"The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's trade performance over the past two decades has been disappointing. Efforts to boost trade through a plethora of regional trade agreements (RTAs) are underway. This study examines the potential contribution of regional trade agreements, as well...

Stronger regional integration has been a policy priority in Africa for several decades. Countries in Africa have committed to a process of deeper integration, but have made little progress in implementing commitments and removing barriers. This report looks at the monitoring of regional...

This report is structured in three volumes: competition provisions; environment provisions; and labor mobility provisions. The main messages of this three volumes are as follows: 1) competition laws and policies are increasingly being established at the regional level, as they could be...

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies display large variation in terms of income per capita. The richest APEC economies have an income per capita about twenty times higher than the poorest ones. So far most work on fiscal policy and climate change has been written with developed...

Drawing on several studies on APEC economies, this report discusses economic policy choices for mitigating and adapting to climate change effects. It highlights that APEC economies will have a central role in both sides of climate change. These economies include some of the largest emitters and...

The enormous amount of plastic waste - especially litter from plastic packaging – that leaks into the natural environment each year is a global concern with severe environmental consequences, particularly for marine life and human health. Limitations in waste collection and waste treatment...

This report uses new measures of extreme weather and methodologies to gauge their welfare effects. A myriad of methodological issues and data constraints plague empirical work on the effects of extreme weather events on human welfare. The shocks themselves are often poorly measured and the lack...

Climate Friendly Technologies (CFT) reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by reducing the carbon content of economic activity. Climate change due to greenhouse gases is expected to affect many sectors, and present risks to many Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies in...