Since about a decade, we have seen a surge in interest as well as in the use of services preferentialism and unilateral services regulations. This paper provides an economic explanation of services regulation and services preferentialism, including their interaction. The paper derives hypotheses...

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a mechanism through which countries can upgrade connectivity-related infrastructure, including through cross-border projects, complementing traditional sources of finance. An overarching goal of the BRI is to reduce trade costs between China and partner...

We discuss thje role of the dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the context of a complex characterization of globalization.The dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is at present a controversial exercise at the...

This paper attempts to quantify the impact of economic policy uncertainty on overall trade and trade linked to global value chains. Using new data on policy uncertainty for 18 countries and 24 years, it finds a statistically significant negative impact of policy uncertainty on overall trade...

Purpose – Is globalization instrumental in fighting corruption? Do wealth effects matter in this fight? Are findings valid when linearity assumptions are dropped? This paper assesses the Lalountas et al.(2011) hypotheses in the African context. Design/methodology/approach – Though not form,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of trade and financial globalization on human development in 52 African countries using updated data(1996-2010) and a new indicator of human development(adjusted for inequality). Design/methodology/approach – The estimation...

On the cusp of the millennium and as the century that was supposed to belong to Canada draws to a close, we find ourselves as a medium-sized nation exercising an influence out of all proportion to our size. This special issue on Canada in the Global Economy gives us a chance to sum up where we...

Distinguished trade theorists maintain that a national economy cannot be uncompetitive as a whole, contrary to the frequent statements of many politicians, because a country must possess a comparative advantage in some sector according to Ricardo’s principle. In this paper the author...

The WTO has struggled with the treatment of nonmarket economies (NMEs). What was a nonissue in the original GATT (because of the homogeneity of participants) became quite an issue with the accession of formally centrally planned economies, which were not transformed to market economies, at least...

This paper analyses the most recent WTO Appellate Body (AB) report in a series of disputes between the U.S. and the EU over government support to aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. The measures under dispute in U.S. – Tax Incentives were investment promotion subsidies provided to Boeing...