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This paper aims to study the effects of a possible Russia-European Union (EU) free-trade agreement (FTA), in Russia itself and in the other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The paper also presents estimations of the effects of external shocks on the CIS country that has closest trade relations with Russia, the Republic of Belarus. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 starts with a brief description of the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model used herein. The current status of trade flows between the EU, Russia, and the CIS are presented in Sect. 2. In Sect. 3, the effects of a EU-Russia FTA are simulated on a benchmark of an enlarged EU and a Russia that is a World Trade Organization (WTO) member. Section 4 describes the trade relations between Russia and Belarus and the effects of a gas price shock. The work concludes that a FTA with the EU would yield positive results for Russia and Belarus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exchange rate volatility is often perceived to cause a reduction in the overall level of trade. In view of the proliferation of rapid regional trade agreements in recent years, the unpredictability of exchange rate has prompted many economists to investigate the effects of the volatile nature of exchange rate on trade. Previous studies have neglected the sectoral data, focusing instead on the aggregate trade flows which may have led to incomplete conclusions. The present paper aims to fill this lacuna by employing a proper specification of the gravity model using a panel of 95 countries that trade with South Africa over the period 2000–2017. Two major findings emerge. First, using aggregate data, the results suggest that nonlinear volatility has a positive and significant effect on trade, whereas linear volatility does not exert any impact on trade. Second, using sectoral data, the paper finds that there is no definite effect of volatility on trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What causes the shift in pollution burden among different high-income Belt and Road (B&R) countries? According to the pollution haven hypothesis, international trade (via Preferential Trade Agreements) and foreign direct investment are the key influencing mechanisms of international pollution burden shifting, while technological innovation and environmental provisions also have a significant impact on pollution burden transfer. The purpose of this paper is to examine how pollution burden transfer occurs in B&R countries through studying the impact of these mechanisms on the import and export of ecological footprints. The relevant evidence of pollution transfer is based on balance panel data analysis of 61 countries along B&R from 2009 to 2016. In terms of the different incomes of B&R countries, it has been found: Firstly, under the impetus of preferential trade agreements, the two-way transfer of environmental pollution burden exists in low-income and middle-income of B&R countries, and it also promotes the two-way transfer of pollution burden in middle-income countries through foreign direct investment. Secondly, the environmental provisions have no binding effect on the import and export of ecological footprint of B&R countries. Thirdly, technological innovation has negatively affected the environment of middle-income countries. These conclusions enrich the research on the transfer and influence mechanism of pollution burden among B&R countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negotiations for the EU-Singapore FTA were concluded on December 6, 2012. Given that this is the EU's first FTA with an ASEAN member country and the second one with a major Asian trading partner after the conclusion of the EU-Korea FTA, this agreement paves the way for future FTAs with countries in the region. The goal of this paper is to quantify the economic impacts of the EU-Singapore FTA using a dynamic computable general equilibrium model. The resutls estimated in this paper suggest that the bilateral reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers brings benefits for both sides: Singapore GDP is expected to increase by € 2.7 billion whereas the EU gains are assessed at € 550 million. In addition, EU exports to Singapore would rise by some € 1.4 billion and Singapore's exports to the EU by some € 3.5 billion. In a complementary scenario, the current paper also assesses the value of this FTA as an insurance policy against any hypothetical tariffs hikes in Singapore to WTO bound levels. In such a 'worst case' scenario, the EU-Singapore FTA will protect EU GDP from a decrease of € 350 million and prevents a loss of € 3.7 billion EU exports to Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a comparative-static general equilibrium model in the context of the Western Hemisphere, this paper compares the economic effects of a "hub-and spokes" type of bilateral trade configuration (with Chile being the hub) with those of a more comprehensive regional FTA (namely, the FTAA). The model is augmented to account for the possibility of technology spillovers and its effective assimilation among participating economies. In particular, absorptive capacity, governance factor, proximity and socio-institutional congruence conjointly determine an economy's capacity to capture the technology that is transmitted from the developed spoke United States to other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), a U.S.-based trade association dedicated to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the book industry supply chain, published Publishing Rights: An Untapped Opportunity. The white paper outlined six findings from an industry survey. Since then, BISG's rights committee extended that initial research by updating a draft taxonomy for rights transactions. The new taxonomy defines rights data, transactions requests, transactions licenses, and royalty data. The taxonomy is being tested now in a set of pilot agreements between trading partners. Benefits of the proposed taxonomy are expected to include lower transaction costs, fewer errors in rights tracking and sale, and improved turnaround times for rights inquiries. Information about the work may be obtained by writing to info@bisg.org. