Free Trade Policy Research Articles

“Human Beings Are Too Cheap in India”: Wages and Work Organization as Business Strategies in Bombay's Late Colonial Textile Industry

Abstract This article examines the business strategies employed by early twentieth-century Bombay mill owners in work organization and wage differentiation. The traditionally highly segmented and fluctuating domestic textile markets in India were further complicated by colonial free trade policies, making them highly competitive. This prompted Bombay mills to adopt various strategies, including maintaining a flexible workforce, product diversification, tailoring sales strategies to the Indian market, and increasing labour inputs, related to their heavy reliance on short-stapled Indian raw cotton. Using detailed and disaggregated data reported by textile mills in Bombay during the 1920s and 1930s, this article investigates how employers adopted these strategies in tandem with distinct wage-setting systems as management tools to depress the wage bill. By analysing the motivations behind the adoption of or resistance to these tools across different operations within the production process – such as weaving, spinning, reeling, and winding – the article reveals how gendered and social-class stratifications shaped these strategies and led to wage disparities across the industry. Ultimately, these labour-intensive strategies, conditioned by the broader colonial context in which India's textile industry developed, were at the root of the lower productivity of Indian workers, with long-run adverse consequences for India's general industrial development.

Corporate Social Responsibility on Labour under the European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and Policy Implications for Vietnam

The article provides an in-depth understanding of the commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) on labour under the new generation of free trade agreements (FTAs) of the European Union (EU) in general and the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in particular. Accordingly, this article clarifies the evolution of CSR commitments in the EU's new generation of FTAs via the EU's foreign and trade policies. On that premise, the article conducts a comprehensive examination of the nature of CSR commitments related to labour in EVFTA. The article also examines current legislation of the EU and its member states. Then, it proposes a variety of policy implications for Vietnam and other developing nations to implement CSR commitments in the context of global sustainable development.

Gum Arabic Producers' Opinions and Views towards Gum Arabic Marketing Policies-and Strategies, Sudan

The study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the opinions and views of gum Arabic producers towards Gum Arabic marketing policies in Sudan. Primary data were collected in 2016, using a structured questionnaire and 150 gum Arabic producers were interviewed, representing 20% of the targeted population in the study. Secondary data were collected from related official documents. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to investigate the opinions views and socio-economic characteristics of the stakeholders. The results indicated that about (97%) of the respondents preferred the free-trade policy to concession as it gives more price incentives to producers (98%), encouraging producers (98%). There are 98 % of the producers conserve and reforest instead of cutting Hashab trees. All the respondents confirmed the prices are higher post-free-trade than pre-free-trade period. 74% of the gum producers were economically active including the young; this indicated continuing to preserve indigenous knowledge techniques of gum Arabic production across generations. The study recommended continuing the free-trade policy in the production and marketing of gum Arabic, involving the private sector to provide credit to the gum Arabic producers to expand their gum production area. Improve infrastructure and basic services in the gum Arabic production areas.

Improve energy use efficiency through free trade policy: evidence from the establishment of free trade zones in China.

In the context of increasing global resource and environmental problems, it is of great practical significance to accurately test the impact of various factors on energy use efficiency for maintaining national energy security and formulating relevant policies. This paper measures firms' total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) using the two-stage stochastic frontier method within the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework, leveraging data from listed firms in China spanning 2010 to 2022. Employing the establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) as a quasi-natural experiment, we apply the staggered differences-in-differences (DID) and stacked DID methods and analyze the impact of FTZs on firms' TFEE. The results show that the establishment of FTZs significantly promotes the improvement of firms' TFEE, and it has a greater promotion effect on heavily polluting, non-manufacturing, state-owned, private, and small-scale firms. The results of the mechanistic analysis showed that the promotion effect of FTZs on firms' TFEE is mainly realized through three channels: increasing government subsidies, reducing the financing constraint effect, and encouraging the technology innovation effect. Furthermore, industry-level decomposition results indicate that the surge in industry energy efficiency primarily results from improvements within firms rather than inter-industry variations. This paper's results propose that countries can enhance energy efficiency by progressively endorsing the implementation of FTZs.

