This paper analyzes the energy sector, which is assessed yearly in the Progress Report, and which is also a criterion that Kosovo has to fulfill in order to become part of the Union. The paper will be structured around the points that are indicated in the Progress Report (since 2005), created by...

This chapter surveys empirically the broad features of trade policy in goods for 31 major economies that collectively represented 83% of the world's population and 91% of the world's GDP in 2013. We address five questions: Do some countries have more liberal trading regimes than others? Within...

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that...

The issue of energy security is being reviewed from a standpoint of geopolitics. The contention is that geopolitics is inescapably related to the question of energy security for a simple reason: the contradiction between the universal character of energy demand and the nation-state’s exclusive...

Italian Abstract: Dal punto di vista storico, le sovvenzioni statali vennero introdotte e diventarono prassi comune durante i Secoli XVI e XVII, in concomitanza con l'affermarsi delle teorie mercantiliste, anche se tendenze analoghe si erano già presentate in epoche precedenti. Nel corso di...

This contribution illustrates some unresolved issues and tensions that characterize the way the WTO deals with renewable energy subsidies. Indeed, the indisputable urgency to address the negative impacts of climate change on the one hand, and the use of subsidies to boost and support a...

Renewable energy subsidies are crucial for combatting climate change, and yet the world’s international legal infrastructure is not designed to accommodate such subsidies. The world needs a renewable energy sector to develop and implement the technologies necessary to reduce carbon and...

International investment agreements define State commitments on investment protection, but also shed light on how these commitments are to be integrated with other public policy objectives. Investment protection in the context of environmental regulation has been a frequent source of controversy...

Increased labor migration from Mexico to the United States between 1980 and 2000 stemmed in large part from macroeconomic policy reforms, implemented at the domestic and international levels, that we now associate with economic "globalization." These reforms were ushered in by the era of "deep...

Energy is pivotal for socio-economic and cultural development. Last century witnessed a drastic increase, on one hand on the consumption of energy and, on the other on greenhouse gases emissions. Traditionally, energy security has been linked with the need to guarantee supply and, in turn,...