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The main objective of this paper is to examine the extent of the U.S. vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade patterns with the countries in the Middle Eastern region. To deepen our understanding of the development of trade and investment relations between the U.S. and the Middle Eastern countries, we consider both the commodity structure of trade as well as the structure of investment. Based on the hypothesis that intra-industry trade is closely related to offshore production by multinational enterprises, then a model have been develop to capture the main determinants of vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade that explicitly includes the role of the U.S. foreign investment in the region. The model is tested empirically using detailed trade and investment data. The findings of the study indicated that foreign investment plays a significant role in the increase in intra-industry trade in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the major trade blocks in Asia and Latin America and their effects on intra-regional trade flows using annual trade data for the period 1970-2006. The paper uses a gravity model augmented with several sets of dummy variables to estimate the effect of various trade blocks such as the Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Central American Common Market (CACM), the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), the Andean Pact or Andean Community (AC), and the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR) on trade flows within and across membership groupings as well as the effect of trade blocks on members' trade with other Asia-Pacific and Western Hemispheric countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a conclusion of an earlier study investigating contrasting views on Africa's development strategies. In this concluding part, we disaggregated the regional model and investigated same problem at the country level. Current country-level investigation is based on data evidence from Nigeria. Generally, results of current country-level study portray characteristics and tendencies similar to those observed at regional level. The investigation leads us to conclude that while African countries may well approach both international aid and external trade as complementary development vehicles, they would be much better off mounting endeavor to strengthen their trading position with the rest of the world. In other words, a much better policy approach to development is for them to view international aid as no more than a supplementary development tool. The results portray that while trade strengthens a country's bargaining position with the rest of the world, dependence on external aid tend to do the exact opposite. Countries that depend on external aid-in view of growth-stifling complexities-portray an observable tendency of economic stagnancy or slow growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current paper, we examine contrasting views in literature on Africa's development strategies. Unlike past studies, the current paper is an empirical investigation based on new facts and data compiled from the transformed environment of investigated problem. The results-viewed in context of new realities surrounding the problem: (1) the on-going realignment of international relationships among nations; (2) the increasing effectiveness of trade compared to the increasing "politicization" of aid; (3) and the growth-stifling eligibility requirements being demanded by international creditors and donors-lead us to conclude that while African countries may well approach both international aid and external trade as complementary, alternative development vehicles, they would be much better off mounting endeavor to strengthen their trading position with the rest of the world, while they view international aid as no more than a supplementary development tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]