The Evolving Global Trade Architecture

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 World Trade Organization (WTO) has a role to play in strengthening the global trading system for development, primarily by lowering barriers to trade in goods and services and ensuring that trade rules are useful to Developing countries. But greater international cooperation must complement WTO-based negotiations, in particular, concerted action outside the WTO to enhance the trade capacity of poor countries ("aid for trade").

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has a role to play in strengthening the global trading system for development, primarily by lowering barriers to trade in goods and services and ensuring that trade rules are useful to developing countries. But greater international cooperation must complement WTO-based negotiations - in particular, concerted action outside the WTO to enhance the trade capacity of poor countries (quot;aid for tradequot;).Despite recurring rounds of trade liberalization under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT), complemented by unilateral reforms, many developing countries have not been able to integrate into the world economy. Hoekman argues that from the perspective of the poorest countries, a multipronged strategy is required to strengthen the global trading system. Moreover, much of the agenda must be addressed outside the WTO.The most important contribution the WTO can make to development is to improve market access conditions - for goods and services - and ensure that trade rules are useful to developing countries. Enhancing trade capacity requires concerted action outside the WTO (quot;aid for tradequot;) as well as unilateral actions by both industrial and developing countries to reduce antitrade biases.This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to investigate how the WTO can be used more effectively by developing countries to integrate into the world economy.

The international institutions that have governed global trade since the end of World War II have lost their effectiveness, and global trade governance is fractured. The need for new institutions is obvious, and yet, few proposals seem to be on offer. The key to understanding the global trading order lies in uncovering the relationship between trade and the State, and how the inner constitution of Statecraft drives the architecture of the global order and requires structural changes as the State traverses successive cycles. The current trade order, focused on the liberalization of trade in goods and services and the management of related issues, is predicated on policies and practices that were the product of a global trading order of the 20th-century modern nation-states. Today, a new form of the State - the post-modern State - is evolving. In this book, the authors propose a new trade norm - the enablement of global economic opportunity - and a new institution - the Trade Council - to overhaul the global trading order.

Policymakers, academics, think tanks and practitioners will benefit from the international perspective of the book, particularly those interested in the influential Asian architecture. This book is also a useful reference tool for students of macroecon

When designing a world trading system for the twenty-first century, “Keep calm and carry on” beats “Move fast and break things.” Global trade is in trouble. Climate change, digital trade, offshoring, the rise of emerging markets led by China: Can the World Trade Organization (WTO), built for trade in the twentieth century, meet the challenges of the twenty-first? The answer is yes, Robert Staiger tells us, arguing that adapting the WTO to the changed economic environment would serve the world better than a radical reset. Governed by the WTO, on the principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), global trade rules traditionally focus on “shallow integration”—with an emphasis on reducing tariffs and trade impediments at the border—rather than “deep integration,” or direct negotiations over behind-the-border measures. Staiger charts the economic environment that gave rise to the former approach, explains when and why it worked, and surveys the changing landscape for global trade. In his analysis, the terms-of-trade theory of trade agreements provides a compelling framework for understanding the success of GATT in the twentieth century. And according to this understanding, Staiger concludes, the logic of GATT's design transcends many, if not all, of the current challenges faced by the WTO. With its penetrating view of the evolving global economic environment, A World Trading System for the Twenty-First Century shows us a global trading system in need of reform, and Staiger makes a persuasive case for using the architecture of the GATT/WTO as a basis for that reform.

In Evolving Patterns in Global Trade and Finance, Professor Sven W Arndt offers succinct and rigorous explanations of important developments in trade, finance and international monetary relations. Topics include economic and monetary integration, cross-border production networks, and stabilization policy in orthodox and mixed exchange-rate regimes. The theoretical framework developed in this volume provides critical assessments of existing policies and practices, develops theoretical foundations for new and emerging patterns in trade and finance, and evaluates how well economists and policy makers are dealing (or have dealt) with the challenges they face. Readers will find the most in-depth and comprehensive discussion of international production networks (“off-shoring”), a detailed analysis of the implications for US economic stability and policy autonomy of its unorthodox exchange rate regime of fixed and floating rates, and insights into the causes of recent economic and financial turmoil in the global economy. Contents:Part I: Beyond the Standard Trade Model:Free Trade and Its AlternativesOn Discriminatory vs. Non-Preferential Tariff PoliciesCustoms Union and the Theory of TariffsDomestic Distortions and Trade PolicyPart II: Fragmentation and Cross-Border Production Networks:FragmentationSuper-Specialization and the Gains from TradeGlobal Production Networks and Regional IntegrationProduction Networks in an Economically Integrated RegionTrade Diversion and Production SharingProduction Networks, Exchange Rates and Macroeconomic StabilityTrade, Production Networks and the Exchange RateIntra-Industry Trade and the Open EconomyFragmentation, Imperfect Competition and Heterogeneous FirmsPart III: Macro Policy Challenges in Open Economies:Policy Choices in an Open Economy: Some Dynamic ConsiderationsJoint Balance: Capital Mobility and the Monetary System of a Currency AreaInternational Short-Term Capital Movements: A Distributed Lag Model of Speculation in Foreign ExchangeRegional Currency Arrangements in North AmericaAdjustment in an Open Economy with Two Exchange-Rate RegimesStabilization Policy in an Economy with Two Exchange Rate RegimesPolicy Challenges in a Dual Exchange Rate RegimeThe "Great Moderation" in a Dual Exchange Rate Regime Readership: Advanced economics undergraduates and graduate students; academic researchers in both trade and open economy macroeconomics and international finance. Key Features:Offers the most complete and comprehensive analysis of “off-shoring” and international production networksPays serious attention to the existence of distortions and anti-competitive elements that threaten the ability of markets to function properlyAddresses weaknesses in current exchange rate arrangements that may contribute to global economic and financial instabilityKeywords:Preferential Trade Areas;Fragmentation;Cross-Border Production Networks;Off-Shoring;Currency Areas and Monetary Union;Single vs. Dual-Exchange Rate Regimes;Stabilization Policy in Open Economies;International Monetary Relations