Russia's application for accession to the WTO is currently in its final phases and may be completed by the end of 2003. In this context, this paper provides some background information on Russia's recent policy and structural reforms, the composition and geographic distribution of trade, tariff...

This policy brief takes the position that international labor standards should not be incorporated into the WTO and other trade agreements as we argue that this will not achieve either of the two professed goals: a) improving the wages and working conditions of workers in poor countries and b)...

There is a wide disparity of views on issues of international labor standards. Labor and social activists are concerned about the increased imports from countries in which labor standards are ostensibly not enforced at a sufficiently high level. They fear that these imports will be detrimental...

This paper builds on the analysis of Kiyota and Stern (2007) of the economic effects of a KoreaU.S. free trade agreement (KORUSFTA). We review the objectives and main features of the KORUSFTA as perceived prior to the negotiation of the agreement and then outline the main features of the actual...

Given the fact that international trade in services has been increasing significantly in recent decades and now is equal to about 20 percent of global merchandise trade, it is obviously important to consider the barriers that affect services trade and issues of measurement of these barriers....

Volume 1, Making the Rules, covers: trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS); the multilateral agreement on investment (MAI); fast track/trade promotion authority; the 1999 US-China bilateral agreement and the battle for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR); and the US-EU...

We provide an econometric analysis of whether or not the tariff preferences extended to Canada and Mexico under NAFTA may have resulted in trade diversion. A review of previous studies, both descriptive and econometric, suggests that trade diversion has occurred especially as evidenced by...

Gary R Saxonhouse was one of the leading world scholars on Japanese economy. Born in New York City in 1943, he attended Yale University, where he received his PhD in Economics in 1971. He joined the Faculty of Economics at the University of Michigan beginning in 1970, where he taught throughout...

International trade in services also provides an assessment of how policy makers can further bolster their service industries by leveraging the changes prompted by technological advancements. The book provides policy recommendations that include the reduction of barriers to services trade across...