Liberalization Of International Trade Research Articles

한ㆍ중ㆍ일의 서비스무역규제 분석 및 정책적 시사점 (An Analysis of Service Trade Regulations in Korea, China and Japan and its Policy Implications)

Korean Abstract: 교통, 정보통신의 발전과 더불어 FTA를 포함한 각국의 서비스산업 개방정책으로 인하여 전 세계적으로 서비스무역이 확대되고 있다. 한ㆍ중ㆍ일 3국의 서비스무역 역시 증가 추세에 있으나 선진국에 비해 그 규모가 주요 지표 대비 작을 뿐만 아니라, 상품수지에서는 막대한 흑자를 누리고 있는 반면 서비스수지는 모두 적자를 보이고 있다. 이러한 가운데 한ㆍ중ㆍ일 3국은 모두 새로운 성장동력으로서 서비스산업의 중요성을 인식하고, 규제 완화를 포함한 서비스업 육성정책과 특구 및 FTA를 활용한 대외개방정책을 시행하고 있다. 이에 본 보고서에서는 한ㆍ중ㆍ일 3국의 서비스무역을 제한하는 규제요인을 분석하고, 이러한 분석을 통해 3국간 서비스무역 활성화를 위한 방안을 도출하고자 한다. English Abstract: There has been an increasing trend in services trade due to technological development in ICT, transportation in addition to the international trade liberalization efforts. Although Korea, China and Japan has also experienced an increase in its services trade, the share of trade in services out of GDP remains small compared to that of developed countries. Meanwhile, as the importance of the service industry as a new growth engine is widely recognized in the three countries, each country has been actively implementing policies to promote the service industry, including deregulation and open-door policies utilizing the Special Economic Zones and FTAs. Thus, in this report, we analyze the regulatory factors that restrict the service trade of Korea, China and Japan and derive implications for Korea to enhance competitiveness in services sector by promoting services trade in the three countries.

EXPORTS, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA // IZVOZ, INOZEMNA IZRAVNA ULAGANJA I EKONOMSKI RAST U REPUBLICI HRVATSKOJ

Economic growth, export and foreign direct investment have been an important research subject for many years. The argument about the role of export as one of the main deterministic factors of economic growth has its roots in classical trade theories. Furthermore, according to the neoclassical theory, long-term economic growth is the consequence of an increase in exogenous factors such as increased labor force or technological progress. The export-led growth strategy of a country aims to provide incentives for the export of goods through various economic policy measures. Its goal is to increase the production of goods and services that can compete in the global market, use advanced technology and provide foreign exchange revenue needed to import capital goods. The emergence of new theoretical models that emphasize the importance of endogenous factors for economic growth has enabled the inclusion of foreign direct investment into analysis as one of growth determinants. Free movement of capital in the past was recorded only in a few countries and several sectors, and usually the capital flows followed the trade flows. Today there is a noticeable global trend of proliferation of free movement of capital. What is more, foreign direct investments have gained importance as desirable source of capital, especially in developing countries among which a strong competition for attracting such investments has developed. Foreign direct investments represent a specific form of capital because they imply a long-term interest as well as a certain share of ownership that ensures voting rights and participation in the management of the company. There is a vast literature dealing with the effects of foreign direct investment on the recipient country. It is generally accepted that these effects positively contribute to economic growth and development due to the inflow of fresh capital and spillover effects that depend on the absorption capacity of the recipient country. In conclusion, it is to be expected that liberalization of international trade and export performance, as well as the liberalization of capital movements and the inflow of foreign direct investment have a positive impact on the economic growth of a country. The aim of this paper is to examine the correlation between export, foreign direct investments and economic growth on the example of the Republic of Croatia. The conclusions of the research are of use in adopting appropriate policies and strategies for the growth and development of small open economies such as the Republic of Croatia.

