies and price controls under state support. However, this article raises an alternative interpretation through an empirical‐rich investigation of the prominence of the state‐owned China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) in the soybean commodity chain. The article draws upon analyses of the Chinese state and international food regime to demonstrate that recent changes in state‐capital relations during the Xi Jinping administration propelled forms of capital accumulation based on financial speculation and shareholder values. I conclude that state‐driven internationalization has placed Chinese agribusiness in an advantageous position within global finance rather than challenging it through agrarian neomercantilist strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of digital forex trading is a form of technological progress as well as the impact of trade liberalization which is a product of globalization. Digital Trading Forex (DTF) is a form of commodity futures trading based on a digital platform that uses technology called Artificial Intelligence Technology (AI) and Blockchain. Many previous studies on forex trading, stock investment, legal relations between brokers and investors have been carried out, but none have focused on discussing the draft regulation of Bappebti that suits the needs of the digitalization era. Regulations in Indonesia that regulate trading activities are still limited to manual trading through online electronic systems, so it appears that there is a void of norms regarding global digital trading in Bappebti regulations. This void results in the absence of a standard for identification and verification of the legality of futures brokerage companies in the community. This is the beginning of many fraud cases that are not completely resolved. The blocking action taken by Bappebti to crack down on illegal brokers actually puts trading Customers suffering double losses and it is unlikely that the funds that have been deposited can be redistributed to the Customers. This is an interesting thing to study and analyze further, so that through this research will produce a design of an identification and verification system for brokers so that customers get proper legal protection by using a technological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a dynamic, multicountry model with capital accumulation, we compute the exact transition paths for 93 countries following a permanent, uniform, unanticipated trade liberalization and calculate the resulting welfare gains from trade. We find that while the dynamic gains are different across countries, consumption transition paths look similar except for scale. In addition, dynamic gains accrue gradually and are about 60 percent of steady-state gains for every country. Finally, the contribution of capital accumulation to dynamic gains is four times that of total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the possible role of US trade liberalization in explaining Puerto Rico's deindustrialization. In order to address this issue, time series techniques were used. The results of the Granger Causality Test suggest that the imports made by the US from Mexico, Canada, Ireland, and Costa Rica do not explain Puerto Rico's deindustrialization. Therefore, no causal relationship was found between the imports made by the US from its NAFTA partners and the countries where the corporations that benefited from Section 936 relocated with the deindustrialization of Puerto Rico. Besides, the impulse response exercise suggests that in the first period, deindustrialization explains its variability by 100%, and in the final period, it explains 95.47%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on how technical barriers to trade (TBT) are addressed in recent EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). We analyze the pre- and post-EPA trade policies and the contested issues in Japan from the viewpoint of European businesses. An eclectic theoretical approach is adopted to study the economic, political and social aspects of trade barriers. Whereas formal trade barriers, such as tariffs and codified non-tariff barriers are easily discernible, the subtler informal trade barriers derive from social norms that guide administrative practices and are hard to measure, and largely neglected in recent research. Based on expert interviews, policy documents, and European business surveys, we observe that the enforcement of EPA in Japan lags behind concerning certain TBTs such as standards, approvals and testing. The findings suggest that informal trade barriers, often linked with investment barriers, have a bearing in the theorization on trade policies and free trade agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is the European Union's (EU) second free trade agreement (FTA) with a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also marks a key milestone in the EU's 30-year cooperative relationship with Vietnam. Prior to the ratification of the EVFTA, Vietnam began labour law reforms, most notably the adoption of the new Labour Code in 2019. Therefore, this study assesses the changes in Vietnamese labour law to fulfil EVFTA's labour commitments. Based on EU documents, assessments of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and related research, we comprehensively evaluate the amendments and supplements, particularly the transformation of ILO core labour standards into Vietnamese law. Accordingly, the study highlights the reforms' positive aspects while also evaluating its unsolved limitations. Apart from this, proposals are made with the expectation that the labour law reforms relating to EVFTA labour obligations would be efficiently implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from economic protectionism to free trade in the late-1950s saw the Irish government embark on a project to improve the state's image abroad. Up to that