Theoretical Foundations of the Foreign Economic Relations Strategy of the Russian Federation at the Present Stage

Introduction. The author of this text is convinced that in the modern world foreign economic relations remain a crucial way of maintaining economic activity. Sustainable economic relations with other states are a necessary condition for the country's economic growth. However, due to changes in the global financial, economic and political systems, Russia is forced to look for new economic and political allies. The main task for our country is to establish close and mutually beneficial relations with the leading countries of the East, such as China and India, in order to ensure economic security in the face of possible isolation in the international arena.Materials and methods. The methodological basis of this research was made up of general scientific and special research methods, such as induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, classification, comparative, descriptive, comparative, logical, structural-functional methods, various methods of statistical analysis. The author of the study used tabular and graphical forms of representation of the processes and phenomena under consideration.Research results. The study revealed that Russian government authorities use various tools to maintain foreign trade and ensure economic security in the context of anti-Russian sanctions. The balance between protectionist and free trade policies depends on the situation in international markets, the geopolitical situation in the world, but especially on the level of competitiveness. The introduction of sanctions by the collective West has become the main factor, changing the foreign economic situation for Russia in 2022. Russia’s new foreign economic strategy is based on the search for friendly partners, willing to purchase sanctioned goods. Thanks to this strategy, Russia was able to reorient foreign economic relations towards Asia and the Middle East, as well as to establish parallel imports while maintaining competitiveness and even increasing foreign trade turnover.Discussion and conclusion. The need for Russia to enter the Chinese and Indian trade markets and to strengthen foreign economic relations with Asia is substantiated; the main groups of goods that can contribute to the development of mutually beneficial exchange and strengthening of economic cooperation between these countries are analyzed; the possibility and importance of further development of foreign economic relations with Asian states, which can become no less important and useful partners for Russia than the former states of Europe, have been proven.

Развитие концепции воспитательного протекционизма в истории экономической мысли

An important issue within the framework of economic theory has always been the problem of the relationship between free trade and protectionist measures to protect domestic production. At a certain stage, the ideology of free trade (developed by Adam Smith, David Ricardo) became the mainstream of economic thought. Later, within the framework of the German Historical school, an important contribution was made by the economist Friedrich List, who proposed the concept of educational protectionism as an alternative to the free trade ideology of classical political economy. In this article it is proposed to analyze the main ideas and arguments of the concept of educational protectionism and compare them with the argumentation of other economic schools. Were described the characteristics of the German Historical school. It was shown, that despite some similar ideas, the concept of educational protectionism is very different from mercantilist ideas, this concept does not deny free trade direction from a historical perspective, but in some way offers a way of transition to free trade policy. The institutional and economic restrictions, that F. List considers for the success of protectionist policy, were analyzed. The reaction to the concept of educational protectionism was shown, both from the point of view of the role of this concept in economic policy in Russia, and from the point of view of a negative attitude towards this concept from socialist thought, including Rudolf Hilferding. It can be concluded that the concept of educational protectionism also turned out to be largely utopian, but it played an important role in expanding the boundaries of the discussion about free trade and the factors determining this trade policy.

Modeling the effects of Brexit on the British economy

AbstractWe estimate the short run effects of Brexit border disruption on the UK economy. We estimate a structural VAR for the UK, where Brexit effects are identified by the dates of Brexit events, the referendum, and the exit from the single market. We find evidence of short run effects of Brexit: temporary effects on GDP, exports and imports (slightly negative), and on inflation and interest rates (slightly positive). These effects are consistent with modest disruption from introducing a border with the EU—a border due to be made barrier‐free and seamless by the UK‐EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Previous work using other countries as comparators is vulnerable to identification difficulties. We also survey earlier modeling work on the long run effects of evolving policies of free trade, UK‐sourced regulation, and liberalized immigration. Models of long run trade suggest the emergence of substantial gains.

