Global Trade Liberalization Research Articles

Regional aggregation bias in the global computable general equilibrium model: Issues in assessing the economic impact of climate change and trade liberalization

This study examined the bias introduced by regional aggregation (RA) when assessing the effect of climate change and trade liberalization through computational experiments. The analysis used global computable general equilibrium models with different pre-aggregation levels, based on the GTAP10 database. The bias was quantified by comparing the effects between large-scale and aggregated models. The results revealed that RA bias comprised over 35% of estimated effects related to climate change and global trade liberalization; it reversed the change direction in the simulation and deviated changes beyond the variation range observed in the sensitivity analysis; and it increased in developing countries where the proportions of imports were high. Much RA bias is artificially created by aggregating countries with different initial shocks, which then spreads to other countries through a pseudo-trade structure. Therefore, adopting a disaggregated global model is crucial to improve the accuracy of climate change assessments with diverse shocks worldwide.

Impacts of trade facilitation on greenhouse gas emissions in the Belt and Road Initiative countries

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) trade facilitation could generate both economic and environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the resulting impacts on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain unclear. Here we apply a global computable general equilibrium model to simulate the economic changes induced by BRI trade facilitation and thereby assess the GHG emissions burdens within China and the main economic corridors. We show that trade facilitation results in economic improvement at the expense of emissions for most BRI countries. Yet economic growth in these countries has outstripped emissions growth. Especially for countries within the New Eurasian Land Bridge (ELB), most of them even have achieved decoupling of economic growth from emissions under trade facilitation, which is mainly benefited from the decrease of non-CO2 GHG emissions. We stress that non-CO2 GHGs mitigation in more developing regions is essential to achieve an economic-environmental win-win state, in the context of future global trade liberalization.

Public Policies on Obesity: A Literature Review of Global Challenges and Response Strategies.

As a complex and multifactorial health problem, obesity results from the interaction of genetic, environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors. Globally, the increase in obesity and related chronic diseases has been associated with global trade liberalization, rapid urbanization, and economic growth. This article is a narrative literature review on the global obesity problem and explores the global challenges of obesity and strategies to address them. The research methodology included a retrieval of peer-reviewed articles, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Specific search terms like "obesity", "policy", "nutrition", and "global", outline the impact of obesity on global health and social systems, as well as policy effectiveness and gaps that exist. The outcome reveals regional differences in obesity rates and provides an analysis of the policies that countries have implemented to address obesity and their effectiveness, in particular concerning improving the quality of diets and limiting the intake of added sugars. Despite some policies proving effective, the challenge of obesity is far from being fully addressed, necessitating robust international efforts and strategies.

Peran Perlindungan Hukum Terhadap Pasar di Era Liberalisasi Perdagangan di Indonesia

Investing in economic development is an important aspect because investment is one of the driving forces in the process of strengthening a country's economy. Several countries have made efforts to increase investment within the framework of their economic policies, as one way to encourage the process of strengthening the economy (Jati, 2012). Over the last decade, investment has not only become an important need for a country to advance its economic development but is also the most important means of developing industry. The research method used in this journal is qualitative. This research uses a qualitative approach to understand the factors influencing traditional markets and their impact on society and the economy. In this research, the author uses descriptive analysis to explain the conditions of traditional markets and the impact of changes in consumer preferences and the shift in people's shopping places to modern shopping centers. Indonesia has decided to become a member of both regional and world trade, such as: GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), AFTA (Asean Free Trade Area), APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and WTO (Word Trade Organization). Indonesia has become a member of regional and world trade, so at the same time, Indonesia has become part of the global community and trade liberalization. Basically, liberalization creates an era of global trade that is free of borders, protection and barriers. This also increases trade competition between economic actors. The challenges of traditional markets in facing the impact of globalization and trade liberalization are characterized by the flow of investment into Indonesia from one most profitable region to another in all investment sectors. This phenomenon makes capital investment or investment a demand to meet the needs of a country, company and society, for example by investing in the modern retail industry (modern markets), such as: supermarkets, hypermarkets, minimarkets.