point, the state had endured a tempestuous relationship with British newspapers and the adoption of free trade necessitated a new rapport to encourage positive coverage of the industrialisation project. The key components of this strategy were the courting of British newspapers through state sponsorship of special supplements, facilitating visits by British journalists to industrial sites, and providing interview access to senior ministers. Such actions constituted the state's first exercise in nation branding and represented a sea change in how it interacted with British media. This article offers an analysis of this project to project an image of a modern, industrial Ireland for overseas consumption. It finds that the project was only partly successful: while much coverage highlighted the state's economic modernisation, this was often accompanied by commentary that was critical of the lack of social change. It also finds that the tensions present in this initial nation branding project also characterised later nation branding projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic and policy interest in civil society participation in the European Union's trade policy has been growing since the late 1990s. We analyse civil society's engagement with the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs)—consultation mechanisms established by the European Commission at the implementation stage of its free trade agreements. While the Commission's formal rationale for the DAGs is partnership with civil society, in fact this relationship involves a marked power and resistance dynamic. We focus on civil society's agency and resistance, develop a conceptual framework laying out different possible types of resistance, and empirically demonstrate the wealth of both overt and subtle resistance practices employed by DAG members. Most of this resistance is (moderately) comprehensive and directed against the DAGs' rationalities and technologies. While showing that DAGs are deeply contested, our study also provides a nuanced analysis of resistance with particular attention for divisions between business and non-business members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uncovers the origins of 'cakeism' i.e., the notion the UK could keep certain EU benefits or not suffer costs after Brexit. The analysis demonstrates how the assumptions behind cakeism originated after 1992 in policy circles associated with the Conservative Party. They argued that a free-trade alternative to the EU was easy to put in place by simply disaggregating preferred elements of the single market from supranationalism. A Westminster-centric perspective also meant these proto-Brexiters were unable to countenance any potential domestic disruption caused by leaving the EU. During May's Brexit negotiations, European Research Group MPs resorted to cakeist arguments that reprised the same assumptions about international trade and the unitary nature of the UK state articulated well before 2016. Cakeist ideas helped scupper May's customs plan and paved the way for Johnson's free trade deal, thereby demonstrating the enduring influence of the early think-tank debate on leaving the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address how the monetary authority should react to financial market status and exchange rate movements in a small open economy New Keynesian model with financial frictions due to asymmetric information between savers and borrowers. We show that the small economy with financial frictions is more susceptible to the exogenous shocks under the fixed exchange rate regime than under the flexible exchange regime. The small economy experiences a more prolonged and deeper economic recession under the fixed exchange rate regime than under the flexible exchange rate regime. The monetary policy taking into account external finance premium is better than the interest rate rule without considering the financial market status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) deviates from the poor track record of 'trade and sustainable development' chapters in EU FTAs. Ahead of ratification, Vietnam embarked upon pathbreaking reforms, culminating in a new labor code and accession to outstanding ILO core conventions. This article assesses the role of the EVFTA in these reforms. Building on literatures on the trade-labor nexus and externalization of EU governance, we call for a more comprehensive analysis of power dynamics in partner countries and address this lacunae by embedding FTAs and labor reforms in a strategic-relational conceptualization of states. We argue that the 'success' of the EVFTA was the outcome of specific conjunctures of social forces in, and outside of, state institutions in the EU and Vietnam, and their mediation at the transnational level. Amid free trade skepticism in the EU, particular members of the Parliament and the Council wielded their veto powers to negotiate with Vietnam and pull the Commission into a stronger position. In Vietnam, the external pressure resonated with internal struggles and empowered reformists to drive forward labor reforms. Implementation, however, remains uncertain; and, context-dependent as it was, the EVFTA pre-ratification impact does not easily lend itself to replication in other FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third regionalism explains the liberalization of trade centered around the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century. Under regionalism, domestic agricultural markets that formerly enjoyed national food-security policies have loosened. This caused traditional domestic farmers' organizations to become more regionally interconnected, forming a food sovereignty movement under the auspices of La Via Campesina. Localized food-production chains are promoted to mitigate the impact of regionalism on the Asia-Pacific agricultural sector. The Taiwan Rural Front (TRF) joined