Impacts of trade policy on the welfare of citrus producers and consumers in Indonesia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the factors influencing the citrus trade in Indonesia, the effects of tariff and non-tariff policies on the industry and the welfare of producers and consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe research used annual series data from 1991 to 2021 and employed inferential, simulation, and descriptive analyses. The two-stage least squares (2SLS) of 19 simultaneous equations were used to estimate parameters.FindingsThe results indicate that free trade policies and restrictions have influenced the citrus industry, leading to a reduction in Indonesian citrus imports, and increased consumer and producer prices. However, eliminating import tariff policies on citrus from China and import restrictions increased producer surplus while decreasing consumer surplus, government revenue, and total welfare. Therefore, trade policies should be combined with non-trade policies such as citrus region development policies and advancing cultivation technology.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence for the Indonesian government to formulate effective citrus trade and development policies. It emphasizes the importance of carefully considering the impact of trade policy on the citrus industry and the need to implement non-trade policies such as citrus zone development policies and advancing cultivation technology to benefit both producers and consumers.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2023-0148

Updating the analysis of rice import liberalization in Japan: a dynamic-stochastic CGE modelling approach

ABSTRACT Food self-sufficiency is a central pillar of agricultural policy in Japan, and a high import tariff strictly protects the domestic rice market. Most existing studies investigate the deterministic impacts of the rice trade liberalization policy in the country; one, in particular, developed a static-stochastic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to estimate how risky the policy would be in securing the food supply, which fails to account for the long-term effects of a free trade policy. We analyse the impacts of rice trade liberalization in Japan, constructing the first global-scale dynamic-stochastic CGE model. We update the policy analysis of the previous study by extending the static-stochastic model to a dynamic-stochastic framework that allows us to analyse the long-term impacts of the policy in a probabilistic manner. The primary findings are that household welfare converges at a higher level in the long term than in the short term. Second, the shocks to household welfare from abroad persistently become more significant over time. Finally, we have determined that the optimal level for government strategic rice reserves is 300 thousand tons. Therefore, it is apparent that the current stock level of 1000 thousand tons is not cost-effective.

A Study on the Impact of Economic Policies on Consumers’ Behavioral Intentions on Cross-border E-commerce Platforms

Abstract Given the expanding high-level opening to the outside world, there is a potential correlation between consumers’ behavioral patterns on cross-border e-commerce platforms and economic policies. This paper proposes a model for extracting consumer behavioral willingness features based on a convolutional neural network with sentence vector improvements, which optimizes the effect of cluster analysis on consumer behavioral willingness. The extraction model is utilized to extract consumer behavioral willingness features, and the outcomes demonstrate that the proportion of consumption and recommendation willingness is 47.65% and 52.05%, respectively, with a positive clustering effect. The regression results show that consumers’ behavioral willingness to cross-border e-commerce platforms increases with their preference for free trade and mixed trade policies, with an impact coefficient of 0.095 and 0.096. The degree of free trade simultaneously influences consumers’ willingness to recommend, with an impact coefficient of 0.154. However, the import substitution policy has an impact coefficient of −0.078, indicating that consumers are less likely to recommend cross-border e-commerce platforms to others.

대항해 시대 유럽 열강의 향신료 무역에 관한 경제사적 함의

This study focused on the spice trade that originated from the Age of Discovery. From a macro perspective, the purpose was to present meaningful implications that can actively respond to today's rapidly changing international trade environment and that can be used as a reference for national policy trade trends. Compared to the Age of Exploration, today's international trade focuses on securing advanced technology and protecting resources and outwardly promotes free trade, but in reality, protectionism is the basis of national policy. Like spices, the complementary relationship between resources and technology means that economic benefits cannot be secured through monopoly or domination by one party alone, but can be secured from added value through mutual complementation or combination. This perspective is the main cause of today's changes in the international trade environment, which is developing as an appropriate mixture of protectionism and free trade policy. The struggle for control over trade routes and spices, which was the cause of the fierce wars among European countries, went beyond the preservation of commercial interests to meet consumption demands, and now the added value created by the fusion of resources and technology is not only the purpose of diplomacy, but also the top priority. This suggests that it should become a national policy.