IMPORTANCE OF OPTIMIZING THE REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL

This article aims to discuss potential challenges and advantages developing countries might face by seeking to use World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in order to promote their economic growth. The authors analyzed one of the implications of the WTO regulatory system in the framework of global trade liberalization, particularly the Doha Round. The analysis outcomes show the importance and effectiveness of WTO policies towards developing countries and help to formulate the position of such countries in WTO policies and reforms. However, we have to admit that this requires the recognition of benefits by all participants, developed and developing countries, unless it could lead to significant economic cost for all. In order to get a greater beneficial impact or/and minimize potential loss, the authors suggest following multilateral rule-making regulations and carefully conducting a preliminary economic analysis of the country before setting an agreement or dialogue, which will point to differentiation between members and could enhance negotiations or/and avoid risk of failure. The study's theoretical and methodological basis are statistics, analysis, marketing, and management working papers of foreign researchers, regulatory documents, periodical press materials, official legal documentation, and publications relating to the specialized subject area of participation in WTO. The findings of this research might add to the knowledge and understanding of the participation of countries in WTO dispute settlement proceedings and the ability of the WTO system to deal with them.

Innovations in foreign trade management under pre-war neo protectionism conditions

Methods. To study the risks of neo protectionism for Ukrainian exporters there has been used the following methods: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction – to identify prerequisites for the formation of neo protectionism in the conditions of globalization. The statistical methods have been used to develop the model of the dependence of the export of products (goods and services) on the indirect methods of neo protectionism to test the hypothesis about the influence of indirect financial support on the stimulation of exports and the creation of new jobs by exporting enterprises. Results. This study offers recommendations for overcoming the risks of foreign economic activity, in particular the relocation of jobs, changes in trade and payment balances on the example of individual countries, as well as the use of discriminatory measures against exporting firms from Ukraine. It is demonstrated that before the war, Ukrainian firms that exported their products and services to foreign markets faced fierce competition for both customers and investments. As most of the world prioritizes trade liberalization, many so-called «developed countries» suffer from the social and political consequences of the global distribution of wealth and labor, which include the movement of jobs abroad and rising unemployment. It was revealed that more and more countries are applying neo-protectionism measures to protect local markets and strengthen the competitive positions of national businesses, so the management of Ukrainian firms should take these risks into account when developing their own foreign trade strategies. Novelty. The article summarizes the arguments and counter-arguments in the framework of the scientific debate on the problem of the revival of neo-protectionism and economic nationalism in the conditions of global economic integration and trade liberalization. Innovative recommendations for minimizing threats to Ukrainian exporting firms from the policy of neo-protectionism in the foreign markets of unfriendly countries in the post-war period are proposed. Practical value. The recommendations provide for reorientation from the markets of unfriendly countries with high non-commercial risks to the markets of partner countries and insurance of commercial risks under the contract using the mechanisms of Public JSC «Export Credit Agency of Ukraine» in the post-war period. The results of the research can be useful for Ukrainian exporting firms and government bodies that regulate the foreign economic activity of trade agents that export dual-use goods.

INFLUENCE OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT ON ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF COUNTRIES

Can Global Trade liberalization have adverse Environmental Repercussions? Does International Trade weaken Environmental Policy? Have the developing countries engulfed themselves into an Environmental Race to the Bottom? These questions are recurring whenever global debate on Climate Change take place and hence warrant a deeper examination of the interrelationship between openness indicators (trade and investment) and environmental performance of a country. While managing the balance between environmental constraints and economic impacts has been an ongoing dilemma across nations, emerging economies seem to be more inclined towards seeking better growth opportunities as opposed to seeking environmental sustainability. The developed countries however tip in the favour of environmental sustainability, relatively more than emerging economies, in the environment – opportunity trade off. As nations develop, their willingness to favour environmental preservation improves (Kuznets Environmental Curve) but developing countries rarely shy away from using their lax regulatory standards (viz-a-viz pollution abatement) as a means of attracting Investments and making their exports relatively more competitive. To what extent could trade and investment, therefore, influence/compromise the Environmental Performance of the country? The paper examines this question with an empirical analysis.