La Via Campesina and the food sovereignty movement in the 2010s. During the process of adopting regionalism, Taiwanese agricultural trade and technologies were protected by public agencies and state-owned enterprises. This context differs from that of Southeast Asia, where the food sovereignty movement has thrived. Therefore, the following question is raised: Why was it possible for the food sovereignty movement to originate in Taiwan? This paper describes the developmental characteristics of Taiwan's food-security governance mechanism as a state-guided corporate food regime amid third regionalism. Further, the TRF does not advocate for localized food-production chains. Due to the formation of a state-guided corporate food regime, the food sovereignty movement has become connected with farmland protection movements that set the Taiwanese sovereignty movement apart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

" Words Matter: Presidents Obama and Trump, Twitter, and U.S. Soft Power. Graph [9] concentrate on the issues that soured the initial optimism for a U.S.-U.K. free trade agreement between President Trump and Prime Minister Johnson which did not come to its planned fruition by 2020. EN Social Media Foreign Policy Twitter Soft Power Obama Trump Boris Johnson Humanitarian Intervention President Clinton Bosnia Kosovo China Sri-Lanka Kazakhstan South Korea ASEAN Sub-Saharan Africa Information Technology. NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Presidential Tweets, the U.S.-U.K. Free Trade Agreement, Humanitarian Intervention, and China's Bilateral Relations. [Extracted from the article]

With Brexit done and the desire to alter U.S. trade policy in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump, both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Trump were optimistic that a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States could be swiftly negotiated. This proved not to be the case despite the efforts of both leaders. We use an Open Economy Politics lens to examine the political and economic forces at work in both the United Kingdom and the United States during the tenure of the Trump administration that led to the initiative being stillborn and why the original optimism was misplaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of rule of origin (ROOs) and tariff margin on China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) utilization. Using a sample of 40,474 product-level observations with China's imports from ASEAN countries during the period 2015 to 2021 and adopting the Logit model estimation methods, we found that larger tariff margin positively affects the use of CAFTA, whereas, the rules of origin show a negative effect on the CAFTA utilization. In order to assess the specific impact of two effects, we also calculate the relative contribution of these two effects to the CAFTA utilization by ASEAN countries, and the results show that the rules of origin play a more important role on the CAFTA utilization by each ASEAN country. Moreover, based on heterogeneity analysis, we also find that ROOs play an important role in the use of FTA by lower middle-income countries and the tariff margin play an important role in the use of FTA by upper middle-income and high-income countries. Based on the above findings, the study proposes some policy recommendations on how to increase the CAFTA utilization by reducing the ROO costs and accelerating tariff reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia is a member of many multilateral trade bodies and engages in trade agreements of a multilateral and bilateral kind across most regions. In June 2018, it launched negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) which are still ongoing and since then Australia and the EU have conducted fifteen rounds of negotiations (last one on 28 May 2023 in Brussels). This paper aims to explore the business awareness of the EU amongst Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to analyse the factors that influence their internationalisation. To ascertain this, we reviewed the results of two surveys1 that were conducted pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic (also coinciding with the Brexit transition period). This paper argues that SMEs in Australia are essentially unaware of the EU as a market and that no significant change in the business perception of the EU and potential international trade opportunities occurred between the pre- and post-COVID-19 political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contrasts agricultural protection of Japan and Korea with the West and identifies major differences between them. It characterizes agricultural protection of Japan and Korea (net heavy food importers) as "tariff-based and scarcity-sensitive" aimed at promoting survival and the West (net food exporters) as "subsidy-based and surplus-inducing" aimed at enhancing farm income. We then identify factors underlying the coevolution and divergence in the extent of agricultural trade liberalization between Japan and Korea since the launch of the Uruguay Round in 1986. Korea accepted deep cuts in agricultural tariffs in bilateral FTAs with the US and EU during the 2000s while Japan continued to protect farm interests by concluding low levels of FTAs with politically sensitive products excluded from tariff concessions. The two countries' stances reversed since 2013 with Japan becoming proactive in pursuing high levels of FTAs with major agricultural exporting countries and Korea decelerating its opening of agricultural markets. To explain such divergences, this paper develops a political economy framework in which the incumbent political leadership would consider both national interests and sectoral (farm as import competing industries and business/manufacturing as exporting industries) special interests. Our analysis shows that President Roh (2002–2007)'s embracing of