Energy consumption and innovation-environmental degradation nexus in BRICS countries: new evidence from NARDL approach using carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.

The BRICS nations-Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-have grown significantly in importance over the past few decades, playing a vital role in the development and growth of the global economy. This expansion has not been without cost, either, since these countries' concern over environmental deterioration has risen sharply. Both researchers and decision-makers have focused a lot of attention on the connection between economic growth and ecological sustainability. By using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach, the complex relationships were analyzed between important economic indicators-such as gross domestic product (GDP), ecological innovations (EI), energy consumption (ENC), institutional performance (IP), and trade openness (TOP)-and their effect on carbon emissions and nitrous oxide emissions in the BRICS countries from 1990 to 2021, this study seeks to contribute to this important dialog. Principal component analysis is formed for technological innovations and institutional performance using six (ICT service exports as a percentage of service exports, computer communications as a percentage of commercial service exports, fixed telephone subscriptions per 100 people, internet users as a percentage of the population, number of patent applications, and R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP) and twelve (government stability, investment profile, socioeconomic conditions, internal conflict, external conflict, military in politics, control of corruption, religious tensions, ethnic tensions, law and order, bureaucracy quality, and democratic accountability) distinct indicators, respectively. The results of nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag estimation show that increase in economic growth would increase carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. The positive and negative shocks in trade openness have positive and significant impact on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in BRICS countries. Furthermore, the positive shock energy consumptions have positive and significant effect on Brazil and India when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. However, EKC exists in BRICS countries when carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions are used. According to long-term estimation, energy consumption and technological innovations in the BRICS countries show a strong and adverse link with nitrous oxide and a favorable relationship with carbon dioxide emissions. In the long run, environmental indicators are seen to have a major and unfavorable impact in BRICS nations. Finally, it is proposed that BRICS nations can assure environmental sustainability if they support creative activities, enhance their institutions, and support free trade policies.

Support for free trade: an experimental survey in Estonia and Latvia

ABSTRACT This study examines successful and intensive free-trade policies in Estonia and Latvia, which exist despite the low-levels of domestic welfare in these countries. In contrast to the conventional elite-centric approach, this study uses a survey experiment to explore rationales for positive public opinion toward free trade policy. The results reveal that an individual exposed to the stimulus of a strategic security issue or consumer consideration tends to support free trade. These effects are evident among Latvians and highly-educated Estonians. Furthermore, the favorable international environment enhances the positive public opinion of free trade in Estonia and Latvia.

IMPLIKASI ACFTA (ASEAN CHINA FREE TRADE AREA) TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN UMKM (USAHA MIKRO KECIL DAN MENENGAH) DI INDONESIA

ACFTA (ASEAN China Free Trade Area) is one of the collaborations built by Indonesia in the context of improving the domestic economy, in which Indonesia must follow the free trade policies and regulations set by the WTO (World Trade Organization). Indonesia's readiness to face this free trade is highly questionable. This also has an impact on MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) in Indonesia, with the existence of free trade, trade competition is getting hotter. This article aims to look at the implications of ACFTA (ASEAN China Free Trade Area) on the development of Indonesian SMEs. Qualitative research with analytical descriptive methods is applied in this study, based on data sources obtained through library research techniques. This study shows that the implication of ACFTA (ASEAN China Free Trade Area) is not contributing to the economic improvement of MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) this is inseparable from the government factor which is more concerned with Chinese imports and the lack of understanding of marketing for MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)

Implementation of international standards in trade regulation by the state

Free trade policy (or free trade in English) appeared in the second half of the 18th century as a phenomenon of economic life. In its theoretical foundation, A. Smith’s famous work - “The nature and causes of the wealth of nations” became decisive. The theory of free trade was developed by another English economist. It was developed and almost completed in the works of Ricardo.