Global Economic Integration and Nativist Politics in Emerging Economies

AbstractNativist political movements are globally ascendant. In advanced democracies, rising anti‐immigrant politics is in part a backlash against economic globalization. In emerging economies, where nativists primarily target internal migrants, there is little investigation of whether trade liberalization fuels antimigrant sentiment, perhaps because trade benefits workers in these contexts. I argue that global economic integration causes nativist backlash in emerging economies even though it does not dislocate workers. I highlight an alternative mechanism: geographic labor mobility. Workers strategically migrate to access geographically uneven global economic opportunity. This liberalization‐induced mobility interacts with native–migrant cleavages to generate nativist backlash. I explore these dynamics in the Indian textile sector, which experienced a positive shock following global trade liberalization in 2005. Using a difference‐in‐differences analysis, I find that exposed localities experienced increased internal migration and nativism, manifesting in antimigrant rioting and nativist party support. Liberalization can fuel nativism even when its economic impacts are positive.

Politik Pangan Lokal "Setengah Hati" Indonesia Setelah Pandemi COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brings the threat of a global food crisis. Indonesia's food system is vulnerable because it only depends on one type of food, namely rice. Hopes about Indonesia's food security have returned to the potential for local food diversity, as well as moving from food security to food sovereignty. This study will focus on the process of developing local food in Indonesia which is considered a way out of the threat of a global food crisis due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The purpose of this study is to find out a general description of the condition of local food in Indonesia so far. The method used in this research is desk research using a political-economic approach in the context of neoliberalism. The results of this study indicate that Indonesia is "half-heartedly" in developing local food as a result of its position between the dichotomy of food sovereignty versus global trade liberalization.

Beyond Multilateral Treaty Reforms

International trade law is primarily concerned with facilitating the flow of goods and services across national borders by minimizing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. However, there is a nexus between international trade and the environment. First, international trade is reckoned to have destructive environmental effects. The liberalization of global trade results in increased economic activity, including industrial processes, manufacturing, innovation of new technology, and extraction of natural resources from the earth and the sea, which inevitably results in environmental externalities such as biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change. Second, international trade law intersects environmental law whenever trade restrictive measures such as import bans, export control and border taxes are adopted by states as a means of achieving environmental goals.[1] Such measures condition market access on the fulfilment of environmental norms related to the characteristic of the product or the process of its production. The World Trade Organization (WTO) currently oversees the largest multilateral regime for international trade. WTO covered agreements expressly recognises some exceptions to trade liberalization commitments for environmental objectives, this policy space is subjected to a system of strict limitations and review procedures designed to protect the global trading system from arbitrariness and disguised restrictions on trade. This scrutinized policy space accounts for the contention that the multilateral trading system constrains environmental regulation and requires treaty reforms for the purpose of adapting to contemporary environmental concerns. Others have focused on a change of approach in the reasoning of WTO adjudicators in their review of trade-restrictive environmental measures. However, the process of multilateral negotiations for new agreements needed to effect rule change is notably complex and has been fraught with deadlocks in the last couple of decades. The stalemate over appointment of members of the Appellate Body has hampered the effective functioning of third-party adjudication in the WTO and the prospect of ‘pro-environmental’ approaches in the interpretation of WTO law on environmental measures. Meanwhile, numerous environment-related measures continue to be notified within the WTO. I argue that notwithstanding the absence of treaty reforms, international trade law continuously evolves through various formal and informal norm-generating practices by member states and trade stakeholders. Viewed through the lens of legal pluralism, these practices contest, modify and transform normative meaning in the multilateral trading system thereby creating a permissive setting for trade-restrictive environmental measures within the framework of extant international trade law.