New Wine into Old Wineskins? Regime Diffusion by the Powerful from International Trade into Cyberspace

Conflicts and competition among different norms in cyberspace are increasing, especially among powerful states, such as the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, and Brazil, and most notably among democratic and nondemocratic countries. Unlike the current literature, which tends to concentrate on either international power distribution among states or domestic preference formation within them, this study argues that the norms of liberal international trade, especially the free flow of goods and services, have been most influential in shaping trade regimes within cyberspace. To diffuse their preferred norms, powerful states often use a grafting tactic, in which well‐established norms, such as those of liberal trade relations, are adopted as new norms in an emerging area, such as cyberspace. This case study of the Trans‐Pacific Partnership agreement, one of the first mega‐regional trade agreements to explicitly include provisions related to the digital economy, demonstrates that the United States has utilized multiple multilateral venues to pursue its national interests and traces why and how only certain norms in international trade are grafted into cyberspace.

Universal service in WTO and EU law. Liberalisation and social regulation in telecommunications

Introduction.- Liberalisation of Telecommunications Services: Social Embedding of the Liberalised Market as a Regulatory Challenge.- Liberalisation and Regulation of International Trade in Telecommunications Services Through the WTO.- Liberalisation of Telecommunications Services Markets and Regulation of Universal Service in the European Union.- Transformation of Universal Service for the Future.- Conclusion.

Policies in Hard Times: Assessing the Impact of Financial Crises on Structural Reforms

It is commonly argued that crises open up a window of opportunity to implement policies that otherwise would not have the necessary political backing.~The argument goes that the political cost of economic and social reforms declines as crises unravel structural problems that need to be urgently rectified and the public is more willing to bear the pains associated with such reforms.~This paper casts doubt on this prevalent view by showing that not only is the crises-reforms nexus unfounded in the data, but rather crises are associated with a reversal of liberalization interventions depending on the institutional environment.~In particular, we look at measures of liberalization in international trade, agriculture, network industries, and financial markets.~We find that, in democratic countries, crises occurrences have no significant impact on liberalization measures.~On the contrary, after a crisis, autocracies reduce liberalization in multiple economic sectors, which we interpret as the fear of regime change leading non-democratic rulers to please vested economic interests.

Does democracy cause trade policy liberalisation? Unpacking the black box of trade policy

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationship between democracy and the liberalisation of international trade. A number of well-known works in international political economy have argued that democracy promotes trade liberalisation. However, these previous studies have taken trade policy as a whole and largely ignored the sub-dimensions of trade policy. In this paper, we disaggregate trade policy into tariff barrier, trade facilitation and trade openness and argue that democracy reduces trade barrier and promotes trade facilitation, but does not necessarily make the economy more dependent on trade. We test our hypotheses using a panel of about 150 developed and developing countries in the period from 1974 to 2014 and estimate four equations to obtain four different estimators for each dependent variable of interest. Specifically, we investigate the effects of democracy on tariff barrier, trade facilitation and trade openness using pooled OLS, fixed effect (FE), instrumental variable (IV) and system general method of moments (GMM) estimators. Overall, our hypotheses receive good empirical support. With other confounding factors being controlled for, democracy is negatively associated with tariff rate, positively associated with the Logistics Performance Index, but there is no evidence that democracy increases a country’s trade openness.

Framing the tax and health nexus: a neglected aspect of public health concern.

Previous studies have described various associations between tax policy and health. Here we propose a unifying conceptual framework of 'Five R's' to stimulate awareness about the importance of tax to health improvement. First, tax can improve representation and democratic accountability, and help make governments more responsive to the needs of its citizens. Second, tax can create a revenue stream for a universal pool of public finance for health care and other public services. Third, progressive taxation when combined with appropriate public spending can help redistribute wealth and income and mitigate social and health inequalities. Fourth, the re-pricing of harmful products (e.g. tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food) can help reduce their consumption. Fifth, taxation provides a route by which certain harmful industries can be regulated. The paper also discusses the barriers that hinder the full potential for taxation to be used to improve health, including: weak tax administrations, large 'shadow economies', international trade liberalisation, tax avoidance, transfer pricing by transnational corporations and banking secrecy. We suggest that a greater awareness of the manifold associations between tax and health will encourage health practitioners to actively promote fairer and better taxation, thereby helping to improve health and reduce health inequalities.