neoliberal paradigm in formulating foreign trade policies that would promote national interests underlies the unprecedented level of agricultural trade liberalization in Korea during the 2000s, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's determination not to be outcompeted by the rising China and Korea's ambitious FTA strategies underlies Japan's proactive bilateral and mega-FTA drives since 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We outline a model of endogenous choices of market entry and product scope in a partial-equilibrium model of heterogeneous firms with arbitrary productivity. Firms' choices of interest depend on market characteristics including variable trade and fixed market-entry costs. Conditional on fixed costs, the extent to which firms respond to shocks depends on their (potentially nonparametric) density around the zero-profit threshold. Accordingly, identical changes in, e.g., variable trade costs per product and market can lead to vastly different responses across not only markets and products but also firms. We shed light on the heterogeneity of these responses by estimating parameters and otherwise calibrating the model to firm-and-product-level bilateral trade data for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism industry in developing countries can present differentiated results in their levels of competitiveness. Analyzing the specific cases in this type of economy could open up the possibility of developing more efficient growth processes in the industry. The study proposes to analyze the challenges that restrict the full development of tourism in Ecuador. A literature review related to the competitiveness of destinations is carried out, identifying the potentialities and conditions for the correct development of the sector. It is identified that improvements must be made in current industry regulations, planning and decentralization processes and coordinating related actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his book The Community of Advantage, Sugden proposes a form of normative economics that is almost free of the concept of preferences. Specifically, Sugden relies on the idea that everyone can accept the principle that more opportunities is better than less. Yet, this approach cannot be easily applied to the choice of economic reforms that fail to provide more opportunities for everyone. This paper complements an approach proposed by Sugden to deal with non-nested opportunity sets. We rely on the idea that people should take responsibility for the choices that were not endorsed before the reform takes place. In this perspective, a reform project is admissible if it allows people to stick to their initial choices and provides them with a rich set of opportunities (that is, the new opportunity regime must also satisfy Sugden's Strong Interactive Opportunity Criterion). As an illustration, we show how routine redistribution schemes can make free trade be preferred to autarky even if it does not provide more opportunities for everyone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital and trade liberalization are playing a central role in growth theories. However, the link between human capital, trade liberalization, and economic growth remains a challenging question due to the inconclusive results of the previous studies. Paper contributes to this debate through asymmetric links among human capital, trade liberalization, and economic growth by incorporating labor and capital for Pakistan's economy by applying the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model. Results suggest that the positive and negative asymmetric impact of trade liberalization and human capital on growth substantially vary in the short and long run. In the long run, the increased trade liberalization hurts economic growth, while increased human capital has a minimal positive impact on economic growth in the short and long run. The implications of this paper are for economists and policymakers to strengthen the role of human capital and trade liberalization for Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of population is recurrent in economics, particularly in France. The literature in history of economic thought related to these issues is extensive, especially, in the case of French liberal economists, from the period starting with the writings of Malthus up to the middle of the 19th century. Few studies, however, focus on the position of economic liberals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The purpose of this paper is therefore to extend the analysis and provide an account of the key debates amongst the French liberal economists of this period concerning what they referred to as "the problem of population". We shall first see that this "problem" consisted in a stagnation of French population levels due to a drop in the birth rate, leading to negative consequences for the economy and elsewhere. This led economists to name causes and solutions to this decline on which the French liberals were divided. For some authors, the causes arose from a change in lifestyles, for others to increasing intervention by the state. Lastly, we will present the contrasting ideas for solutions to allow the birth rate to increase again. For some, the solution was a moral one: what was needed was a change of mindset. For others, the solution was economic, i.e., the human condition could be improved by free trade. For others, the solution lay in legislation: the state should encourage individuals to have more children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the agri-food trade strategy of the United Kingdom (UK) after its exit as member of the European Union (Brexit). Also cited are the UK's plan to promote rules-based order for international trade, free markets, globalisation, and free trade, and the UK's independent free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia.