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between mega-regional trade Agreements and diet-related health given that such Agreements aim to liberalize 'substantially all trade and investment' that could potentially impact on health through tariff elimination and stronger intellectual property commitments in partner countries. We analyse two interlinked policy concerns: first, how tariff reduction/elimination under mega-regional Agreements impact on the production of sugar? Second, how mega-regional Agreements with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-style and TRIPS-plus commitments modify intellectual property rules among partner countries and impact on developing countries' access to life-saving drugs and medicines? Using a dynamic Global Trade Analysis Project model, we find there are significant health consequences of trade commitments undertaken by developing countries with potential detrimental health effect on populations such that first, higher production of sugar alters consumption trends. Second, despite stricter intellectual property rules, which result in net global gains, developing countries suffer from the regulatory chill effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the economic implications of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (EU). The basic data on trade in goods and services and investment between the two parties suggest that the cost of 'Brexit' could be substantial. Trade between the UK and the EU-27 is large and of a similar order of magnitude as transatlantic trade (between the EU and the U.S.). The precise nature of the (hopefully free) trade agreement UK-EU-27 is still being negotiated. All available studies concur that a significant disruption of trade links will impose economic costs on both sides. However, the EU-27 would bear only a disproportionally small share of the total cost, not just because it is about five times larger than the UK in economic terms, but also for fundamental reasons such as greater market power of its enterprises. Other studies on different free trade arrangements confirm the general proposition that the smaller party has more to gain from eliminating trade barriers (and more to lose from imposing them). This implies that the EU will have a stronger negotiating position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complicated web of hub-and-spoke type of overlapping free trade agreements (FTAs) can result in high costs for verifying rules of origin (RoO) and trade diversion or suppression effects. This paper attempts to provide best practices for regional trade agreements (RTAs) to enhance global free trade by mitigating these negative effects. By adopting a gravity regression analysis, we quantitatively estimate the trade creation and diversion effects of cumulated RoO (bilateral, diagonal, and full cumulation) for RTAs established under GATT Article XXIV and under the Enabling Clause. We find that (i) RTAs, in general, create trade among members and divert trade from nonmembers, whereby the net trade-enhancing effect is rather weak; (ii) RTAs should be established under the comprehensive GATT Article XXIV, rather than the piecemeal Enabling Clause; and (iii) full cumulation is the most optimal provision in terms of creating the most intra-bloc trade and diverting the least extra-bloc trade. Overall, we strongly suggest that RTAs should employ full cumulation of RoO under GATT Article XXIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are usually classified according to their form into four broad categories: preferential arrangements, free trade agreements, customs unions and common markets. This paper investigates whether the form/depth of RTAs matters concerning their effect on trade. I use a proper specification of the gravity model with panel data on the 1960–2000 period, which specifically control for self-selection into agreements. Results show that creating any kind of RTAs providing trade preferences to their member countries significantly increases bilateral trade. Nevertheless, their average treatment effect on bilateral trade does not significantly differ according to the depth of agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a 30 years period of trials and errors in creating an Arab economic space for just independent countries and an insufficient implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Agreement (EU-MFTA), the economies of the MENA region have recently relied back on sub-regional trading blocks (Arab Unions) to succeed in opening and developing their economies. From a theoretical point of view this tendency is rising a debate on the possibility, for the Arab countries, to enjoy the dynamic effects that emerge from the internationalization process (like an increasing rate of investment, a higher intra-industry trade and reduced balance of payments distortions), given the structure and the performance of their economies. The aim of the paper is to present the contemporary trends of the economic integration process among the countries of the MENA Region in connection with the wider perspective adopted in the debate on this topic. A closer look at the intra-Arab flows of goods and services will thus enable us to appraise some facts concerning the process of internationalization of MENA economies, revealing an unexpected dynamism in the lights of “deep integration” perspective. On this base an account of the renewed bilateralism in economic relations will be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though negotiations on an Association of Southeast Asian Nations – European Union (ASEAN-EU) trade agreement began in 2007, the region-wide agreement stalled, and the EU has since pursued bilateral agreements with individual ASEAN member states (AMS). Nevertheless, the goal to form an interregional agreement remains as the European Commission and the AMS are currently undertaking a stocktaking exercise to explore the prospects towards the resumption of region-to-region negotiations. In this paper, a stochastic frontier specification of the gravity model is employed to identify and compare the performance (efficiency) of exports relative to the maximum export levels for the ASEAN-EU partnership. The findings, based on a panel dataset of two-way bilateral exports between the ASEAN-10 and the EU-28 over the 2000–2016 period, indicate a low-level of export efficiency. The low efficiency scores of below 0.2 suggest a high degree of trade resistances in the ASEAN-EU partnership. The low interregional trade potentials relate to market access issues, which in turn depend on the trade policy of both regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hunting throughout the European Union (EU) has left an accumulating legacy of spent lead ammunition that has deleterious toxic effects upon the environment, wildlife, and humans who consume hunted game meat. Non-toxic lead substitutes for both rifle and shotgun ammunition have been developed and are required in some EU jurisdictions. Within the EU, at least 28 companies make or distribute non-lead shotgun ammunition, and a further 14 companies distribute non-lead rifle ammunition. However, a broad transition to the use of these products has been resisted by the hunting and ammunition-making communities. Results and conclusions: It is in the self-interest of these communities to recognize the consequences of externalizing the effects of spent lead ammunition to society, and to make hunting more sustainable and socially acceptable. The paper endorses the ongoing process under the European Commission (EC) to introduce wide and fundamental restrictions on the use, trade and possession of lead ammunition for all