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1062. Trade and growth – again
- Author:
- Per Botolf Maurseth
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- A stylised fact from the large and growing literature on relationships between trade and growth is that liberal trade policies may stimulate growth. However, there is no academic consensus that liberal trade policies are either necessary or sufficient ingredients in growth promoting policies. In this paper, the relationships between trade policy and growth are investigated. The paper adds some new findings. My measure of trade policy is not only applied average tariff rates which have been used by others, but such tariff rates for agriculture and manufacturing separately. The results indicate opposite results of the two: Protection of manufacturing correlates negatively with growth, while tariffs on agriculture imports seem to have a weaker though positive correlation. These results are robust in the sense that they remain significant with the same sign independently of different specifications and inclusions of various control variables.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
1063. U.S.-Mexico Homeland Defense: A Compatible Interface
- Author:
- Victor E. Renuart, Jr. and Biff Baker
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- The United States and Mexico share a common history shaped by military incursions during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The bond between the American and Mexican people, however, has continued to grow closer over time despite occasional negative rhetoric from politicians in Washington, DC, and Mexico City. At local and state levels, relations solidified through the closely knit fabric of our border towns, intermarriage between families on each side of the border, and the development of infrastructure (to include water, wastewater, and gas and electricity utilities) that serves communities to the north and south. At the national level, our relationship became closer due to economic growth resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which now accounts for almost $1 billion (U.S. dollars) in trade per day between the two countries.
- Topic:
- Security, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Washington, Latin America, North America, and Mexico
1064. Globalization: Curse or Cure? Policies to Harness Global Economic Integration to Solve Our Economic Challenge
- Author:
- Jagadeesh Gokhale
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Globalization holds tremendous promise to improve human welfare but can also cause conflicts and crises as witnessed during 2007–09. How will competition for resources, employment, and growth shape economic policies among developed nations as they attempt to maintain productivity growth, social protections, and extensive political and cultural freedoms?
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
1065. The International Financial Crisis: Eight Lessons for and from Latin America
- Author:
- Liliana Rojas-Suarez
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The international financial crisis of 2008–09 exposed the strengths and weaknesses of the current paradigm of development in Latin America, a paradigm based on liberalized capital accounts and significantly improved macroeconomic conditions. This paper presents lessons derived from the crisis, not only for the region itself, but also for other developing countries that might seek economic growth in the context of greater integration to the international capital markets. Some of the lessons are not new but have been reinforced by the crisis, such as Latin America's imperative need for export diversification (not only in products but in partners). Other lessons break with longstanding myths about the region, such as its inability to undertake counter-cyclical policies—at least on the monetary side. Yet other lessons reflect new developments in the current growth paradigm, such as a renewed assessment of (1) the relative roles of foreign and domestic banks in shielding the financial system against external shocks and (2) the potential costs of adopting blanket international financial regulations that do not account for a country's degree of development. Taken together, the lessons in this paper bring a new sense of optimism for growth in Latin America.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
1066. ¿Es el crecimiento económico suficiente para apoyar la democracia? Lecciones del caso chileno
- Author:
- Pedro Aravena Lavin
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This article analyzes the support for democracy in Chile from an economic, institutional and political perspective. It uses data from Latinobarómetro for the period 1996–2007 and a statistical method of estimation, “ordered logit,” in order to answer the question of why support for Chilean democracy is not connected with economic growth. The analysis generates three key results of interest. First, regardless of the fact that GDP per capita does not have any effect on the level of support for democracy, it does affect individuals' perceptions of economic performance, since the variable “economic situation” is one of the most explanatory variable of the model. Second, the analysis demonstrates the importance of the degree of confidence in the Congress at the moment that perceptions of democracy are evaluated. Third, “political ideology” is the most useful variable in explaining support for democracy, a fact which suggests that the adherents of the right wing do not support the democratic system. This is the most reliable reason for the moderate level of support for democracy in Chile.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Latin America and Chile
1067. Whither Commodity-Based Trade?
- Author:
- Karl M. Rich and Brian D. Perry
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Market access for livestock products from Africa has traditionally been limited by the presence of certain infectious diseases that pose risks to animal and human health. However, an increasingly discussed option for increasing market access for African meat exports is the concept of commodity-based trade (CBT) that focuses on the health and safety attributes of the product rather than the disease status of the country of origin. While this concept is gaining traction in international policy circles, there have been few analyses on the potential economic impacts and unintended consequences of such an approach. This paper examines the principles behind a dramatic shift in approach to trading opportunities that CBT might bring, exploring both technical and economic considerations.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, International Trade and Finance, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1068. On the Economics of Regional Powers: Comparing China, India, Brazil, and South Africa
- Author:
- Robert Kappel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of different concepts of economic power—such as those of Schumpeter, Perroux, Predöhl, or Kindleberger—concepts of technological leadership, and the global value chain approaches, the paper develops a research framework for the economics of regional powers. This framework is then tested using descriptive statistics as well as regressions analysis, with a focus on the four regional powers Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. As economic power is relational, the relationship of regional powers to other nations in the region is analyzed.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Latin America
1069. Mining for facts: PacRim Cayman LLC v. El Salvador
- Author:
- Alexandre de Gramont
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- In his recent article, “Thinking twice about a gold rush: Pacific Rim v. El Salvador” (Columbia FDI Perspectives, No. 23, May 24, 2010), Professor Gus Van Harten uses the PacRim v. El Salvador arbitration, pending at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), as the basis for asserting a number of criticisms against the overall system of arbitration under investment treaties.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
1070. Political risk insurance and bilateral investment treaties: a view from below
- Author:
- Lauge Skovgaard Poulsen
- Publication Date:
- 08-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Many of the risks covered by bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are also covered by political risk insurance (PRI). Although there are important differences between PRI and BITs, both in terms of coverage and underlying purpose, the considerable overlap between the two instruments suggest that PRI providers should take BITs into account when assessing the risk of investment projects. But while the relationship between BITs and PRI has often been alleged to be considerable, in practice there is practically no publicly available evidence to sustain this assumption. This Perspective reviews evidence from a recent survey of officials in private and public (or mixed private/public) PRI providers.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and Bilateral Relations