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In the literature on the Soviet Baltic republics' path to independence, Sweden usually figures among the rather cautious Western players. The social democratic government of Ingvar Carlsson did indeed tend to avoid any clear commitment to the Baltic cause due to concerns about its relations with Moscow and the credibility of Sweden's neutrality policy. Underneath the diplomatic level, however, a whole new infrastructure of Swedish-Baltic economic linkages emerged at the peak of perestroika, paving the way for the extraordinarily close trade and business cooperation between Sweden and its Baltic neighbors from 1991 onwards. Largely unrestricted by diplomatic constraints, Swedish entrepreneurs, investors and advisors established numerous links to the evolving Baltic business environment, which at the time was promoted as a bridge to the vast Soviet market. The reformoriented Soviet Baltic governments, on their part, saw the emerging ties with Swedish enterprises, trade organizations and business schools as a way to gradually reintegrate the republican economies into the structures of Western trade and business. Cooperation with Swedish investors and economists, which to a large degree was orchestrated and coordinated by Swedes with Baltic roots, indeed played a key role in the process of implementing an increasingly radical pro-market agenda. The Nordic connection facilitated the early transfer of market thinking and practices and kicked off a long-term rearrangement of economic linkages across the Baltic Sea, securing Sweden's dominant position in the region for decades to come. Taking into account these emerging patterns of transnational cooperation thus contributes to a more nuanced understanding not only of the post-Soviet economic transformation, but also of the birth of a new regional economic order that accompanied the geopolitical changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a surge in the popularity and application of the bartering method in the field of marketing. The author focuses on cultural, economic, and political factors that favor the trading method on an international basis. He also examines challenges associated with implementing the method. A series of barter transactions are examined for the benefit of American business executives and managers. It is suggested that the prevalence of the bartering method in developing nations as well as worldwide inflation are reasons Western businessmen should study the technique.

In the past year the prospects for greatly expanded trade between the United States and Eastern Europe and China have vastly improved. This article cuts through the emotionalism of the moment to examine the economic prospects for greater trade and other transactions (such as turn-key projects and co-production arrangements). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1970s, the economic consequences of European Community (EC) policies forced the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) to devise its trade policy vis-à-vis the outside world. With the implementation of its Common Commercial Policy, the EC was about to change the rules and conduct of its foreign trade. The East–West trade boom that took off in the 1960s had created significant commercial links, and substantial dependencies, across the Iron Curtain. The smaller members of the CMEA began to advocate an opening up towards the EC due to their fears of worsening trade prospects caused by the new EC policies. After reconsideration of its allies' commercial needs, the Soviet leadership was pressured to change its mind in favour of a common approach vis-à-vis the EC. This article follows the debate within the CMEA Executive Committee on the socialist countries' dependency on the Western market and on the advisability of opening up to the global market. It relies on official CMEA documents as well as Soviet and German Democratic Republic (GDR) policy-making documents. This article analyses the process of socialist integration in connection with the simultaneous developments taking place in their Western European counterparts, and thereby fills a gap in the historiography of Europe in the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is free trade always good for advanced industrialized countries? Are fears of globalization and outsourcing imaginary, totally unfounded, and misguided? Is the West always going to benefit from technological improvements in the East? This article constructs a few thought experiments to analyze such issues. The article provides some rational insight into the puzzle of why global trade is so controversial. The effects of technological improvements in the East on the welfare of both the East and the West are analyzed. The conclusion highlights some of the less desirable effects of outsourcing in a more globalized world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports the simulation results concerning the potential consequences for the world trade system of East-West trade normalization. Background information on trades; Gravity analysis using models; Estimation of the gravity equation; Conclusions.

Argues that the orthodox theory of international trade is not adequate to the task of analyzing the existing pattern of Soviet trade. 'Trade aversion' with Western nations; Qualitative difference in the kind of goods imported from separate groups of trading partners; Difference between the desirability of trade with fellow members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the West.

The article discusses the implications of the Tokyo Round multilateral trade negotiations for East-West trade relations. It attempts to determine the magnitude of the Tokyo Round tariff cuts on products of export interest to socialist states and the probable trade effects of the tariff reductions. Pre- and post-Tokyo tariff averages are computed using data for all goods in connection with the tariff actually paid. The pre- and post-Tokyo Round tariffs facing centrally planned countries are analyzed.

Analyzes the European Community's response to three crucial problems in East-West trade. Community policy and market access for socialist products; Pattern of reduction of socialist state indebtedness; Links between trade and East-West security raised by the Polish crisis.

Investigates the obstacles to East-West trade negotiations in Europe. Delay in the final adoption of the comercial policy; Refusal of the Soviet Union to grant juridical recognition to the East European community; Impact of the differences in economic interests on the balance of trade.

In order to reach and implement joint decisions on regulating trade with the Soviet Union since 1950, NATO states, whose security interests coincide but whose economic interests conflict, have shifted the utilities they have attached to alternative consequences of East-West trade. The authors offer an explanation for these shifting utilities and their impact on collaboration through a conceptualization of three decision modes: compliance, compromise, and problem solving. The effects of each mode and of change from one mode to another are illustrated by an examination of the events leading to the trans-Siberian pipeline dispute of 1982 and the process by which the dispute was resolved. New information generated in the problem-solving mode causes actors to re-evaluate net benefits flowing from alternative policies. Collaboration is strengthened when the information creates a basis for joint action in the face of conflicting interests, or when it triggers reevaluation of the utility of various instruments for attaining joint goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the anti-dumping actions done against unfair trade practices on the East-West trade. The author suggested that the validity of the anti-dumping actions that has been allowed by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has been challenged in theory and practice. Particular focus is given to the anti-dumping actions being used as a means to control trading between market and centrally-planned economies (CPEs). A study of anti-dumping issues that shows the issues involved in the application of the principles sanctioned by GATT is also presented.

