This paper forms part of an OECD project which addressed the issue of the structure and change in the distribution systems of seven OECD countries. This paper gives an overview of the structure, policy and performance of the French distribution system for the period 1970-90. This analysis is...

The recent crisis has deeply changed the environment in which the EC-Turkey Custom Union (ECT) will develop. The world trade in goods was experiencing its worst collapse in almost a century (a fall of 20 percent in volume in one year, twice more than in 1929-30 for the same time lapse) but it...

In June 2001, seven countries1 of South East Europe (SEE) agreed to conclude bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in order to develop their mutual trade and promote economic integration in the region. This approach implied the signature of 21 agreements, of which 5 already existed. The 21 FTAs...

By increasing the costs of imports, minimum unit import reference prices not only generate the usual distortions one expects from tariff protection but add new ones that a pure tariff system would not generate. Reference prices substantially reduce the price gap between imports with prices above...

In Europe After the NO Votes, Professor Patrick Messerlin of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, argues that the NO votes in the French and Dutch referenda on the proposed EU constitution highlight the need to design an economic agenda for the future of the EU congruent with its...

Negotiators in Geneva are still struggling to conclude the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, after seven years of negotiations, many people - and especially many industrialists in Europe and the United States - are not convinced that the...

This dissertation examines the links between international trade and economic development through the lens of export growth at the extensive margin. By extensive margin growth is meant either trade in previously untraded products, or trade in existing products between new country pairs. The...

The European Community (the correct legal term in trade matters, hereafter EC) is still a recent and ongoing process. Fifty years is a short time span for such an endeavour (Annex I lists the 17 Treaties that have formed its legal basis).3 It is strictly an economic process because a straight...

Liberalisation of services in the European Community (EC), sends three clear messages to the current and future multilateral negociations on services (...).

The author looks at the OECD domestic political economy associated with ongoing WTO farm negotiations, focusing on the OECD-based coalitions which could be helpful for WTO negotiators. Support from individual final consumers and taxpayers is far from guaranteed because consumers are spending...