The Doha multilateral round of trade negotiations sponsored by the WTO has been dragging on for over a decade, with no end in sight. In this short paper we assess empirically what determines the duration of trade negotiations, focusing on the span between the start of trade talks and their...

The China - Raw Materials dispute recently arbitrated by the WTO opposed China as defendant to the US and the EU as claimants, on the somewhat unusual issue of export restrictions. For the claimants, Chinese export restrictions on various raw materials of which the country is a major producer...

Les normes de travail définies par l’OIT en 1998 sont universelles mais très différemment appliquées dans les pays. Elles sont d’autant mieux respectées que les pays disposent d’un revenu élevé. Néanmoins la causalité entre les normes de travail et la croissance reste une question...

The broadened scope of the GATT/WTO through successive rounds of trade liberalization is explained as a result of trade-partner specificity, linked agreements, and cross retaliation. In more recent years, however, countries have pursued trade liberalization through sector specific zero-for-zero...

The Chinese government frequently threatens that meetings between its trading partners’ officials and the Dalai Lama will be met with animosity and ultimately harm trade ties with China. We run a gravity model of exports to China from 159 partner countries between 1991 and 2008 to test to...

Does China's quest for oil raise tensions with the United States? This paper examines the effect of international relations on global oil trade patterns. Using voting records for the United Nations General Assembly to measure the state of international relations, we estimate a modified gravity...

Die zunehmenden Handelsbilanzüberschüsse Chinas gegenüber den USA haben eine Diskussion darüber ausgelöst, ob der Yuan gegenüber dem US-Dollar fundamental unterbewertet sei. Der Forderung, die heimische Währung deutlich aufzuwerten, hat sich China bisher widersetzt. Das schafft gerade...

The Chinese government frequently threatens that meetings between its trading partners’ officials and the Dalai Lama will be met with animosity and ultimately harm trade ties with China. We run a gravity model of exports to China from 159 partner countries between 1991 and 2008 to test to...

China's growing trade surplus with the USA has triggered a discussion whether the Yuan is fundamentally undervalued in relation to the US Dollar. So far, China has resisted the demand to drastically revalue its currency. This creates tension as the US economy is only slowly recovering and...

This paper analyses trade policies in the European Union. The common commercial policy is based on equal principles, particularly for changes in tariff rates, the conclusion of tariff and trade agreements, equal measures of liberalization, export policy and measures to protect trade with those...