While foreign policy as well as economic, ideological and purely humanitarian considerations all continue to play a role in economic relations between the CMEA countries and the Third World, a shift in the relative weights of these various aspects has become discernible in recent years. What...

APEC's vision of integrating the APEC has remained, for the most part, intangible. Cultural differences, socioeconomic disparity, and lack of a defined structure and leadership have been cited by many as major obstacles. Lately, there has been a proliferation of regional groups in Asia, creating...

It has been alleged since its inception that the WTO Dispute Settlement (DS) mechanism is biased against developing countries, as manifested in e.g. allegedly too low rates of dispute initiation. To shed light on this issue, this study analyses the determinants of developing country...

Die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Reformen im ost- und mitteleuropäischen Raum haben auch das Verhältnis der Länder des Rates für Gegenseitige Wirtschaftshilfe (RGW) zu den Europäischen Gemeinschaften (EG) grundlegend verändert. Vor dem Abschluß der Verträge von Rom hatte die...

We analyse trade between countries of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance in Eastern Europe between 1950 and 1990. Despite central planning and political motivation of the CMEA, we show that trade could be explained by standard demand factors surprisingly well. Moreover, we document that...

This Policy Brief proposes the establishment of an agreement on conformity assessment between the EU and the US that covers machinery and electrical equipment. The initiative aims to increase the number of European and US conformity assessment bodies authorized to test and certify EU and US...

Lack of information is a severe barrier to effective participation by developing countries in the international trade regime. Information systems in international regimes are the sets of institutions, actors and procedures involved in collecting, analysing and disseminating information about...

I evaluate India's transition from an inward-oriented development strategy to greater participation in the world economy. While tariff rates have decreased significantly over the past decade, India is still one of the more autarkic countries. Despite improvement over the past in export...