Die vorliegende Untersuchung stellt die technischen Grundlagen und die Marktordnung für den internationalen Handel mit Dienstleistungen der Informationstechnologie dar; sie analysiert und bewertet die resultierenden Handelsbarrieren. Die Funktionsweise des Internets (Netzaufbau, Adress- und...

This paper outlines the technical foundations and the market structure for international trade in telecommunication services; it analyzes the resulting trade barriers. The basic structure of international telecommunications depends on the national market structure and the transmission technique...

Because of large economic and environmental asymmetries among world regions and the incentive to free ride, an international climate Regime with broad participation is hard to reach. Most of the so far proposed Regimes base on an allocation of emission rights that is to be perceived as fair....

International trade statistics and input-output tables are analyzed in order to test the hypothesis that international production networks have become more relevant. The share of imported inputs in the gross output value of the motor vehicle industry has grown significantly during the last two...

Does distance matter for the volatility of international real and financial transactions? We show that it does, in addition to its well-established relevance for the level of trade. A simple model of trade with endogenous markups shows that demand shocks have a larger impact on trade between...

The current WTO jurisdiction on linkages of trade and environment is not free of contradictions and has provided for heated debate due to some inconsistencies in past WTO rulings. The article argues that the WTO jurisdiction is not only unclear but also lacks economic reasoning. It aims to...

The paper discusses the costs and benefits to be expected by least-developed and low-income ("vulnerable") economies if they accede to the WTO, the impact of current debates about WTO reform on vulnerable economies, and measures to make it easier for vulnerable economies to accede to and...

For many applicant countries, accession to the WTO has been, and still is, a frustratingly slow process. In this paper, we discuss the substantial, contentious issues that are slowing down progress in accession negotiations. We contrast these with the benefits of WTO accession not only to the...

The rapid diffusion of the internet and electronic commerce changes the way business and international trade take place. The new economy poses new challenges to the international regulatory framework, since small distortions due to differing sets of regulations and taxation between countries...

A Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) has been proposed in the mid-1990s to revitalize the economic and political ties between the United States and the European Union. This paper discusses the expected economic gains from such a free trade area for its members with respect to trade in goods...