Competition of undevelpoed countries’ economies in the conditions of free trade

Competition of undeveloped countries’ economies in the conditions of free trade is on a very low level. We are concerned by the fact that it is still decreasing and that the position of undeveloped countries in the world’s list of global competition is evidently getting worse. That’s why raising the competition on a higher level presents a prerequisite of upgrading the quality and the volume of export, and creating more favorable ambient for attracting the investments. The companies which produce for the world’s market are under large pressure of technological progress. The products are becoming obsolete rapidly, liberalization of international trade leads to stronger competition. Economy development of the open market national economies means directing each company towards production for foreign buyers. This specially refers to economies with small national market where the largest amount of production must be placed in the world’s market so satisfactory competition would be achieved by respecting the economy of the volume. Free market truly has a lot of advantages, but when it is conducted between partners which are on the same level of economy development. What countries in development need especially the ones which are the poorest, is cooperating with international institutions without imposing certain solutions so they could find their way of developing which will enable them to open their markets faster and use the advantages of joining international trade flows.

ИНТЕГРАЦИОННАЯ МОДЕЛЬ АСЕАН+1: ОСНОВНЫЕ ПОЛОЖЕНИЯ СОГЛАШЕНИЙ И ВЛИЯНИЕ НА ВНЕШНЕЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ СВЯЗИ

The aim of this research is a comparative analysis of the provisions of free trade agreements signed by ASEAN with dialogue countries and the East Asia Summit partners - China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. The author's thesis is that, in our opinion, the final effect of participation in the free trade zone for the national economy depends on such factors as the volume of mutual trade, the degree of economic interde-pendence, the level of customs duties rates at the date of signing the agreement, the volume of the mutual market, geographical proximity. The higher the role of these factors, the greater the effect of trade creation is received by the participating states. The basis of the research methodology is the understanding of regional integration agreements as a multifactor instrument of trade policy in various countries of the world that facilitates the liberalization of international trade in general and the regional trade in particular, enhancing the participation of partner states in the international division of labor and stimulating the dynamics of their economic development. Such agreements are considered as a system that includes a set of elements that interact with elements of other systems. Such interaction is considered taking into account the specific purpose of each of the elements, and also taking into account the factors of the stability of the development of each system. In carry-ing out this study, the author has used such methods as the method of comparative analysis, which makes it possible to identify the specifics of the participation of ASEAN countries in free trade zones; methods of statistical analysis and political forecasting that provide an opportunity to identify legal norms of integra-tion agreements on the ASEAN + 1 model; as well as a logical conceptual analysis that allows to present a full picture of the ASEAN integration policy. The author analyses norms for regulating the trade in goods and services, investment, distinguishing almost all agreements, as well as intellectual property rights, mobility of individuals and economic cooperation in the framework of some agreements. The article examines the state of trade and investment cooperation between partners in the free trade areas, and comes to the main conclusion about the effect of trade crea-tion, which is expressed in a faster rate of growth in mutual trade and a growth of its share. The greatest economic benefit for ASEAN is the free trade area with China due to such factors as the population size and GDP volume, geographical proximity, the volume of trade at the time of formation of the free trade area, the complementarity of economic structures, and the size of duty rates at the time of signing the agreement. Experience of the functioning of free trade zones within the framework of the ASEAN + 1 shows the importance of wider coverage of economic relations in the liberalization.

