In this paper we investigate whether the design of World Bank conditionality, namely the extent of trade liberalization conditions, is influenced by the commercial motives of the Bank’s five major shareholders. Using a newly available dataset on World Bank conditionality we analyze the...

This working paper introduces the concept of Trade in Value Added (TiVA) and presents an initial analysis of TiVA for selected regional ESCAP economies. The paper introduces Global Value Chains (GVCs) and issues for the measurement of trade statistics due to proliferation of GVCs. It further...

LDCs' trade in goods and services changed in the past decade, thanks to the rebalancing of global demand towards large emerging countries and the resulting high international commodity prices. This process led to a wider geographical diversification of LDCs' exports but contributed also to a...

Notwithstanding some progress in market and product diversification - including services - LDCs remain particularly vulnerable to external shocks. With the exception of 2006-2008, the LDCs as a group have systematically recorded a trade deficit. The 2008-2009 global crisis and the bumpy recovery...

LDCs' trade patterns changed in the past decade, thanks to the rebalancing of global demand towards large emerging countries and the resulting cycle of high international commodity prices. This process led to a wider geographical diversification of LDCs' exports but contributed also to a greater...

Economists have long debated whether the real exchange rate (RER) has a significant impact on export performance and output growth. Some claim that export performance depends only on nonprice competition and the RER is irrelevant to long-run growth, whereas others argue that the RER is a key...

This paper presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date panel data set of invoicing currencies in global trade. It provides data on the shares of exports and imports invoiced in US dollars, euros, and other currencies for more than 100 countries since 1990. The evidence from these data...

In the run-up to the 2008 global financial crisis, there was frequent discussion of Asia having decoupled from economic shock transmission originating in Europe or North America. Much of the basis for these arguments was related to the rapid expansion of intraregional trade in Asia. This paper...

Trade can and should play an important role in making progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes trade and investment in services, as realizing many of the goals is conditional on improved performance of services sectors in developing countries. The global environment...

Technological advance and improvements in communication technologies have facilitated the offshoring of jobs worldwide, where a typical scene following the supply chain involves developing countries importing finished products from developed countries that contain developing country labor...