Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
Power relations shape the world economy. The system of international economic transactions has been persistently asymmetrical as it consists of highly industrialized states as well as of many poorer countries at different levels of economic development. The dominant position of the rich developed countries cannot be simply assumed away, even in the rules-based World Trade Organization (WTO) guided by the principles of international law.
Topic:
International Relations, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and World Trade Organization
This paper reports the results of a survey of almost all certified and in-conversion organic export operations in Uganda in late 2005. It covers products exported, company size and ownership, standards exported to, certification costs, total export values, value-added in Uganda, marketing channels, crop procurement systems, management of organic operations and the main challenges experienced by exporters. Findings include that numbers of certified exporters are growing rapidly. Export values are also growing, but more slowly: They reached USD 6.2 million in 2005. A handful of firms exporting coffee and cotton dominate the sector and this situation is likely to remain. Though the sector is maturing, most recent entrants are small, relatively weak and currently depend on donor support.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, and International Trade and Finance
Sergey Filippov, Iornara Costa, and Mariana Zanatta
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The growing importance attached to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) is evidenced by the steady rise of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) worldwide, especially from the early 1990s. Since its launch in 1995, the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) has registered a growing number of members representing cities, regions, countries and free zones from all over the world: from 112 in 2002, 161 in 2004, rising to 191 members from 149 countries in 2006. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) there were around 500 IPAs in more than 160 countries in 2004.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
This is the second of three Academy Panel reports providing a comprehensive review of services off-shoring. It is in response to direction from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Commerce and Justice with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This report focuses primarily on two questions: 1. What do currently available data indicate about the extent of U.S. services off-shoring? 2. What additional data are needed to provide a more complete assessment of U.S. services off-shoring?
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Labor Issues
CED partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on this handbook, published in 2006, which is designed to help businesses operating in developing countries understand how to build public-private partnerships that will benefit their host country populations and the participating firms.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Partnerships, Business, Public Sector, Economic Development, and Private Sector
It is generally agreed that making progress towards eradicating hunger worldwide is a moral obligation for the richer countries of the world. The instrument known as food aid is widely regarded as an important vehicle for providing assistance to needy countries. However, fresh debates in the present Doha round of WTO negotiations have brought a renewed interest in food aid issues. The Doha round is designed to put development at the centre of trade negotiations, and along with agriculture, to the fore among the contentious issues to be agreed.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Since the Asian crisis, the IMF has undergone a deep process of soul searching, trying to extract lessons from the experience. External criticism has been abundant, and basically all three of the IMF's main areas of work – surveillance, crisis prevention and resolution, and poverty reduction – have been called into question. Several years later, there is a feeling that not much has been achieved, and key questions remain unanswered. As the world business cycle matures, and thus the likelihood of further crises slowly increases, it is critical for the stability of the world financial system to discuss what the IMF's business model should look like.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
The WTO Hong Kong ministerial meeting was a lost opportunity to make trade fairer for poor people around the world. Rich countries put their commercial interests before those of developing countries. Small progress in agriculture was more than cancelled out by anti-development texts in services and industrial tariffs. Most of the difficult decisions were put off to a further meeting in early 2006.
Topic:
International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Cotton is an important crop for some of the poorest areas of China, and millions of cotton farmers depend on it for their livelihoods. Cotton's high economic returns have helped, and continue to help, bring many farmers in the poor western provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang out of poverty. Cotton production is not only essential to the development of China's textile industry; it is also a labour-intensive crop that demands a large workforce in rural areas. It has thus contributed to easing the pressures of rural underdevelopment in China, at a time when the country is faced with seriously high levels of surplus labour and lack of development potential in rural areas.
Four years on, the Doha Round looks increasingly unlikely to deliver on its promises to the world's poor. Rich countries have sidelined developmjent concerns and insisted on, among other conditions, the "blood on the floor" rule, i.e. obtaining economically painful concessions from all countries, including poor ones. In agriculture, trade rules look set to remain stacked against developing countries and poor farmers. Talks on industrial tariffs could jeopardise the industries of poor countries. If the rich countries fail to significantly improve their offer at the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December 2005, developing countries should not be expected to sign on to a bad deal.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization