Business Commons^™

Nafta: Past, Present And Future, Anastasios G. Malliaris, Alexander J. Kondonassis, Chris Paraskevopoulos

A. (Tassos) Malliaris

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – an extension of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Canada and USA to include Mexico – went into effect on January 1, 1994, primarily as an agreement to eliminate restrictions on trade and investment over the course of twelve years. NAFTA is a trade agreement and after twelve years remains as such with limited prospects, if any, of widening or deepening the integration process. Despite its narrow scope, the agreement became, from the start, controversial – and continues to be so – not only for trade and investment matters but for a …

Dynamic Effects Of Trade And Output Volatility On The Trade-Growth Nexus: Evidence From Singapore, Renuka Mahadevan, Sandy Suardi

Sandy Suardi

Purpose - This paper seeks to revisit the highly debated trade‐growth hypothesis by considering the effects of trade and output volatility on the relationship between trade and economic growth. Design/methodology/approach - The relationship is modeled by testing for the existence of output and trade (export and imports separately) using the conditional variances of the variables and then specifying an autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (ARCH) process in a vector error correction model. Findings - Using Singapore as a case study, the paper finds the two‐way relationship between export growth and trade‐adjusted GDP growth is robust even after controlling for the effects of …

Macroeconomic Volatility, Trade And Financial Liberalization In Africa, Abdullahi Ahmed, Sandy Suardi

Sandy Suardi

This paper examines the effects of financial and trade liberalization on growth volatility of real output and consumption in Africa. Our results suggest trade liberalization is associated with greater output and consumption growth volatility while financial liberalization increases the efficacy of consumption smoothing and stabilizes income and consumption growth. In addition, we find financial market depth and institutional quality operate jointly with trade and financial openness to reduce volatility in output and consumption growth. There is also evidence that good institutions which foster low inflation levels and volatility promote consumption and output growth stability.

Risk, Trade, Recovery And The Consideration Of Real Options: The Imperative Coordination Of Policy, Marketing, And Finance In The Wake Of Catastrophe, Mark R. Manfredo, Clifford J. Shultz

Clifford J Shultz

Recovery from societal and market catastrophe is a daunting process requiring multi-function, systemic, and long-term efforts. Humanitarian aid and donor assistance rarely are sufficient. Trade and other forms of direct investment in devastated markets offer another kind of recovery-assistance. Risks encountered in recovering economies however can deter firms wishing to invest. A real options framework is applied to examine the financial feasibility of trading with recovering economies; the framework is applied to the countries of the war-disintegrated, former Yugoslavia. The real options framework considers the value of managerial flexibility in the presence of risks. Implications for policy, marketing management and …

Trade, Accounting, And Governance In Kautilya’S Arthaśāstra, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

Trade Liberalisation And Growth: A Threshold Expectation, Rod Falvey, Neil Foster-Mcgregor, Ahmed Khalid

Ahmed Khalid

Openness and trade liberalisation variables are consistently estimated to have significant positive coefficients in panel growth regressions. Many arguments have been advanced as to why and how more open or liberalised economies might grow faster, but the specific channels this process uses have begun to be investigated only recently. We continue these efforts by including a variable identifying the date of trade liberalisation in a system of equations that captures the determinants of growth in per capita income. Four ‘channels’ are considered: capital formation, the share of government, the economy’s openness to trade and its price distortions. We include the …

Trade Liberalisation And Growth: A Threshold Expectation, Rod Falvey, Neil Foster-Mcgregor, Ahmed Khalid

Rodney Falvey

Openness and trade liberalisation variables are consistently estimated to have significant positive coefficients in panel growth regressions. Many arguments have been advanced as to why and how more open or liberalised economies might grow faster, but the specific channels this process uses have begun to be investigated only recently. We continue these efforts by including a variable identifying the date of trade liberalisation in a system of equations that captures the determinants of growth in per capita income. Four ‘channels’ are considered: capital formation, the share of government, the economy’s openness to trade and its price distortions. We include the …

Endowment Differences And The Composition Of Intra-Industry Trade, Manuel Cabral, Rodney Falvey, Chris Milner

Rodney Falvey

The empirical relationship between differences in endowments and different types of trade is investigated in this paper. Although net trade (NT) and vertical intra-industry trade (IIT) are both broadly viewed as reflecting endowment differences, we suggest that there will be systematic differences in the way their shares of trade adjust as endowment differences become larger. Empirical evidence for European Union trade with its 52 major trading partners confirms this. The share of horizontal IIT (net trade) decreases (increases) for all increases in absolute endowment differences, but the share of vertical IIT can both increase and decrease with increases in endowment …

Trade Liberalisation And Manufacturing Wage Premiums: Evidence From Thailand, Kankesu Jayanthakumaran, Piyapong Sangkaew, Martin O'Brien

Martin O'Brien

This paper investigates trade related industrial wage premiums. The procedure involves (1) estimating industrial wage premiums and (2) linking those estimated wage premiums to trade related variables. Results reveal that (1) in addition to workers' characteristics, industry characteristics where workers are employed were important in determining the wages for workers, (2) falling output tariffs resulted in increased wage premiums, and (3) an increase in intermediate imports exerted a strong positive influence on wage premiums. Linked employer and employee micro data may provide further insights which are currently not available.

The Live Monitoring Of Carbon Emissions For Sustainable International Trade And Exchange, Lee Styger

Lee Styger

There is growing hypothesis that, following the current economic crisis, carbon trading will kick start the stock markets once again and that carbon is a new “commodity” albeit now being traded in a traditional way. This carries several disadvantages; the most pressing being that “if you can’t measure it then you cannot improve it”, rendering any audit meaningless as a real improvement measure and resulting in the view that carbon trading is merely another form of taxation. This paper will discuss the options of live monitoring and recording of trade waste resources and offer a framework for viable trading of …

Long-Term Relationship Between Intra-Trade And Total Trade Of Member Countries Of Asean, Nelson Perera, Mokhtar M. Metwally

Nelson Perera

This paper uses cointegration and regression analyses to examine the long-term relationship between intra-trade of the five original member countries of ASEAN, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand , and their total trade with non- member Countries of ASEAN. The LR tests based on maximal eigenvalue of the stochastic matrix and the trace of the stochastic matrix suggest that the null hypothesis of no cointegration cannot be rejected for all the five original members countries of ASEAN. Thus, there is no evidence of long-term relationship between intra-trade of each ASEAN member with other members and total trade with non-ASEAN …

Foreign Debt, Trade Openness, Labor Force And Economic Growth: Evidence From Sri Lanka, Ramesh Chandra Paudel, Nelson Perera

Nelson Perera

This study examines the role of foreign debt, trade openness and labor force in the economic growth of Sri Lanka, by employing the Johansen maximum likelihood approach of cointegration. It analyzes the data for the period, 1950-2006. The study finds that there is a cointegration relationship between economic growth and foreign debt, trade openness and labor force. Further the results suggest that in the long run, labor force, trade openness and foreign debt have a positive impact on economic growth of Sri Lanka.

Feed-Back Effects Of Intra-Trade Between Gcc Countries, Kaul Nandini, Mokhtar Metwally, Nelson Perera

Nelson Perera

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Analysis Of Sustainability Of Trade Deficit: Evidence From South Asian Countries, Reetu Verma, Nelson Perera

Nelson Perera

In this paper, the long-run relationship between Sri Lankan exports and imports during the period 1950 to 2006 is examined using unit root tests and cointegration techniques that allow for an endogenously determined structural break. The results failed to support the existence of a long-run equilibrium between exports and imports in Sri Lanka. This finding questions the effectiveness of Sri Lanka’s current long-term macroeconomic policies and suggests that Sri Lanka is in violation of its international budget constraint.

