"This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade...

"Trade costs and nontariff barriers are at the forefront of discussions on competitiveness and expanding trade opportunities for developing countries. This paper provides a summary overview of data and indicators relevant to these issues and has been informed by work underway at the World Bank...

This report seeks to give a multifaceted view of non-tariff issues facing countries in the East Asia and Pacific region both vis-a-vis their most important export markets as well as intra-regionally. While the first perspective is important today given the high dependence of East Asian and Latin...

"This paper examines the impact of trade with Japan, North America, and the European Union on technology diffusion and total factor productivity growth in Korea, Mexico, and Jordan. Measures of foreign research and development are constructed based on industry-specific research and development...

"The empirical literature on environmental performance or compliance has followed two strands: one based on the impact of formal regulation as a means of inducing better environmental performance, and another centered on the role of informal regulation which mainly emphasizes the role of...

"The health systems of Japan and the Asian Tigers--Hong Kong (China), the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan (China)--and the recent reforms to them provide many potentially valuable lessons to East Asia's developing countries. All five systems have managed to keep a check on health...

"In the aftermath of the 1997 East Asian financial crisis, the government of the Republic of Korea published a Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) Act to remove the main impediments to private investment in infrastructure sectors. The implementation of the Act was followed by a steady...