Trade And Inclusive Growth

This paper surveys the literature on the relationship between international trade and inclusive growth. It examines claims that the rise in inequality in many countries can be attributed to the concurrent rise in trade competition, especially from EMEs like China, spurring trade tensions and protectionist measures. The paper investigates the conflicting literature showing the aggregate benefits of trade versus the adverse and persistent impact of trade, especially import competition, on specific industries and local communities. The paper then reviews the evidence for using trade policies and other complementary policies for adjustment and compensation to those groups adversely affected by trade.

"Trade integration can play a much larger role in boosting shared prosperity. The current focus on trade tensions threatens to obscure the great untapped benefits possible from further trade reform. The opportunities provided by information technology and other fundamental changes in the global economy are yet to be reflected in modern areas of trade policy, such as services and electronic commerce. Greater openness in these areas would promote competition, lift productivity, and raise living standards. In many other areas, such as the rural economy, smaller enterprises, and women’s economic empowerment, trade-related reforms are important particularly to foster more inclusive growth. Harnessing flexible approaches to WTO negotiations may be the key to reinvigorating global trade reform. Despite the benefits at stake—and with important exceptions such as the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement—trade reform has lagged since the early 2000s. For much of this period, governments focused their efforts in the WTO on a single negotiating approach. Now, as groups of WTO members pursue joint initiatives in several areas, attention is turning to how other negotiating approaches—including some used effectively in the past—can be leveraged so that trade once again plays its full role in driving increased global economic prosperity. Building greater, more durable openness—this paper’s focus—should be part of a broader effort to strengthen and reinvest in the global trading system. The system of global trade rules that has nurtured unprecedented economic growth across multiple generations faces tensions. Though only recently brought to the fore, those tensions are rooted in issues that have been left unresolved for too long. Governments need to promptly address outstanding questions involving, for example, the WTO dispute system and the reach of subsidy disciplines. Cooperative action to secure greater openness—an imperative in its own right—could also help to resolve these"

This book addresses topics and issues of high relevance to the widely shared desire to promote inclusive growth, sustainability, and innovation within a context of global governance. It is based on the XXXth Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, where leading experts met to discuss the latest research and thinking on different aspects of globalization, trade, inequalities, growth imbalances, green technologies, the labor market, and financial systems. The aim is to stimulate new responses and possible solutions to a variety of well-recognized problems, including low growth in real wages, stagnating productivity, and growing disparities in income. Some of these problems are especially evident in Europe, where austerity policies have failed to deliver adequate growth and investment. However, while a number of the contributions focus on aspects of particular importance to Europe, others look further afield, for example to the scope for innovation in Africa and to experiences with quantitative easing in Japan. The book will be of wide interest to academics, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

Vertical Specialization and Inclusive Growth in China discusses the two interrelated developments that have transformed the Chinese economy in recent years. First, the global community has increased calls to foster inclusive economic growth, with China embracing this trend. Second, the explosive growth in China’s trade resulting from international vertical specialization production and trade networks which has complicated the notion of inclusive growth in the Chinese context. This book assesses these two trends quantitatively, giving evidence of the link between vertical specialization and inclusive growth, and then decomposing the inclusive growth effects of vertically specialized trade into six components: GDP growth, export growth, FDI, environment, employment, and innovation. It further explores the differing impact of conventional trade and processing trade on inclusive growth, providing direction for future policy. This second book by the author to consider vertical specialization stresses the importance of integration in driving inclusive growth. Argues that inclusive growth and vertical specialization analyses must be performed together Gives quantitative evidence for the link between vertical specialization and inclusive growth in China Investigates the different impact of conventional trade and processing trade on transition to inclusive growth in China, using comparative analysis techniques Offers insight on forming future policy in China to increase inclusive growth

Trade is a well-established driver of growth and poverty reduction.But changes in trade policy also have distributional impacts that create winners and losers. It is vital to understand and clearly communicate how trade affects economic well-being across all segments of the population, as well as how policies can more effectively ensure that the gains from trade are distributed more widely. The Distributional Impacts of Trade: Empirical Innovations, Analytical Tools, and Policy Responses provides a deeper understanding of the distributional effects of trade across regions, industries, and demographic groups within countries over time. It includes an overview (chapter 1); a review of innovations in empirical and theoretical work covering the impacts of trade at the subnational level (chapter 2); highlights from empirical case studies on Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Sri Lanka (chapter 3); and a policy agenda to improve distributional outcomes from trade (chapter 4). This book comes at a time when the shock from COVID-19 (coronavirus) adds to an already uncertain trade policy environment in which the value of the multilateral trading system has been under increased scrutiny. A better understanding of how trade affects distributional outcomes can lead to more inclusive policies and support the ability of countries to maximize broad-based benefits from trade.

This edition focuses on trade connectivity, which is critical for inclusiveness and sustainable development. Physical connectivity enables the movement of goods and services to local, regional and global markets.