The Multisided Threat to Free Trade: Protectionism and Fair Trade During Increasing Populism

The standard embedded liberalism argument for increasing free trade after World War II is that countries have compensated those hurt by trade and, therefore, have reduced opposition to free trade policies. This argument relies on opposition to trade being motivated by personal economic effects of trade; however, recent work has increasingly found other motivations for protectionism, calling into question the sustainability of embedded liberalism. This article argues that this threat to embedded liberalism will grow worse as populism increases, which leads to both more nationalistic and more economic opposition to trade, which is only partially offset by other non-economic opposition (most notably, fair trade) decreasing. This article offers a conceptual framework for the different types of opposition to trade and how increasing populism influences its composition. The framework is supported by descriptive statistics of public opinion on trade policy in the US over the past two decades, encompassing trade opinions before and during the global financial crisis, as well as during the rise of global populist movements starting around 2016. We conclude the article with policy implications regarding the multi-sided threat to free trade and how policymakers can confront the evolving challenges to embedded liberalism.

Effects of free trade policy on the US-Mexico border health service

Effects of free trade policy on the US-Mexico border health service

Effects of free trade policy on the US-Mexico border health service

Effects of free trade policy on the US-Mexico border health service

STRATEGIES OF ECONOMIC STABILITY IN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT

The article deals with the problems raised in Sergio Mariotti's article on "A warning from the Russian-Ukrainian war: avoiding a future that rhymes with the past". The author supports the proposal for a broader view of the events and for the inclusion of a historical component in the analysis. At the same time, it is argued that a comparative historical analysis might be insufficient to solve such complex problems. The method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete is proposed, which allows considering systemic modern phenomena as a result of the entire previous historical development. On this basis, it is shown that the war in Ukraine is a concrete manifestation of the contradictions of globalization and localization, which historically originated from the jointly-divided labor and reached the apogee of their development in modern times. A hybrid "peace-war" system emerged and the process of changing the world order began based on the transition from industrial-market economy to information-network economy, which naturally increases uncertainties and contradictions. The policy of free trade and the policy of protectionism only are concrete manifestations of the contradictions of globalization and localization. It is shown that as a result of the aggravation of the contradictions of globalization and localization and their specific manifestations, objective tendencies to ensure the national rootedness of the sustainability of economic development arise. The generalization of such trends and their conscious use necessitates the formation of strategies of nationally rooted economic development, which will be relevant until the completion of a new technical and technological system and the formation of an information network based system of socio-economic relations. The article identifies the main features of the strategy of nationally rooted economic development relevant for the current conditions of Ukraine.

Biblical Perspectives on Free Trade Policy

The concept of free trade is more than 200 years old with economists Adam Smith and Abbé de Condillac both arguing in 1776 the merits of trade that was free from government regulation and constraints. From that point forward, mainstream economists have maintained that economies unencumbered by government impediments, such as tariffs and quotas, function more efficiently and effectively. Free trade in practice, however, does not always benefit every party involved, particularly in the absence of competition. This analysis: a) defines free trade; b) examines the support for and challenges to the economic strategy from both a theoretical economic, and allegedly more practical, perspective; and c) compares the global worldview on free trade to biblical perspectives to determine whether there is biblical support for this economic policy. To evaluate the biblical perspectives on free trade, this paper considers broad biblical concepts that encompass the issues of regulation versus liberalization of trade policy. The paper specifically focuses on biblical directives to care for vulnerable populations, such as women in developing countries and foreign laborers, when it examines the impact of free trade . It concludes that for free trade to be biblical, participants must commit to and honor biblical principles, including caring for those in need, paying a reasonable wage, and serving God with the wealth and profits accumulated. Adhering to these principles can mitigate the negative consequences that are sometimes associated with free trade.