types of hunting within 3 years, and within 5 years for clay target shooting. This would align EC regulations on lead from ammunition with lead from other anthropogenic sources, and EC regulations that protect the natural environment, especially the conservation of wild birds. Simultaneous EC regulation of lead in marketed game meats would provide extra health protection and assure a safe source of game meat products for consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates a fixed effects tariff model to study the impact of the tariff reform provisions of international agreements on domestic tariffs, using a sample of eight Sub-Saharan African countries. The structure of the model explaining domestic tariff changed from the preagreement period to the postagreement period. However, the results indicate that for the most part, efforts by governments to adhere to tariff agreements failed in all but a few countries. Even for the countries in which the agreements appeared to be successful, the significance of the results is relatively weak. (JEL 00, 01) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the motives behind the formation of intra-African regional integration agreements (RIAs). We focus specifically on rents because they can explain the drive for integration even in the absence of a positive effect on welfare. Whether they are meant to foster rent-seeking or to suppress it, the level of corruption is posited to have a positive effect on the willingness to enter into RIAs. However, empirical studies into this effect have come to contradictory conclusions. We find that corruption has a positive effect on the willingness of African countries to join trade agreements. This result remains significant when controlling for endogeneity and heteroskedasticity, as well as the indicator of corruption used. While small, the effect of corruption outperforms most economic variables. Nevertheless, distance and other geographical factors remain the strongest explanatory forces of African integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing consensus that the increase in greenhouse gases results in unfavorable changes to the Earth's climate and is responsible for global warming. Due to this ecological imbalance, governments are under growing pressure to enact strict legislation to control these emissions in their respective countries. Consumers also demand eco-friendly products and are moving toward firms that are socially and environmentally responsible. Therefore, industries are facing increased pressure to adopt sustainable production approaches. This paper demonstrates how a mixed integer linear program can be used to optimize the balance of overall cost and carbon emissions in the production, storage, and distribution of products in a regulatory environment that includes a cap and trade policy. The model is computationally tested for fifteen case instances of different sizes. The main contributions of the proposed model are (a) to link the emission parameters to various decision variables to support the decision making related to carbon costs and carbon emissions, (b) to address international trade issues by considering international parameters such as imports, exports, and government subsidies and perform a country-specific analysis for carbon emissions, and (c) to identify the extent to which the operational adjustment can be used as an alternative to the costly investment in carbon reduction technologies to reduce emissions. Proposed MILP model framework [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to understand why non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are not integrated into the development agendas of official institutions. Fieldwork was conducted in September 2015 and March and April 2016 in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, using participatory rural appraisals and structured questionnaire interviews with randomly selected 310 households. The results of the study are reported. In the survey area, eight NTFPs were identified as the most important for the daily life of local people. Many NTFPs were self-sufficiently collected and consumed by the surveyed households. Regarding the institutional management of NTFPs, the local institutions play the greatest role to enhance NTFPs' sustainable use. The government was not sufficiently involved in the regulation and management of NTFPs. As a result of the examination, the reason for the absence of NTFPs from national policies and strategies is the insufficient information available regarding both their value as subsistence and trading products and their contribution to rural livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The beleaguered progress of the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) presents something of a puzzle for economic theory: if multilateralism is an effective forum for liberalisation (as it has been in the past), then why have the current round of talks faltered amid the proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs)? This paper builds a 'hub and spoke' version of the Maggi (Am Econ Rev 89(1):190-213, ) model of trade negotiations to shows that the combination of the WTO single-undertaking and consensus decision-making principles with an expanded and more diverse membership can render multilateralism less desirable for hub countries than bilateralism. It is argued that these principles give spoke countries de facto veto power meaning that their threat point during WTO negotiations is a reversion to PTA negotiations between all parties. Accordingly, spoke countries with relatively less to gain from the WTO can use their veto power to extract gains from those that would benefit substantially. If an expanding WTO membership has increased the number of such countries, then the benefits of multilateralism versus regionalism from the perspective of hub counties may have been diminished to such an extent that they are no longer willing to wait for the conclusion of the Doha round before engaging in PTA negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the impact of MERCOSUR on trade among Brazilian states and on trade by Brazilian states with MERCOSUR and the rest of the world. We use a theoretically founded gravity model to shed light on MERCOSUR's possible creation and diversion effects as well as its 'preference erosion' effect on trade among Brazilian states. Using data on interstate trade over a 4-year period, including 1 year prior to the MERCOSUR period (1991), we deliver empirical evidence at state level with a focus on the impact of MERCOSUR which can vary across Brazilian regions. We show that MERCOSUR increased Brazilian states' trade with member countries, but had no effect on either interstate trade or Brazilian states' trade with third countries. The paper finds that MERCOSUR's impact varies across Brazilian regions and that Center West region did not benefit from the integration to MERCOSUR. We use an estimation method dealing better with the traditional issue of zero trade values and heteroskedasticity than ordinary least squares does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the impact of membership in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on trade between PTA members. Rather than considering the impact of PTA membership on the volume of trade we consider the impact of membership on the structure of trade. For a large sample of countries over the period 1962-2000 we find that membership in a PTA is associated with an increase in the extent of intra-industry trade. Our results indicate that this is especially the case for PTAs formed between richer countries, with the effects of PTAs between poorer countries found to be smaller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on bilateral trade using a comprehensive data base of PTAs in force and a detailed matrix of world trade. Total trade between PTA partners is a poor proxy for preferential trade (trade in tariff lines where preferences are likely to matter): while the former was one-third of global trade in 2000–2002, the latter was between one-sixth and one-tenth. Gravity model estimates indicate that using total trade to assess the impacts of PTAs leads to a significant downward bias in the PTA coefficient: the semi-elasticity of trade with respect to PTA membership rises from 87% for total trade to 119% for preferential trade. Product exclusions and long phase-in periods significantly limit preferential trade; the marginal impact of South-South agreements on preferential trade is much higher than North-South PTAs, while the effect of North-North agreements is insignificantly different from zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade flows of cultural goods have grown rapidly over the last decades and their liberalization will be an important issue of future multilateral trade negotiations. In this paper, we focus on bilateral trade in cultural goods and investigate its determinants. Furthermore, we use trade in cultural goods as a proxy for countries’ cultural proximity and study if countries with proximate cultural tastes have more intense bilateral exchanges. Our estimations show a positive and significant influence of cultural flows on overall trade, suggesting that regulations fostering domestic cultural creation might have impacts going beyond what is generally expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Balkan states are engaged in a complex and contradictory process of simultaneous regional integration and disintegration. The main instrument of regional integration has been a network of bilateral Free Trade Agreements which the Balkan countries have adopted under the guidance of the Stability Pact for South East Europe, and more recently the extension of the CEFTA free trade area to the region. The bilateral FTAs have been criticised for creating a ‘spaghetti bowl’ of differentiated trade relations, and creating risks of trade deflection and trade diversion. At the same time other arrangements, including the contractual relations of individual countries with the EU, cut across the region and fragment their mutual trade relations. Moreover, Croatia is likely to become an EU member within the next few years, at which point it will suspend its trade agreements with the non-member Balkan states. Therefore, soon after having established a new mechanism of integration, the region will once again be split apart, leaving a rump association of five or six poverty-stricken and politically unstable countries to pursue the vision of regional cooperation. This paper focuses on the prospects for regional integration among these remaining countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. It explores the patterns of their mutual trade, and the opportunities and obstacles to increasing trade between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of changes in Latin American trade regime. The inward-looking import substitution industrialization (ISI) approach to development was replaced in the 1990s by an outward-looking strategy. The protectionist policies of the ISI strategy generated an anti-export bias, but unilateral trade liberalization (UTL) reduced this bias considerably. An issue discussed is why the pro-ISI consensus of the 1960s was replaced by the pro-export consensus of the 1990s? There has been a surprising proliferation of (bilateral) free trade agreements (FTAs) during the 1990s. In the paper it is argued that UTL and FTAs are complementary strategies. Latin America has comparative advantages in natural resources. A new debate over the development strategy has emerged. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are seen as crucial to a country’s growth in the twenty-first century. So, how can Latin American countries incorporate such technologies into their economies. Is it possible to make the leap from producing natural resources to producing ICT? In today’s globalized world, it is essential for Latin American countries to increase its exports. This paper reviews actions on different fronts; some that should be carried at the domestic level, and also, measures at the external level which require that the developed countries provide better market access to Latin American exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines Schutz’s phenomenology of law in the context of the transformation of positivistic practices in a post-totalitarian society. His major contribution is seen in the disentanglement of social phenomena from any form of naturalness by incorporating the dimension of meaning and interpretation into them. This philosophical gesture is made possible by renouncing any theory of transcendent ground(s) of a pre-formed order (Section 1) and leads to an interpretive concept of law, in which the reciprocity of perspectives play the major role. The conclusions are pointing toward a phenomenological concept of law able to take our freedom seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a large trade surplus country and could potentially become involved in bilateral trade retaliation. This paper uses a numerical simulation method to empirically explore how Chinese involvement in bilateral trade retaliation could affect both China and other countries. We analyze four different country groupings using scenario solutions of numerical global general equilibrium models to simulate trade retaliation equilibria and calculate their impacts. Our simulation results suggest that China will be hurt by trade retaliation sequences with other countries, but impacts depend on who is involved. Trade retaliation with large countries and major trade partners will hurt China more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the developments in trade patterns between the former Soviet republics in the years following the initial breakup shock. After a huge fall following the Soviet breakup of the early 1990s, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) trade with Russia began improving, and there have