Making Free Trade More Fair: Developments In Protecting Labor Rights, Maria Lorena Cook, Morley Gunderson, Mark Thompson, Anil Verma

Maria Lorena Cook

[Excerpt] The IRRA-NAFTA Committee was first appointed in 1995 by then president, Walter Gershenfeld, to make a report to the membership on the industrial relations implications of NAFTA and other trade-related developments. The Committee's mandate was renewed in 1996 by president Hoyt Wheeler. In this year's report the committee focused on some of the attempts that are underway to improve protection of labor interests under free trade conditions. This is a summary of the longer full report available upon request from the IRRA National Office.

Integración Regional Y Políticas Transnacionales: Eitlc Y Las Estrategias Del Sector Popular En México, Maria Lorena Cook

Maria Lorena Cook

En la era del TLC se han creado nuevos intereses, recursos, aliados y arenas para la acción estratégica tanto de actors gubernamentales como no gubernamentales. Si muchas organizaciones populares vieron en el TLC una continuación de la desigualdad, sin embargo también encontraron una coyuntura para la emergencia de coaliciones transnacionales de corte popular. Así se formaron redes de apoyo entre trabajadores mexicanos y estadounidenses. Muchas organizaciones no gubermentales vencieron su desconfianza hacia los vecinos del norte. Hubo apoyo mutuo para presionar al Congreso de Estados Unidos. Con el debate en torno al TLC cambió no tanto el desarrollo institucional ni …

Convergence And Diversity In International And Comparative Industrial Relations, Lowell Turner, John P. Windmuller

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] In this essay, we reexamine a critical paradox in international and comparative industrial relations, a paradox that already decades ago demonstrated its ability to intrigue scholarly curiosity (Galenson, 1952,1963; Kerr et al, 1960). As we see it, convergence along a number of important dimensions, such as labor law and organizational and bargaining structure, is occurring simultaneously with widespread cross-national and local divergence, or diversity, in industrial relations practices and outcomes. Along with economic and political interdependence and with intensifications of market competition, convergence and diversity both appear to be product of an increasing spread of markets and ideas sometimes …

Trade Unions And An Australian Labour Government: A Social Contract For The 80s?, Robert Castle

Robert G. Castle

No abstract provided.

Labour Clauses, The World Trade Organisation And Child Labour In India, Robert Castle, D P Chaudhri, Chris Nyland

Robert G. Castle

No abstract provided.

Gerechtigkeit Ohne Gewerkschaft Und Betriebsrat? Konfliktschlichtung In Gewerkschaftsfreien Betrieben In Den Usa, Alexander Colvin

Alexander Colvin

Zu den Faktoren, die in jüngster Zeit in mehreren Ländern – insbesondere in den USA – zu einem Rückgang der Mitgliederzahlen der Gewerkschaften geführt haben, zählen Strategien des Human Resource Managements wie „nonunion arbitration“ (gewerkschaftsfreies Schiedsverfahren“. Arbeitgeber in nicht tarif- und gewerkschaftsgebundenen Betrieben führen solche „neuen Verfahren der Konfliktschlichtung“ (NVK) mit dem Ziel ein, einen Teilersatz für die gewerkschaftliche Interessenvertretung zu gewähren. Sie stellen eine besondere Herausforderung für die Gewerkschaften dar und machen die Anpassung ihrer Interessenvertretungsstrategien erforderlich. Zwei alternative Handlungsmöglichkeiten bieten sich an. Eine Möglichkeit besteht darin , solche NVK einfach mit dem Argument abzulehnen, dass es sich um …

[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This is a timely book about the labour market effects of globalization – specifically, the effects of globalization on jobs, wages and incomes in industrialized and developing countries. Ajit Ghose defines globalization as “a process of integration of national markets into a global market.” Globalization, he writes, is of such great concern now because of a new development: trade between developed and developing countries in competing products.