This article examines the folkloric protest and popular political culture during the anti‐Corn Law agitation. It offers a new analysis of the role of customary demonstration based on moral economy in supporting free importation of foreign corn. It examines previously unstudied bread processions during the 1841 general election and effigy burnings of Sir Robert Peel that occurred simultaneously against his minor revision of the Corn Laws in 1842. It argues that the practice of these traditional protests offered a basis on which plebeians understood the emerging idea of Free Trade. While the protesters and more moderate reformers represented by the Anti‐Corn Law League shared a common cause of Corn Law repeal, there was a potential conflict over respectability. Moreover, Chartists could appropriate this popular custom for promoting the People's Charter rather than Free Trade. This article contributes to understanding the relationship between popular custom and radical politics in the wider context of the emergence of Free Trade Britain in the early Victorian period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to study the implementation of the concept of a smart specialization strategy (Strategy for Smart Specialization - S3) in the formation of regional development policy and promotion of interregional cooperation in the countries of the European Union (EU). The article claims that the main assumption of the concept of smart specialization is the allocation of unique strengths and opportunities specific to a particular territory. The choice of smart specialization is aimed at the optimal use of the region's resources through the best combination of the potential of science, education and economy. In addition, the implementation of smart specialization strategies in regions is not a single event, but a continuous management process. This approach emphasizes the importance of strategic interregional cooperation [21]. In today's conditions, the implementation of cohesion policy in EU countries supports and encourages regions to improve the existing S3 and interregional cooperation. Research by a number of scientists in the field of the influence of smart specialization on economic changes in European regions has shown that this approach to management in an open economy is still not widespread. Scholars stress that the success of this approach depends on its ability to generate interregional cooperation and suggest sharing between regions common databases, industry/technology definitions, creating permanent forums for pooling and discussing common regional problems and challenges, and initiating a process exchange of information between regions on issues related to interregional cooperation. A deep review of S3 strategies is needed to improve them through joint policy development by different regions, taking into account their potential for cooperation [1]. Despite the positive experience of implementing this effective instrument of regional development policy, there are ongoing debates, which are mainly focused on the problems of practical implementation of S3. In order to improve the capabilities of the concept of smart specialization, scientists propose the implementation of the construction of interregional S3, the improvement of management and financing mechanisms of interregional joint projects, the introduction of new provisions to support interregional cooperation [8]. The article highlights how the approach of smart specialization was implemented in practice in some European regions [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]. The given examples show how interregional integration processes contribute to the successful implementation of the concept of smart specialization through involvement in interregional business networks and innovation systems. For this purpose, S3 entities use thematic partnerships in smart specialization. It is noted that success factors in fruitful interregional cooperation are a structure with strong leadership and management at the partnership level, as well as the presence of bodies - state bodies or cluster organizations - that manage the process and promote interregional cooperation. The study shows that well-structured governance is an important driving force for cross-regional initiatives where stakeholders develop a forward-looking vision that combines the strengths and potential of partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karl Polanyi's double movement is a key tool for conceptualising free market fatigue in African business communities wrought by the insecurities of trade liberalisation. Synthesising Polanyi with Kwame Nkrumah's work on neo-colonialism, the article argues that exhausted business communities in Africa can contest free market reforms and push for a return to developmentalist strategies, underscoring a double movement. In this discussion it highlights Ghana, a 'donor darling' in terms of historical implementation of free market reform. It builds upon the author's engagement with 66 interviewees – business people and policy stakeholders – in relation to the condition of that country's poultry and tomato industries. Unpacking interviewee narratives, the article points to a striking common theme, namely that business stakeholders call for the re-embedding of the economy via developmentalist strategies to move beyond