been recent formal efforts at Eurasian Economic Integration. This might be taken, a priori, as contrary to the hypothesis of gradual decline in Head, Mayer and Ries (HMR in J Int Econ 81(1):1–14, 2010)—or perhaps as evidence of the power of restored trade agreements, such as the incipient Eurasian Economic Union. We decompose the region's trade into theory-consistent 'gravity' components, in order to analyze dynamic changes in the components since the Soviet era. Despite the sharp falls after 1991, trade in 1995 still shows strong ties, consistent with high dyadic (country pair) components linked to trade specialization. By contrast, in the second decade, the ties (dyads) began to weaken significantly and calibrated trade costs tend to rise, despite attempts at renewed integration. Rather, the sharp improvement in trade volumes was mainly due to the sharp recoveries in GDP levels for both Russia and many of the Central Asian Countries, associated with improvements in the global economy and economic ties with the World (especially with EU and China). We would therefore conclude that the recovery in trade between Russia and Central Asia reflects monadic factors (i.e., the regional economic recovery) and does not contradict the HMR (2010) hypothesis. Nevertheless, further, dynamic analysis shows that there are strong long-run ties within the CIS and Russia, which are not declining, and that sticky post-colonial adjustment does not appear set to eliminate the current bias of trade between these republics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper characterizes the efficient payoff frontier in a three country model where countries face one time adjustment costs of forming trade agreements, and compares it with the constrained efficient frontier when agreements must be self-enforcing. The presence of self-enforcement constraints puts a limit on the magnitude of transfers that can be made between countries, and makes it more likely that bilateral agreements are observed on the constrained efficient frontier. The existence of adjustment costs leads to the possibility that payoffs under a two step agreement, in which an initial bilateral agreement is expanded to include the third country, may Pareto dominate the payoffs from immediate formation of an agreement among all three countries. However, the condition that a two step agreement be efficient in the absence of self-enforcing constraints is neither necessary nor sufficient for the gradual approach to have a lower minimum discount factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the effect of regional and bilateral trade agreements supported by institutional framework on bilateral trade between India and selected South and Central Asian countries. The augmented gravity model that corrects for zero trade, endogeneity and heterogeneity is used. The model is developed by applying OLS and PPML (Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood) estimation technique using panel dataset of 22 countries from 1996 to 2020. Empirical results show that trade agreements have failed to enhance trade between selected countries. However, institutional framework positively contributes to trade integration among these countries. The key finding of this study is that regional trade agreements supported by institutional framework play an important role in promotion of trade among these countries. Thus, the government needs to pay attention to enhance institutional quality to reap the benefits of trade integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gravity model is one of the most successful empirical models in economics to evaluate the effects of several factors on international trade or bilateral trade flows. Many factors that are related to trade barriers can influence the bilateral trade between two countries. Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are important factors, which can pave the path of bilateral trades. In this paper, I use GEPPML estimator of Anderson et al. (Estimating general equilibrium trade policy effects: GE PPML. CESifo Working Papers-5592, 2015) to evaluate the counterfactual welfare effect of SAFTA and AFTA on member countries as well as on the non-member countries. After accounting for potential endogeneity of RTAs, removal of AFTA causes 3.08% real GDP loss for member countries, removal of SAFTA causes 6.36% real GDP loss for member countries, and joint agreement of SAFTA and AFTA brings 0.71 real GDP gains for member countries. In all scenarios, trade diversion effect is not remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the trade efficiency and trade effects under Free Trade Agreements for Thailand's agricultural exports. There are five main trading partners comprising China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The important agricultural commodities of rubber, cassava, fruits, vegetables, and herbs were assessed from 1998 to 2019. In a traditional stochastic frontier model the two error components of symmetric noise ( ν j ) and a non-negative inefficiency ( u j ) are assumed to be independent. This may result in invalid inferences due to misspecification. To address this obstacle, copula-based Gravity Stochastic Frontier Models (GSFM) using panel criteria were constructed to estimate trade efficiency. Empirically, the Student-t copula-based SFM minimizes both AIC and BIC. According to their mean TE, China (0.48) and Japan (0.48) had the highest export efficiencies followed by India (0.41), New Zealand (0.39), and Australia (0.33) in rank order. Hence, Thailand should pursue more FTA negotiations with the trading partners. Moreover, they should promote miscellaneous behind-the-border barriers to stimulate flows of goods to enhance the country's trade efficiency substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accession and implementation of new generation free trade agreements bring numerous opportunities as well as challenges to Viet Nam, regarding trade, labor and investment. The increasing number of workers abroad puts a pressure on Vietnamese government to support them in new working cultures and environments. The application of chatbot, which has been known to help certain vulnerable groups such as patients, women and migrants could be one of the tools to support Vietnamese migrant workers by providing immediate information, network connection and consultation. Analyzing the results of the qualitative interviews with 11 migrant workers and the group discussion with two sections from three public social media groups and three active informants, the article argues that migrant workers as a vulnerable group who are supposed to be promising users of chatbot due to their great demand and needs, may have a complicated form of trust and expectation in chatbot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union has had disruptive effects on international trade. As part of its 'Global Britain' strategy in the wake of Brexit, the UK is pursuing a series of Free Trade Agreements