With the start of the global economic crisis, world foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows decreases by 16% in 2008, then dropped sharply by 37% in 2009 and gained a marginal 1% increase in 2010. The decrease was relatively more pronounced in the developed countries. For the first time,...

During the past two decades import tariffs have decreased significantly and the importance of non-tariff measures aimed at further reducing international transaction costs, i.e., trade facilitation, has become more apparent. Even if international shipping and other non-tariff costs are excluded,...

At the start of the global economic crisis in 2008/2009, there was a real fear that the sharp collapse in exports and production in many countries would lead to a repeat of the damaging trade wars in the 1930s. Fortunately, such a trade war, using tariffs as the principal protectionist tool, did...