ALTERNATIVES OF FOREIGN TRADE POLICY IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE CONTEXT OF SEARCHING THE WAYS TO REDUCE POVERTY

The problem of developing countries’ choice of the optimal foreign trade strategy through the prism of poverty reduction is considered. Attention is focused on the arguments in favour of free-trade and protectionism, as well as the positive and negative consequences of implementing the export-oriented growth strategy. The main conceptual approaches to the study of the impact of international trade liberalization on the economic situation of the developing countries are grouped together. Based on the analysis, it has been shown that the concept of ultra-liberalism is unacceptable for the development of Periphery countries in the context of increasing their welfare. The focus is on the implementation of an export-oriented strategy for the development of poor countries, and these groups of Periphery countries are presented, where this strategy can be successful. The main reasons for the low efficiency of export expansion of developing countries are determined, and the directions of its increase are proposed, which concern, first and foremost, the need for the internal institutional transformation of these countries.

African Countries and the Challenges of Trade Remedy Mechanisms within the WTO

Trade remedies (anti-dumping, countervailing, and safeguards) are important trade policy instruments for the mitigation of the negative effects of globalisation and international trade liberalisation, and for industrial development. Yet, the vast majority of African countries are poorly equipped to use them (and actually do not use them). Only four countries on the continent – Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia – have modern functional trade remedy mechanisms, though several other African countries are in the process of setting up ones. This paper assesses the experiences and identifies the constraints that African countries (the small ones in particular) face in the area of trade remedies. Moreover, it proposes some solutions, including regional approaches and ad hoc trade remedy investigating bodies, to overcome these constraints. The main argument is that trade remedies are important and needed in Africa, both from development economics perspective and also for transparency and good governance in the area of foreign trade policy.

Erratum to: Foreign direct investment in the Dominican Republic: consequences and recommendations for sustainable growth

This research, using a production function methodology, examines the effects of international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization policies on the economy of the Dominican Republic during the 1990s. Most of the FDI was in the free trade zone (FTZ) sector. The results have important ramifications on current policies to promote sustainable economic growth. The econometric results indicate evidence of unbalanced growth characterized by regional and technological dualism: (a) an efficient FTZ sector, highly dependent on FDI, and operating under increasing returns to scale, and (b) a relatively inefficient primary/secondary sector operating under decreasing returns to scale. These growth strategies fail to establish economic linkages between different economic sectors; also they focus on the development of the FTZ sector whose contribution to GDP averages only about 3 %. Policies to promote sustainable growth necessitate strategies to develop and diversify the primary/service sectors. Importantly, recently revised agreements on international trade will lessen the competitiveness of the FTZ sector.

The Role of Entrepreneur´s Gender, Age and Firm´s Age in Autonomy. The Case Study from the Czech Republic

IntroductionThe topic of SMEs is a very discussed issue by many authors from different points of view. According to many authors (Mura et al., 2015; Kljucnikov et al., 2016; Skarpova et al., 2015; Norek & Arenhardt, 2015; Gajowiak, 2015), small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in the international economic environment. They enter the international division of labour either directly through contacts with foreign partners or indirectly through importing and exporting companies as subcontractors. With an increasing liberalization of international trade, their activity continues to grow (Dubravska et al., 2015).The topic often discussed has currently been the entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs and their attitude to corporate performance as well as exploring different factors that determine the actual entrepreneurial orientation, including those that may hinder the development of EO. Among these problematic areas, a limited access to external sources of financing is often pointed out. SMEs especially perceive the lack of financial sources in the countries with the less developed financial system or the countries with the unstable currency, that substantially limits their entrepreneurial opportunities (Kljucnikov & Junger, 2014a; Kljucnikov & Junger, 2014b; Spoz, 2014; Meluzin & Zinecker, 2016). Restricted access to external financial sources may also limit such elements of the EO as independence, proactivity and innovativeness of SMEs.EO has emerged as a major concept within both strategic management and entrepreneurship literatures. The autonomy as an element of EO provides owners, managers and other employees with freedom and flexibility to develop and implement new ideas and entrepreneurial initiatives. Moreover, it can motivate them to participate more actively in future development of the company.The autonomy in EO context is clearly a vital aspect of entrepreneurial value creation and essential for the notion of strategic entrepreneurship. The autonomy may not be an issue among independently owned and managed firms because such founders are already acting autonomously (Lumpkin et al., 2009).The aim of this article is to examine the question of autonomy as an element of EO in the segment of SMEs in the Czech Republic in relation to the entrepreneur's age, gender and time of the firm in business.This article has the following structure. In the theoretical part, the important attributes of business environment in the SMEs segment and the autonomy of employees are presented as a construct of EO. In addition, the role of gender, age and time of entrepreneurship in business are introduced here. In the next section, objectives, methodology and resources of information used in our research are presented. Finally, the most important recommendations for theoretical area and economic practice are stated.1. Theoretical backgroundAs for vast majority of SMEs as being important for Czech as well as EU economy, and their evident influence on economic performance, it is understandable that they are of interest to many studies of different authors (Ivanova & Koisova, 2014). A tendency towards independent and autonomous actions is a key component of EO according to Lumpkin and Dess (1996). Miller (1983) found out that majority of entrepreneurial firms had the most autonomous leaders. As for the character of SMEs, personality of the entrepreneur plays an important role in influencing autonomy and other elements of EO. Based on existing records of differences in EO depending on the gender and age (Goktan & Gupta, 2015; Langowitz & Minniti, 2007; Mueller & Conway Data-on, 2008), it can be assumed that men and women, younger and older entrepreneurs will have a different approach to autonomy.However, the influence of entrepreneurial activity on economic development is not solely a question of size of the entrepreneurs' company or the schemes. …

