If South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are to become constructively engaged in the next attempt by World Trade Organization (WTO) members to liberalize trade multilaterally, they need to be convinced that there will be sufficient gains from trade reform to warrant the inevitable costs of...

In a production structure reasonable for a developing economy this note shows that there may arise a conflict between the worldwide liberalized trade policies in agriculture, which raise the price of the economy’s primary exportable commodity, and the inflow of foreign capital into the...

This paper discusses the challenges confronting developing countries seeking to use WTO negotiations to promote their economic growth and performance. Progress will require that major stakeholders within countries perceive the overall package to be beneficial. A number of possible focal points...

In this paper we evaluate the potential benefits of international disciplines on policies towards foreign direct investment, paying particular attention to developing countries. We conclude that, at present, the case for initiating negotiations on investment policies is weak. Negotiations that...

The paper has three purposes. First, it explains how the impact of liberalization of service sectors on output growth differs from that of liberalization of trade in goods. Second, it suggests a policy-based rather than outcome-based measure of the openness of a country’s services regime. Such...

Increasingly, developing countries embrace foreign direct investment (FDI) and simultaneously pursue economic integration with developed countries. Foreign investment is subject to sovereign risk and free trade agreements may serve as a commitment mechanism in order to achieve higher sustainable...

This short paper explores the complementarity between foreign aid and foreign direct investment (FDI). Recent studies on aid concluded that aid should come to an end or be reduced with a radical modification of the terms and conditions and FDI and trade should replace aid as the engine of...

We investigate the effects of 12 major Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) on intraand extra-regional trade flows in member developing countries, both intra-RTA trade and the effect of RTAs on non-member trade over 1981~2008. We address and resolve statistical problems caused by logarithms, zero...

The paper studies the relationship between financial liberalization, characterized by removing entry restrictions, and bank loan quality. It shows that if a banking market is liberalized, the opportunity cost of screening loan applicants is driven lower by competition. Thus, a bank facing an...

In this paper, we use sixteen financial indices from the World Bank’s Financial Development and Structure database, to classify the OECD countries, according to their financial system structure, in five relatively homogenous clusters for the 1996-2005 period. We also examine the changes in...