Global value chains, trade liberalization, and productivity: a stochastic frontier analysis of Chinese manufacturing firms

ABSTRACT This article estimates the total factor productivity (TFP) growth of Chinese manufacturing firms and quantifies how international sourcing and trade liberalization affect TFP growth. To this end, we estimate stochastic frontier production that decomposes TFP growth into technical changes, returns to scale, and technical efficiency changes. Furthermore, we consider two channels through which external factors affect TFP growth: technical change and technical efficiency change components. We measure international sourcing and trade liberalization by foreign value-added shares and input tariffs, respectively. Several novel findings emerge. First, international sourcing and import tariff reduction positively impact TFP growth by improving technical changes and technical efficiency. Second, international sourcing has a negative effect on the technical changes of processing importers, while it has positive effects on the technical change and technical efficiency change of ordinary importers. Third, input tariff reduction has a substantial and positive impact on the technical efficiency change of processing importers and the technical change of ordinary importers.

The Poverty of Farmers in a Main Grain-Producing Area in Northeast China

Farmers’ poverty has long been of global concern, mainly in poor rather than affluent areas. The goal of this paper is to better understand the range of poverty in the context of regional differentiation and to enrich knowledge on farmers’ poverty in affluent areas and areas with good natural conditions. A questionnaire survey of poor farmers in the major grain-producing area of Changchun, Northeast China was conducted. Farmers’ poverty was studied from income poverty and multidimensional poverty by intertwining qualitative and quantitative methods. The results indicate that low education levels and poor physical health were most prevalent in poor farmers, followed by income poverty and low living standards. Governmental policies and the macroeconomic situation in the agricultural sector, non-agricultural employment, aging, cultivated land, and family size correlated closely with farmers’ poverty. The macro changes in policies and global trade liberalization in the agricultural sector impacted farmers’ income through the prices of agricultural products and subsidies and influenced the effect of cultivated land. For poor farmers, the effect of employment opportunities in villages was more significant than in urban areas. Aging remains a challenge for farmers’ poverty now and in the future.

Belt and Road Initiative: A Debate in Context with the New World Order with Chinese Characteristics

The existing global governance system in which an unparalleled growth of China is exceedingly constrained and overwhelmed by the US and its allies. President Xi’s all-encompassing foreign policy such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) primarily seeks out to develop the much-needed infrastructure, global financial integration and trade liberalisation. This paper examines the impression of China’s initiative, such as BRI on the global governance system—an area in which China has gradually expanded its input. Inspired from China’s historical prestige and ideology, Chinese institutions present three significant challenges to the existing world order; (i) the emerging non-western ideology, (ii) the non-western multilateralism, and (iii) the introduction of diversity and equality in international relations. The paper concludes that China’s unprecedented economic growth coupled with its assertive foreign policy means an alternative global governance system is emerging with Chinese characteristics.

Better, Faster, Stronger: Global Innovation and Trade Liberalization

AbstractThis paper estimates the effect on innovation of increased market access facilitated by trade liberalization. We use a novel empirical design that exploits tariff cuts during the 1990s, along with detailed data on innovation among firms from 65 countries. Our results reveal a large effect of tariff cuts on innovation as measured by patent data, suggesting that multilateral liberalization has promoted innovation and growth. These effects are not driven by the deterioration of innovation quality, and the results are robust to controlling for changes in the patent system and to industry-wide trends in innovation.

The Role of the Global Value Chain in Improving Trade and the Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Evidence From China’s Manufacturing Industry

In the domain of globalization, the global value chain (GVC) is formed across diverse economies. Owing to the expansion of economic globalization and the resultant global trade liberalization, the geographical isolation of production and consumption has resulted in the transfer of polluting emissions from advanced economies to developing states. Developing economies, falling in the middle and low end of the GVC, have to strive hard to expand their production in the GVC, while simultaneously addressing the consequent environmental damage and attending to the core environmental concerns of sustainable growth, energy preservation and drastic cuts in CO2. This paper addresses how manufacturing subsidiaries can improve their low-carbon innovation ability and help to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through the embedded GVC. Data were gathered employing interview and survey methods, 31 manufacturing companies and 56 enterprise groups across 16 Chinese provinces were selected as the case study. A partial least square structural equation modelling was adopted to analyse the responses. The results indicate that the embedded GVC significantly enhances low-carbon innovation capability and promotes a sustainable competitive advantage. This study proposes that companies should continuously identify high-quality resources from the GVC and discover ways of integrating internal and external carbon innovation resources to form innovation capabilities.