with countries around the world, including Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and possibly the United States. Closer to home, the UK is under mounting pressure to dissuade Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales from seeking independence to regain the severed ties with the EU. We analyze the economic consequences of these scenarios with a state-of-the-art structural gravity model for major economies around the world. We find that 'Global Britain' yields insufficient trade creation to compensate for Brexit-induced trade losses. Our results also reveal that secession from the UK in itself would inflict greater post-Brexit economic harm on the devolved nations of Great Britain. Nevertheless, these effects could be offset when secession from the UK is combined with regained EU membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of the Dominican Republic–Central America–United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), signed in 2004, on the trade flows of its member states. Relying on the structural gravity model of trade framework, we find evidence of both increases and decreases in members' bilateral trade, but also of significant differences in these effects depending on the direction of trade and the trading members. Using a counterfactual analysis, we are also able to measure the general equilibrium effects of CAFTA-DR, finding that it has, in general, increased both total exports and income levels for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. However, we also find evidence of sizable trade diversion and welfare losses for Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this research is on analysing the effects of institutional quality and trade agreements on Indonesia bilateral trade in four commodity groups in the era of global value chain (GVC). Employing a panel data gravity model of Indonesian export of four commodities to Indonesia's trading partners from 2000 to 2018 and estimating the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Method (PPML), the results of this study find that institutional quality plays a different role in explaining Indonesia's export performance of those four commodities, despite the fact that institutions contribute positively. On two commodities that are prospective to increase Indonesia participation in the global value chain, exported intermediates and consumer goods, we find that although both domestic institutions and trading partner institutions are significant to Indonesian export, but we argue that domestic institutions contribute more. This study also reveals that through tariff reductions, Indonesian trade agreements are significant regarding export of all the four commodities group. However, even though tariffs are significant, we find that the quality of institutions, especially domestic institutions, has a greater effect on Indonesia's exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) promises to expand trade substantially for businesses in the agreement's 15 members countries, but who will be more likely to capture the gains from trade liberalization? Drawing on insights from the emerging research program on the politics of global production networks and value chains, this study unpacks the differential benefits of free trade agreements as a function of a firm's degree of supply chain linkages with partner countries, thus moving beyond traditional theories of trade that draw the distinction primarily between import-competing and export-oriented firms. Leveraging an original survey of more than 500 firms in China, the empirical analyses show that the more backward and forward supply chain linkages with RCEP countries a firm has, the greater its likelihood of anticipating positive impact from the RCEP, even among exporters. These findings enrich our understanding of the political economy of preferential trade liberalization and global supply chains and offer policy suggestions for member countries hoping to maximize benefits for their businesses from the largest trade agreement in the world today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade deficit of the USA with its NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada, increased since 1994 from 21,991 to 119,257 million dollars in 2013 (UNCOMTRADE, 2015. ), and most of this increase is explained by the growth in the volume of commerce between Mexico and the USA. Nonetheless, since the mid-1990s Mexico has been experiencing its lowest economic growth rates. By using the World Input Output Database and the Input-Output Analysis, this paper presents an estimate of the intra-NAFTA trade flows in terms of value added and its distribution among both labor and capital; labor by skill level; and content of persons engaged. The findings show that trade between the NAFTA members is quite different concerning value added. In 1995 the USA had a trade deficit of 30,351 million dollars with Canada, of which 6384 million dollars was a surplus in favor of Canada in terms of value added. Similarly, the same year the USA had a deficit of 4276 million dollars with Mexico that became a surplus for the latter of 4561 million dollars in terms of value added. For the following years, until 2011, a similar pattern was observed. The distribution of this value added between capital and labor compensations tends to favor USA and Canadian workers, especially middle-skilled labor, and the sector that tends to have the lowest share is the low-skilled Mexican and Canadian workers. Even more, the average labor compensations per hour grew less for the three types of Mexican workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the effects of 103 bilateral regional trade agreements (RTAs: partial scope agreements — PSAs — and free trade agreements — FTAs) are studied in a dynamic way. The analysis of quarterly trade flows from Q4-1982 to Q4-2018 shows dynamic differences between RTAs and among trade partners. Results show that countries benefit unevenly from bilateral RTAs and that their economic size is not determinant. The positive global trade trend since the 1990s and the negative effect of the 2008 economic crisis are captured by the factor analysis in order to study specifically how trade agreements affect bilateral trade asymmetrically. On average, RTAs promote a 10% increase in bilateral trade flows above the mean trend, but PSAs tend to enhance bilateral trade more than FTAs (21% compared to 9%). Additionally, PSAs gather most of the effects during the first four quarters after the agreements are enforced whereas FTAs have longer effects over time. The current study allows a classification of bilateral trade series in homogeneous groups according to the dynamic impact of the bilateral RTAs by the means of a cluster analysis. Heterogeneity between clusters is therefore explored. Moreover, a difference concerning the economic crisis starting in 2008 is noticed: overall, for agreements in force before 2008, their impact on bilateral trade is positive (30%) while it is negative for agreements signed after 2008 (− 9%). This indicates that RTAs play a heterogeneous role as a smoothing cycle mechanism. Finally, evidence of the anticipation effect is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the dynamics of food trade, which involves a corresponding virtual trade in environmental resources, is relevant for its effects on the environment. Among the socioeconomic factors driving the international food market, trade agreements play a significant yet poorly understood role in facilitating access to worldwide trade. Focusing on the global trade of grain from 1993 to 2015, we investigate the role of trade agreements in activating new linkages and increasing traded volumes and their environmental implications. Through a data-driven approach, we show that the activation of a trade agreement among countries induces a more than six-fold increase in the probability of establishing a new link. Also, the presence of a trade agreement over time, not just its activation, relates to a more stable market since it reduces the probability of link deactivation by more than half. The trade links covered by agreements show larger flows and smoother inter-annual fluctuations. Furthermore, trade agreements encourage the development of more water-efficient flows by stimulating the exchange of crops with high water productivity values. The average economic water productivity of crops traded under trade agreements increases by 62% when considering total virtual water and even by 93% when focusing on blue water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have been widely adopted to facilitate international trade and cross-border investment and promote economic development. However, ex ante measurements of the environmental effects of RTAs to date have not been well conducted. Here, we estimate the CO2 emissions burdens of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) after evaluating its economic effects. We find that trade among RCEP member countries will increase significantly and economic output will expand with the reduction of regional tariffs. However, the results show that complete tariff elimination among RCEP members would increase the yearly global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion by about 3.1%, doubling the annual average growth rate of global CO2 emissions in the last decade. The emissions in some developing members will surge. In the longer run, the burdens can be lessened to some extent by the technological spillover effects of deeper trade liberalization. We stress that technological advancement and more effective climate policies are urgently required to avoid undermining international efforts to reduce global emissions. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will come into force in January 2022. Here the authors quantify ex ante economic and environmental effects following RCEP tariff reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the idea that regional preferential trade arrangements (PTA) are welfare-enhancing and superior to nonregional ones. Basis of the arguments that PTA were more likely to be welfare-enhancing; Demonstration against this argument; Citing of literature linking transport costs and welfare-enhancing PTA; Rejection of the PTA approach to trade liberalization.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a Free Trade Area (FTA) regional trade agreement in Africa. Currently, Ethiopia is negotiating to join COMESA FTA. This study assesses the impact of three regional trade arrangements, COMESA FTA, customs unions, and the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) on the economy of Ethiopia. The analysis is based on a static Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model, version 9 database. Unlike previous studies, the customs union scenarios are designed at the detailed Harmonized System (HS) level. COMESA FTA (scenario 1) with standard GTAP model results in a welfare loss for Ethiopia due to negative terms of trade and investment-saving effect, but with unemployment closure (scenario 2); Ethiopia enjoys a welfare gain mainly due to endowment effect. In scenario 3 (COMESA customs union) and scenario 4 (European Partnership Agreement), Ethiopia loses due to negative terms of trade and investment-saving effect. There is a large increase in demand for unskilled labor force in Ethiopia by around US$23 million, US$112 million, and US$43 million for scenario 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Moreover, there is a positive output effect for oilseeds, leather, and basic metals across all scenarios. The world, as a whole, enjoys welfare gains with COMESA FTA (scenario 1 and 2). However, with scenario 3 and 4, there is an overall welfare loss. There is no strong reason for Ethiopia to move to the customs union, and the EPA in the short run. Therefore, a transition period is necessary, but it is recommended for Ethiopia to join COMESA FTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the effect of electoral systems on politicians' stances regarding free trade agreements. Utilizing the institutional features of the Japanese election system, we empirically investigate how electoral systems affect Diet members' responsiveness to agricultural organizations' protests against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Japan. This study shows that, even when controlling for differences in constituency size, Diet members elected in the proportional-representation constituency tend not to support the farm lobbies' protest against the TPP, regardless of the length of their remaining terms of office. Conversely, constituency size does not affect legislators' stances toward the TPP after controlling for the types of constituency systems in which they are involved. This study also finds that Diet members other than those elected from the proportional-representation constituency tend not to support the anti-TPP campaign when their next election is farther away. These results hold even when using another explained variable. The types of constituency systems and election proximity play key roles in shaping legislators' trade policy stances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biobank operations started officially in Finland in 2013 when the Biobank Act defining and regulating biobank operations came into force. Since then, ten biobanks have been established and they have started to collect new prospective samples with broad consent. The main corpus of biobank samples, however, consists of approximately 10 million "legacy samples". These are old diagnostic or research samples that were transferred to biobanks in accordance with the Biobank Act. The focus of this article is on ambiguities concerning these legacy samples and their transfer in terms of legality, human rights, autonomy, and social sustainability. We analyse the Finnish biobank operations in the context of international regulation, such as the European Convention of Human Rights, the