[Review Of The Book Labor Regulation In The Global Economy], Gary Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This is a practical and useful volume on labor standards in today’s highly globalized world. An introduction is followed by ten chapters, some of them general, talking about the ILO or the WTO, and some more specific, focusing on the United States and Europe. The general chapters cover the ILO, corporate codes of conduct, efforts to introduce labor standards into the multilateral trade regime, arguments for and against labor standards in trade, and policy implications. The specific chapters cover U.S. initiatives on child labor, labor standards in the bilateral trade agreements entered into by the United States and the …

Industrialization And Employment In Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, And Taiwan, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] What are the links between macroeconomic growth and microeconomic development objectives? The initial view held by many economists, especially Latin America specialists, was that the goals of growth, employment, and income distribution are mutually incompatible and that the pursuit of all these objectives at once is bound to be futile. But in the last few years, studies of the economies of the Asian Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs), Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan—the so-called "Group of Four"—have emerged, and they point to very rapid aggregate growth and marked improvements in labor market conditions and in income distribution. This chapter …

Trade Strategies And The Poor: Adjusting To New Realities, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The major policy issue examined in this paper is that of a country's choice of a trade strategy in the context of helping the poor. As the end of the 1980s approaches, developing countries face a much more difficult economic situation than that which they confronted at the end of the 1970s. The paper begins by reviewing these new realities and the need for adjusting to them. After mentioning some non-policies, I proceed to consider both successful and unsuccessful country experiences and draw lessons from them. One policy singled out for special attention is wage policy and its interaction …

Employment Generation And Poverty Alleviation In Developing Economies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] We know well that the East Asian economies have achieved higher economic growth rates than those in any other region of the world and that production for world markets has featured as a hallmark of the East Asian successes. This paper has three purposes: first, to present comparative data showing that the rates at which employment opportunities improve and poverty is reduced mirror countries' differential growth experiences; second, to examine differences in labour market institutions, demonstrating that those in East Asia have similarities more likely to lead to higher output performance and shared improvements in living conditions; and third, …

Perspective Américaine Sur L'Alena Et Le Mouvement Syndical, Lance Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Le climat antisyndical qui a cours aux États-Unis a conduit de grandes enterprises européennes à déménager certaines de leurs installations dans ce pays. Par exemple, BMW construit présentement une vaste usine en Caroline du Nord, État qui possède le taux de syndicalisation le plus faible aux États-Unis, et Mercedes-Benz met sur pied une exploitation en Alabama, autre Etat antisyndical. Là où les syndicats existent encore, leurs membres subissent de vives pressions pour accepter une diminution des salaires et des avantages sociaux pour preserver leurs emplois. D'après le Department of Labor des États-Unis, le salaire réel des travailleurs américains a …

Free Trade, Fair Trade, And The Battle For Labor Rights, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Labor rights advocacy is the most direct challenge to the primacy of a marketplace ideology in which efficiency and profit are the highest values. Labor rights advocates promote values of fairness, justice, and solidarity in global commerce. The battle to achieve enforceable hard law that protects workers' rights in the global economy is an important contribution to the labor movement's revitalization. Can a beleaguered movement take on multinational companies and the governments that appease them on these varied international grounds when there is so much still to do on organizing, collective bargaining, and domestic political action? There really is …

[Review Of The Book Advancing Theory In Labour Law And Industrial Relations In A Global Context], Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] The ideas and insights in Advancing Theory are an important contribution to the on-the-ground social justice movement challenging corporate rule in the global economy. It can even help rescue labor law and industrial relations as intellectual disciplines and career trajectories for a new generation of students and practitioners excited about thinking globally and acting locally.

International Trade And Social Welfare: The New Agenda (Remarks), Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

This document is a transcript of Professor Lance Compa’s remarks at the January 7, 1995 meeting of the Section on International Law of the American Association of Law Schools.

[Excerpt] The fact that the International Law Section put this topic on its agenda at this annual meeting is an indication that the "linkage" between labor rights and international trade is an idea whose time has come. I don't want to overstate its novelty. There's a certain cycle to this dynamic, and in fact the post-World War II period and the early years of the GATT saw a flurry of interest …

Aspects Of Countertrade And Development, William Rieber

William Rieber

Countertrade or international barter has enjoyed a flourish of activity during the 1980s. Some authors have suggested that countertrade is an effective development tool for third world countries and indeed represents the beginning of a rearrangement of the international economic order in favor of lesser developed. countries....On the other hand, others have suggested that countertrade is an aberration reflecting a misguided understanding of international trade and finance by LDC policymakers.