International Trade Barriers and Countermeasures of Chinese Medicinal Materials Based on Big Data

With the development of global big data and trade liberalization, tariff barriers are gradually weakened, while technical trade barriers, mainly in the form of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures, are constantly strengthening. Affected by this, in recent years, my country’s traditional Chinese medicine industry has also suffered technical trade barriers from various countries, and the export of Chinese medicine has been seriously affected. In this regard, the purpose of this article is to study the international trade barriers and countermeasures of Chinese herbal medicines based on big data. This article first expounds the meaning of technical barriers to trade in traditional Chinese medicines, and classifies them according to the form and substance of technical barriers to trade in traditional Chinese medicines. The experimental results indicate that an anti-technical trade barrier service system for the Chinese medicine industry must be established as soon as possible. The industry association must give full play to its communication and coordination role, reduce the number of Chinese medicinal materials rejected by foreign countries to less than 31 batches, and provide suggestions for the government and enterprises. Innovative ability, establish the concept of quality management, and face the technical trade barriers of traditional Chinese medicine with a positive attitude.

The impact of WTO reform on china’s economy: some numerical simulation results

Using a global general equilibrium numerical model system with endogenous trade imbalance, this paper simulates the potential economic impacts of different WTO reform scenarios on China. The simulation results show that ending China’s ‘special and differential treatment’ (SDT) alone would have a negative impact on China’s social welfare and GDP, but the impact on manufacturing employment and foreign trade would be positive. The results of a simultaneous withdrawal of SDT from China, Brazil, India, and South Africa would be in line with the effect of China’s separate exit, but China’s damage would be lessened. If all developing countries were to withdraw from SDT, China’s losses would be further reduced. If the WTO reform goals were to promote and achieve a new round of global trade liberalisation, China’s welfare, output, manufacturing employment, and foreign trade would all improve significantly.

Fraud Detection in Shipping Industry using K-NN Algorithm

The shipment industry is going through tremendous growth in volume thanks to technological innovation in e-commerce and global trade liberalization. Volume growth also means a rise in fraud cases involving smuggling and false declaration of shipments. Shipping companies and customs are mostly relying on routine random inspection thus finding fraud is often by chance. As the volume increases dramatically it would no longer be sustainable and effective for both shipment companies and customs to pursue traditional fraud detection strategies. Other related papers on this area have proven that intelligent data-driven fraud detection is proven to be far more effective than routine inspections. However, the challenge in data-driven detection is its effectiveness are often reliant on the availability of data and the various fraud mechanism used by fraudsters to commit shipment related fraud. As such in this paper, we review and subsequently identify the most optimized approaches and algorithms to detect fraud effectively within the shipping industry. We also identify factors that influence fraud activity, review existing fraud detection models, develop the detection framework and implement the framework using the Rapidminer tool.

Systemic Risk in Global Agricultural Markets and Trade Liberalization under Climate Change: Synchronized Crop-Yield Change and Agricultural Price Volatility

Climate change will increase simultaneous crop failures or too abundant harvests, creating global synchronized yield change (SYC), and may decrease stability in the portfolio of food supply sources in agricultural trade. This study evaluated the influence of SYC on the global agricultural market and trade liberalization. The analysis employed a global computable general equilibrium model combined with crop models of four major grains (i.e., rice, wheat, maize, and soybeans), based on predictions of five global climate models. Simulation results show that (1) the SYC structure was statistically robust among countries and four crops, and will be enhanced by climate change, (2) such synchronicity increased the agricultural price volatility and lowered social welfare levels more than expected in the random disturbance (non-SYC) case, and (3) trade liberalization benefited both food-importing and exporting regions, but such effects were degraded by SYC. These outcomes were due to synchronicity in crop-yield change and its ranges enhanced by future climate change. Thus, SYC is a cause of systemic risk to food security and must be considered in designing agricultural trade policies and insurance systems.

