The seventies can be seen as the decade where the ingenuity of the human mind knew no bounds to the invention of new non-tariff barriers, circumventing the original GATT rules. Where has this neoprotectionism led so far and what is the outlook for the future?

Advanced economies with relatively high manufacturing shares tend to have current account surpluses. One reason for this is the dominant role played by transactions involving manufactured goods in world trade. An additional factor is that the catching-up process in emerging and developing...

Disappointment about the results of import substituting industrialization strategies as well as the spectacular performance of a few newly industrialised countries have led many developing countries to switch in the 1970s to export oriented industrialization. This analysis cautions against any...