Analysis of the "Balassa" Index of Fruit and Vegetables in Greece (1981-2013)

International trade liberalisation, through the abolition of market limits between countries and the implementation of preferential trade agreements, as well as globalisation, contributed to the increase of the competition in markets on a geographical, as well as sectoral level. Measuring competitiveness has thus become the object of analysis by both market players and economic policy institutions. Competitiveness analysis based on single indices, such as cost, price or quality, is a satisfactory tool for forecasting trade policy results, whether it concerns a country, a production sector or a business, or, even more, their development process. Competitiveness of a branch of the economy, such as agriculture or foodstuffs, focuses on the level and change of trade balance or/and the performance of businesses in the sector. The main data in the competitiveness analysis of a branch of agriculture, as well as of individual products, is thus derived from the information drawn from the trade balance. The present paper analyses the competitiveness of basic fruit and vegetables of Greece compared to the rest of the world, using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index, for the 1981-2013 period. Assessment of the comparative advantage of Greece, based on the so called Balassa index, is used to determine whether a country has a revealed comparative advantage (RCA). The progress and long-term competitiveness of agriculture is related less with short-term parameters, such as prices or the cost of inflows, and more with productivity and organisation on a level of agricultural exploitations and on a state level. Besides product quantity, the wealth of nature of areas and cost-cutting technologies, more attention is given to the increase of their added value, the quality, the services offered and other factors not related to price. In the case of a country such as Greece, which is part of a mainly economic international organisation, the European Union, with a completely open economy and, therefore faced with the developments of a changing international environment, competitiveness analysis of the individual branches of economy continues to be both opportune and important. Measuring competitiveness in the field of agriculture is used to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, so that a framework of corrective moves, if needed and suggestions for the future is set up.

Domestic coalitions in the FTAA negotiations: the Brazilian case

This paper proposes an explanation to the domestic coalitions organised in Brazil around the FTAA negotiations, which stand as a hard case for the existing theories on political cleavages: industrialists and trade unions, albeit having shared common interests in the negotiations, did not adopt a joint strategy to foster their positions. The hypothesis to explain the political alignments in the FTAA is that the opening of the Brazilian market, which had advanced a lot in the years of negotiations, altered the priorities of workers and employers, as well as their preferences in foreign trade policy, hindering the reconciliation of class interests. Both agreed that the U.S. proposal for the FTAA was undesirable, but they completely disagreed on other issues that emerged in the political agenda during the reforms period, such as the role of the State in an open economy, the scope of labour and social rights and the social security system, the structure of taxation, etc. Some of the controversial issues were not new, but the international trade liberalisation intensified the dispute over them.