أثر إندماج الشرکات على حقوق الدائنین دراسة تحلیلیة مقارنة بین القانون العمانى، المصرى، الأردنى

يعد إندماج الشرکات ظاهرة في الحياة الإقتصادية و التجارية الحديثة، ومظهرآ من مظاهر الترکز الإقتصادي أملته علينا عوامل عدة تأتي في مقدمتها العولمة والتحرر الإقتصادي والتجاري العالميين. ويکتسب الإندماج أهمية من حيث أنه يعد الوسيلة الأنجع والأکثر فاعلية في تکوين المشروعات الجماعية والتکتلات الإقتصادية والتجارية من ناحية، ووسيلة قانونية لمراقبة حرکة رؤوس الأموال عبر حدود الدولة الواحدة من ناحية آخرى ؛ يمکن هذه الدولة القيام بدورها في تشجيع وجذب الإستثمارات الأجنبية. ولهذا حرصت معظم التشريعات على النص عليه وتنظيم إجراءاته کالقانون العماني والقانون المصري والقانون الأردني وهي القوانين محل المقارنة في هذا البحث. وإذا کان الاندماج بمفهومه هذا يعين الشرکات والمشروعات وخاصة الصغيرة والمتوسطة منها على القدرة على المنافسة من خلال توحيد مجهوداتها من جانب، وکونه طوق نجاة لبعض الشرکات من الإفلاس أو التصفية من جانب آخر. فإن التساؤل الذي يطرح نفسه يتمثل فيما إذا کانت هذه الوسيلة بتنظيمها الحالي في القوانين المقارنة – محل الدراسة – کافية لتحقيق أهدافها أم يجب إعادة تنظيمها بشکل أکثر مرونه وفايده. سوف يحاول الباحث أن يجيب على هذا التساؤل من خلال مقارنة الأحکام التي تتضمنها القوانين المقارنة– محل الدراسة– وسواء المتعلقة بالمفهوم القانوني للإندماج وتميزه عن غيره من الأنظمة والتصرفات القانونية المشابهه له، وترسيم حدوده ونطاقه أو الأثار القانونية التي يرتبها سواء بالنسبة إلى الشرکات الداخله فيه أم بالنسبة إلى دائني تلک الشرکات المندمجة أو الشرکة الدامجة أو الشرکة الجديدة الناتجة عن الإندماج، وبحسب طبيعة حقوقهم ما إذا کانوا دائنيين عاديين أم کانوا من حملة السندات أم حاملي حصص التأسيس. The merger of companies is considered as a phenomenon in the modern economic and commercial landscape and a feature of economic concentration which is dictated by several factors including, in the forefront, the globalization and the global economic and trade liberalization. The importance of merger lies primarily in the fact that it is the most effective and efficient tool for the creation of collective projects and economic and trade blocs, on the one hand and a legal tool for monitoring and tracking capitals movements within the boundaries of a certain country, on the other hand. This scenario will enable the state to assume its role to encourage and attract foreign investments. Therefore, most legislations contain provisions that govern and regulate the procedures for mergers including the Omani law, the Egyptian law and the Jordanian law which are subject of comparison in this research. If the merger in this concept assists companies and projects, particularly small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to gain a competitive edge by unifying and streamlining their efforts and at the same time serves as a lifeline for a bunch of companies against insolvency and winding-up, the question that poses itself here is whether this tool as currently provided for in the laws under comparison is adequate and meticulous enough to achieve the intended goals or, rather, it should be revised and reorganized in a flexible and more useful way that delivers benefits. The researcher will attempt to answer this question by comparing the provisions of the laws under scrutiny whether concerning the legal concept of merger and its distinctiveness in relation to other similar systems and legal approaches. This calls for the determination of the limitations, scope and the legal impacts of merger for merging companies or their respective creditors or the new emerging companies as well as defining their rights whether they are ordinary creditors, bondholders or shareholders.