"China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to improve connectivity and cooperation on a transcontinental scale. This study, by a team of World Bank Group economists led by Michele Ruta, analyzes the economics of the initiative. It assesses the connectivity gaps between economies along...

This module takes a bird eye view of the historical pattern of globalization, with special reference to trade flows and it examines the role played by Russia in this process. The module starts by describing the historical waves of globalization since 1870s and the latest patterns in the process...

Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan have all experienced substantial out-migration of workers and an associated inflow of workers' remittances over the past two decades. These four countries have much higher human capital, as measured by the Human Capital Index, than is typical...

This working paper summarizes annual estimates of covered product Nominal Rate of Assistance (NRAs), for each of the focus economies of Europe's transition economies, their key distortion indicators defined in Anderson et al. (2008), and provides some summary statistics for the region's...

The twelve members of the Commonwealth of Independent States established a Free Trade Area to help maintain trade among each other. More recently, Belarus, Kazakstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Russia agreed, in principle, to establish a Customs Union (CU). The paper concludes that the dynamic...

This report summarizes the measures of contingent protection regulated by the WTO and their purposes. They can be divided into two categories. The first one regards temporary provisions that can be used when a predefined set of circumstances legitimize temporary increases in import barriers. The...

This module illustrates the basics of trade policy analysis. It focuses on the following questions: 1) What do countries gain by trading with each other instead of opting for self sufficiency?; 2) What are the main instruments of trade policy?; 3) How do they affect prices, output and welfare?;...

This book examines the effects of trade on growth and poverty. It addresses the following questions:1) Which are the channels through which trade openness may affect the economic activities of a given country? ; 2) What are the effects of trade openness on growth? ; and 3) What are the effects...

The Korean manufacturing sector has undergone active structural transformation in the past few decades. In particular, the composition of core manufacturing products has changed over time. In the 1970s, textiles, which are used to produce fabric, clothes, apparel, and shoes, were the main...