neo-colonial trade systems. In this vein, the article provides an original contribution to studies of International Political Economy by demonstrating the efficacy of a Nkrumah-Polanyi ensemble for making sense of business communities' potential role in countermovements for developmentalism in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence that local exposure to Chinese import competition favors right-wing parties has often been attributed to the success of economic nationalism. We test an alternative account. Trade shocks catalyze cultural backlash, which drives support for conservative candidates, as they compete electorally by targeting out-groups. We assess this hypothesis in the 2008–2016 US presidential elections. Using individual-level survey data, we provide evidence that Chinese import shocks drive negative attitudes towards minorities and positive feelings towards in-groups. Opinions about free trade and redistribution are not affected. Results indicate that this rightward shift is primarily driven by non-Hispanic white and male respondents. These findings point to the role played by trade-induced cultural backlash in shaping political outcomes in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the prospects of hegemony through a reanalysis of the anti-Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) movement. This movement failed to block the treaty, but it challenged the conduct of traditional ruling parties, raising the prospect of "rule from below." The existing literature has fallen into a basic political condition trap, emphasizing South Korea's fundamental political and cultural context without explaining the essential nature of this social activism in terms of the construction of hegemonies in the global system. Drawing on Gramsci's insights, the protest is evaluated focusing on its novel characteristics: the contested ideological site of the struggles and the evolved protest geography. The anti-KORUS FTA movement's political implications and national growth are a local response to the reinforced contradictions of neoliberal restructuring. This study presents a nuanced interpretation of the movement through its analysis of emergent local dissent against neoliberal globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") is at the cutting edge of changing industrial practices. As such, it is at the forefront of the transition to sustainability. CSR can be both a national or regional policy and an organizational policy. The European Union ("EU") is the leading jurisdiction in terms of CSR and of a broader society-wide sustainability policy. With its immense market and political power, the EU is able to export its CSR policy priorities. Applying its policies extraterritorially through the inclusion of Trade and Sustainable Development ("TSD") provisions in its Free Trade Agreements ("FTAs") is an exercise of that power and a significant step in achieving global industrial sustainability. This Article argues that the EU requires certain specific institutional reforms to achieve its TSD objectives. Using a theory of coherent regulatory systems, empirical evidence and argumentation, this Article proposes a series of reforms that reflect the underlying normative change in FTAs from exclusively trade and finance focused agreements to those which include social and environmental objectives. This change requires other modifications in the regulatory system, as for example, inclusion of parties beyond trade and finance specialists, parties and institutions such as civil and business groups, domestic courts built on broadly accepted and well understood standards. We argue that the reform of FTAs with more robust private party rights, private standards and better use of the domestic courts would improve socially and environmentally responsible business practices in the EU and around the world with a positive impact on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies cross-country and intertemporal differences in the effects of trade exposure on per capita national income. We develop a small open economy endogenous growth model with high- and low-technology sectors and endogenous human capital accumulation. We then test the predictions of our model on a sample of 70 countries over the period 1980–2017. Our main assertion is that gains from trade are not only disproportionate across countries but also contrasting over time, depending on the technology intensity of exports. Countries with lower initial experience in the production of technology-intensive goods and services tend to specialize in sectors with lower demand for better-educated and high-skilled workforce, which lowers the return to and individual incentives for education. Consequently, trade-induced specialization patterns, due to their implications about technological progress, appear to be an important factor causing cross-national divergence in welfare. Our theoretical model implies that, in an unskilled labor-abundant country, higher exposure to international trade can decrease the long-run growth rate, even though it increases short-run per capita income. In a skilled-labor abundant country, both short-run and long-run effects are positive. Our empirical findings, which identify short-run and long-run effects separately, strongly support these predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]