Oviedo Convention, European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the GDPR, and EU Clinical Trials Regulation, and show that the practice of using legacy samples is at times problematic in relation to this regulatory framework. We argue that the prevailing interpretations of these regulations as translated into the Finnish biobank practices undermine the autonomy of individuals by not giving individuals a right to consent or an actionable right to opt-out of the transfer of these legacy samples to the biobank. This is due to the fact that individuals are not given effective notification of such transfers. Thus, issues regarding the legal status of the biobank samples and the social sustainability of biobank operations remain a challenge for biobanks in Finland despite governmental efforts to create pioneering, comprehensive, and enabling legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on free trade agreements (FTAs) mostly uses an economic perspective to assess their impact on the level of trade and investments between nations. As a result, there is a distinct paucity of research on the perceptions of employees and managers in organizations affected by FTAs, towards the likely outcomes of those FTAs. We address this gap by using the context of recently signed China-Australia free trade agreement (ChAFTA) to develop a multidimensional scale for the perceived advantages and disadvantages of FTAs. Drawing on social identity theory and the similarly-attraction paradigm we also show direct and interactive effects of perceived ethnic distance (between home and partner country) and cultural familiarity (with the FTA partner country) on these perceived outcomes of FTAs. Our findings highlight the need to look beyond the economic perspective and consider a much broader range of perceived outcomes of FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider issue-externality games in which agents can cooperate on multiple issues and externalities are present both within and across issues, that is, the amount a coalition receives in one issue depends on how the players are organized on all the issues. Examples of such games are several firms competing in multiple markets, and countries negotiating both a trade agreement (through, e.g., WTO) and an environmental agreement (e.g., Kyoto Protocol). We propose a way to extend (Shapley) values for partition function games to issue-externality games. We characterize our proposal through axioms that extend the Shapley axioms to our more general environment. The solution concept that we propose can be applied to many interesting games, including inter-temporal situations where players meet sequentially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) was originally meant to harmonise and enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) provisions in existing trade agreements within a wider group of countries. This was commendable in itself, so ACTA's failure was all the more disappointing. In this article, I wish to contribute to the post-ACTA debate by proposing a specific analysis of the ethical reasons why ACTA failed, and what we can learn from them. I argue that five kinds of objections-namely, secret negotiations, lack of consultation, vagueness of formulation, negotiations outside any international body, and the creation of a new governing body outside already existing forums-had only indirect ethical implications. This takes nothing away from their seriousness but it does make them less compelling, because agreements should be evaluated, ethically, for what they are, rather than for the alleged reasons why they are being proposed. I then argue that ACTA would have caused three ethical problems: an excessive and misplaced kind of responsibility, a radical decrease in freedom of expression, and a severe reduction in information privacy. I conclude by indicating three lessons that can help us in shaping a potential ACTA 2.0. First, we should acknowledge the increasingly vital importance of the framework of implicit expectations, attitudes, and practices that can facilitate and promote morally good decisions and actions. ACTA failed to perceive that it would have undermined the very framework that it was supposed to foster, namely one promoting some of the best and most successful aspects of our information society. Second, we should realise that, in advanced information societies, any regulation affecting how people deal with information is now bound to influence the whole 'onlife' habitat within which they live. So enforcing IPR becomes an environmental problem. Third, since legal documents, such as ACTA, emerge from within the infosphere that they affect, we should apply to the process itself, which one day may lead to a post-ACTA treaty, the very framework and ethical values that we would like to see promoted by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The previous literature provides a highly ambiguous picture on the impact of trade and investment agreements on FDI. Most empirical studies ignore the actual content of BITs and RTAs, treating them as 'black boxes', despite the diversity of investment provisions constituting the essence of these agreements. We overcome this serious limitation by analyzing the impact of modalities on the admission of FDI and dispute settlement mechanisms in both RTAs and BITs on bilateral FDI flows between 1978 and 2004. We find that FDI reacts positively to RTAs only if they offer liberal admission rules. Dispute settlement provisions play a minor role. While RTAs without strong investment provisions may even discourage FDI, the reactions to BITs are less discriminate with foreign investors responding favourably to the mere existence of BITs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyze how an aspect of institutional change--regional integration in the form of regional trade agreements (Rtas)--affects the degree of global orientation (DGO) of emerging market (eM) multinational enterprises (MNes). • We decompose regional integration into three key dimensions reflecting variations among Rta member countries--RTA Diversity, RTA Potential Market Size, and RTA Experience. We conceptualize and test how these three RTA characteristics determine firms' DGO on a sample of 421 MNes from 27 eMs worldwide during 2000-2006. • We find that greater RTA Diversity and RTA Experience increase EM MNEs' global orientation, while greater RTA Potential Market Size influences the EM MNEs to be more regionally oriented. Conversely, our post-hoc analyses revealed that the results do not hold for MNEs based in the three most developed nations in the European Union--Germany, France, and the UK--emphasizing important differences of the effects of RTA characteristics on EM vs. Triad MNEs' DGO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the topics within the issue including regional trade agreements (RTA), the concepts of multilateralism and regionalism, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).