The Elgar Companion To The Eurasian Economic Union

This insightful Companion provides an in-depth, systematic analysis of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), an economic union of several post-Soviet Eurasian states.

This book is useful for scholars and practitioners who did not follow the GATT/WTO negotiations and who desire to acquire a comprehensive background on the subject. Mordechai E. Kreinin, Journal of Economic Literature This comprehensive and accessible book examines the evolution of the multilateral trade regime in the ever-changing global economic environment, particularly during the WTO era and the ongoing Doha Round. Professor Das explores how the creation of the multilateral trade regime, or the GATT/WTO system, has been fraught with difficulties. He describes the ways, by means of various rounds of negotiations, the multilateral trade regime has constantly adjusted itself to the new realities of the global economy. One glance at the recent history indicates that the evolution of the multilateral trade regime was far from even-handed and steady. The GATT/WTO system was repeatedly pushed to the brink of utter and ignominious disaster. Yet, as the author illustrates, the participating economies persevered. Consequently, the fabric of multilateral trade regime is stronger, its foundation deeper and its framework wider now than it was a generation ago. Unlike the GATT era, membership of the present trade regime is close to universal. The author concludes that of the two phases, the latter has turned out to be the more arduous, intricate and complex phase of evolution. Students and scholars of economics, international trade, international political economy and international relations will find this study of great interest. The definitions and explanations of terminology and advanced concepts make the book accessible to those without an extensive economic background.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, is a new but substantial regional organization. Significant achievements include a common external customs tariff, a customs union and a common labour market: a well-developed institutional environment has emerged to support and advance these processes, ranging from the Eurasian Economic Commission and the EAEU Court to the Eurasian Development Bank and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development. This major integration achievement also has several drawbacks and ‘stumbling stones’—some due to Russia’s dominant position, some due to the authoritarian nature of political regimes, and some due to dependence on oil and gas exports. This book presents a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of the Eurasian Economic Union, including the history of Eurasian integration, the macroeconomy of EAEU member states, an assessment of trade and investment links, a descriptive analysis of the EAEU Treaty, an analysis of Eurasian institutions, the sociology of integration, the EAEU’s emerging foreign economic policy, relations with the EU and China, the EAEU’s position on One Belt One Road policies, and its mid-term policy agenda. This primer text will be of interest and value for students, academics and practitioners working in economic policy and business communities and interested in the history and development of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Using state-of-the-art econometric tools, this book examines the implications of international fragmentation of production for the performance of the Japanese manufacturing industry.The impact of the ongoing process of international fragmentation of production and outsourcing has become a highly contentious issue in developed economies such as the US and Japan. Concerns about deindustrialisation and large-scale job losses - 'the export of jobs' have generated a political backlash against multinationals and globalisation. Using detailed data from Japanese multinationals this book rigorously analyses the Japanese experience and compares and contrasts it with the experience of US manufacturing. The study finds no empirical evidence that expansion of multinational activities in foreign countries produces job losses in the home country. Indeed, when demand induced indirectemployment effects are taken into account the increased profitability of Japanese firms is likely to have increased overall employment in Japan. However, the shift of labour intensive activities to low wage economies associated with the international fragmentation of production generates adjustment pressures and a structural shift in favour of skilled workers in Japanese manufacturing.

This timely book deploys new tools and measures to understand how global production networks change the nature of global economic interdependence, and how that in turn changes our understanding of which policies are appropriate in this new environment.

Leading scholars from East Asia, Europe and the US contribute new insights to the key questions facing the organization and future of the monetary system in East Asia. Central questions discussed and analysed in the book include, amongst others: should the region move towards monetary union? Should countries peg their exchange rates to the US dollar? Is complete dollarization an option for East Asia? The authors argue that, having realized price stability over the last twenty years, in contrast to Latin America and Africa, the next logical step would be the gradual formation of various currency blocs within the region. This comprehensive discussion of the fundamental issues at stake will ensure the book's appeal to academics and researchers of Asian studies and financial economics. Financial experts working in this area and policymakers will also find much of interest to them within this book.

This timely book evaluates international human capital policies, offering a comparative perspective on global efforts to generate new ideas and novel ways of thinking about human capital. Examining educational reforms, quality of education and links between education and socio-economic environments, chapters contrast Western experiences and perspectives with those of industrializing economies in Asia, focusing particularly on Korea and the USA.

The Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy has become required reading among trade policy specialists, not least for Bill Kerr's "Editor's Pages" essay in each volume. Kerr has the ability in a dozen pages to engage, inform and entertain the reader with his careful scholarship, interesting choice of topic and highly-readable style. Kerr sets the tone for the volume and whets the appetite for the other articles. Over the ten years of the Estey Journal's life Kerr's pages have drawn our attention to a range of trade-law topics from the golf-club-like voting rules of the WTO to the delights of sipping incorrectly-labeled port. The decision to bring these twenty short papers together in a volume was inspired. Students and teachers will benefit from the convenience of the collection as source material for classes on trade law and policy. But above all, scholars in the fascinating area of the interplay of economics and law in multilateral trade institutions will have the wisdom of Bill Kerr readily to hand.