The first generally accepted working definition of industrial co-operation in an East-West context was provided in 1973 by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The quantity of industrial co-operation agreements between Western companies and Eastern European foreign trade organisations has grown substantially since the late 1960s. In conclusion, it appears that the quantity of inter-firm East-West industrial co-operation agreements increased by more than five times over the period from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s although the total number of such agreements was still probably quite small when compared with the total number of East-West business arrangements. Some "advantages" of industrial co-operation (e.g., provision of improved products for export) to the Eastern European foreign trade organisation which is usually the commercial partner to the East-West co-operation agreement, may consequently lead to manufacturing problems in the East European enterprises responsible for the actual fulfillment of the product output and quality requirements of the agreement.

In view of the accredited advantages and disadvantages of East-West industrial co- operation agreements and the growth of this type of business arrangement during the last decade, it was decided to supplement the small number of already published accounts of the experiences of British companies in this field of business activity with case study material from a further sample of British firms. The case studies cover various branches of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and transport equipment industries, which appear to account for some 40 - 60 per cent of the total of East-West industrial co-operation agreements and also cover the various types of co-operation activity usually associated with these industries.

Taking the final stage of the existing socialist economy as the labor-managed economy, this paper establishes a model of East-West trade between a capitalist economy and a labor-managed economy, both of which face asymmetric technological uncertainty. The model reflects the facts that the securities markets for firms' ownership shares exist only in the capitalist economy and that the firm's objective function in the capitalist economy is different from that in the labor-managed economy. It also considers the existence of international forward markets for commodities as international risk-sharing arrangements. Thus, the paper shows that all the basic theorems in traditional trade theory (Factor Price Equalization, Heckscher-Ohlin, Stolper-Samuelson and Rybczynski) carry over to the uncertain environments characterized by different types of economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the forms and functions of foreign trade in socialist and capitalist countries as seen in east-west trade. Factors affecting the management of foreign trade in eastern and western economies; Organization and policy of foreign trade; Foundations and practice of trade financing; Comparison of traditional and modern forms of foreign trade; Role of management training in the promotion of east-west trade.

Introduces a series of articles that discuss certain aspects of the economic environment of trade between the countries of the industrialized West and the members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). Growth and structure of East-West trade; Indebtedness of the East; Credit-worthiness of COMECON countries; Efforts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of foreign trade in the COMECON.

Many factors contribute to the trade surplus enjoyed by the United States in its foreign trade with the communist countries of Europe and Asia. Most studies of East-West Trade have focused on the problems of entering communist markets and/or the potential market in these countries. This paper focuses on one of the factors that may be a long-term inhibiter (or stimulant) to increased U.S. imports of goods from communist countries; that is, consumer perceptions of products from Eastern Europe and the People's Republic of China. Our results indicate that there is a market in the United States for goods from communist countries and that there are identifiable segments of the population that are willing to purchase from these countries and would support increased trade relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. This article estimates exports of machinery and chemical products to Eastern Europa by U.S. subsidiaries located In Western Europa end compares such exports with direct exports from the United States. It suggests one way of quantifying the dimensions of the Involvement of U.S. subsidiaries In Europa In East-West trade, with the hope It will spark further study of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countertrade, a contractual form in which there is a two-way flow of goods, occupies a position of significance in East-West trade. In this paper, it is shown that countertrade can solve problems which arise when the quality of Eastern European products is unknown. Using the market signaling literature, a theory is formulated in order to make predictions concerning the use of countertrade. Countertrade will be particularly useful when quality information is important but cannot be obtained directly and when a country has a poor quality reputation. These predictions are supported by empirical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the short-term fluctuations in East-West trade, which designates the foreign trade between the socialist planned economies of Eastern Europe. Comparison of East-West trade with total world trade; Growth of East-West trade and total trade in East and West from 1955 to 1969; Factors that influenced the development of foreign trade among the Western industrial countries.

Discusses the participation of the U.S. in the east-west trade, as of 1967. Government actions and negotiations; Specific trade transactions between the U.S. and Eastern European countries; Trade missions and exhibits; Licensing activity; Trade in computers; Obstacles to U.S. trade with the East.

A list of articles related to economic relations that were published in several journals is presented. The articles include "Yearbook of International Trade Statistics," "East-West Trade," by Russell Baker, and "The Future of Futures," by G. L. Rees.

Since 1956–58 East-West trade has increased steadily. In addition to political factors, economic factors have furthered this development. Of these the most important are the following. (1) The endeavour of the Communist party in the Soviet Union and the other Comecon countries to achieve a higher production of qualitatively better consumption goods: This endeavour has led to a series of reorganisations: (2) The managers of the industrial state industries have become less dependent of the planning bureaus. (3) New success indicators and (4) a reconstruction of the price structure have become necessary. (5) At the same time the decisions as to foreign trade became more decentralized. In the near future greater freedom can be expected for the export industries. It is important for the Western countries to realize that, apart from political considerations .these changes in the economic system enlarge by themselves the scope for East-West trade. Even now trade contacts with the Comecon countries are too often regarded from a political viewpoint only, and are seen as being governed exclusively by political decisions. Western commercial interests can utilize the expanding possibilities for trade with the Eastern European countries by means of marketing research and market manipulations; they can moreover try to widen these possibilities by exerting pressure on their government, parliament and political parties, and on the international organisations in order to remove trade restrictions imposed by the Consultative Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]