Trade Performance of Export Processing Zones

AbstractExport processing zones (EPZs) have become widespread with the liberalisation of international trade and investment. They are key players in the deepening of the global value chain (GVC). However, little is known about their contribution to world trade due to a lack of information on their location and status. This paper sets out to improve knowledge in this area by analysing the trade performance of EPZ countries at macro‐level with a focus on EPZ externalities and distortive costs. We have built an original database of EPZs in which we define them as processing zones benefiting from import tariff incentives. We show that EPZs increase trade only by easing the negative impact of protection. As importers of components and raw materials, they raise the rest of the world's exports. This confirms the contribution of EPZs to the GVC. This result is robust to a change in the model specification, errors and bias due to data collection issues and sample composition.

Regulatory framework for biofuels in Brazil: history and challenges under the law of the WTO

This article examines the clashes between national policies promoting green energy and international trade liberalisation commitments, using the Brazilian biofuels programmes, in particular the measures of mandatory blending and the Social Fuel Seal, as a case example. Drawing on past and present Brazilian legislation, this study initially analyses the driving forces behind the development of the biofuels agenda in Brazil and is followed by a discussion of the general principles of the law of the World Trade Organization concerning subsidies, national treatment and non-discriminatory rules, and the applicability of environmental, social inclusion and energy security exceptions to domestic policies supporting green energy.

FOREIGN DEBT DYNAMICS OF THE TURKISH ECONOMY IN THE POST-LIBERALISATION ERA

The Turkish economy went through significant changes in the 1980s and onwards following the launch of the January 1980 Programme. The programme aimed for financial liberalisation along with the liberalisation of international trade and this transformation had significant implications for external debt dynamics of the economy. During the 1990s external borrowing accompanied domestic borrowing of the public sector. Total foreign debt of the economy, more specifically, of the private sector, has increased further and reached high levels leading to serious concerns along with high current account deficits and high domestic debt stock of the private sector. This study aims to examine the changing nature and dynamics of the external debt issue in the Turkish economy in the last few decades.

Role of EKC and PHH in Determining Environment Quality and their Relation to Economic Growth of a Country

Globalization, liberalization of international trade and recent economic developments have resulted in widespread pollution and therefore degrading environment quality in many countries over the world. This study tries to examine the role of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) in shaping the relationship between environmental quality and the economic growth of a country. To this end, a comparative overview of developing and developed countries across the world have been evaluated for their economic growth and the resultant impact on environmental quality, and their use of EKC and PHH to determine it. Descriptive analysis is used in the estimation. Results have shown that no clear conclusion can be determined as the role of EKC and PHH varies across economies, however both the theories are evident more in case of developing countries. The environmental quality depends on whether the country is developed or developing along with the imposition of stringent regulations as well as the propensity to act on the regulations effectively.

LEGITIMISING THE ILLEGITIMATE : EXTENDING INTERPRETATION BEYOND REALITY. THE SHRIMP FAIRYTALE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

The challenges of liberalization of International trade; Firstly was the realization that in the past there was a tendency to be satisfied with sweeping, unspecific statements on best principles, whichalways led to often a meaningless outcome without hard and fast commitments. The second was their episodic character. The notion of dispute settlement involves conflicting assertions as to the rights and obligations of the parties involved. Disputes arise from freely entered relationships between parties that create expectations as to their future conduct. there existed a three-pronged objective of the negotiating plan indicated from the Negotiating Group on Dispute Settlement for the UR negotiatingprocess. The use of interpretory aids may become necessary when there is ambiguity in the text of the agreement. The observations indicate that that the Trade Stakeholder model is flawed in someagreement and the increasing influence of this model can be seen from an observation of similar-type cases over the years. Consistency on attempts to manipulate negotiated rights and obligation through “extended” approach became clear in Shrimp. Current slant of DSC decisions should continue to be applied.