Corporate governance determines, among other things, how control over the firm’s resources is allocated, and how control and a monitoring hierarchy are created within a firm.
The term competition policy is typically taken to include all government policies that influence the degree of competition in a nation’s markets, including trade policy.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional trade organization consisting of 20 African states in the eastern and southern regions of Africa and a small number of countries in central and northern Africa.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) is called ‘‘common’’ because themain agricultural policy decisions aremade at the EU level...
Commodity chain refers to the linked set of processes involved in the design, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services in the world economy.
On May 28, 2004, after a year and a half of intense negotiations, the United States and five Central American countries signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
The Central American Common Market (CACM) was established by the General Treaty of Central American Economic Integration signed on December 13, 1960, by Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an international agreement that governs cross-border shipments of toxic waste.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an intergovernmental association that was formed to enhance cooperation among countries in the Southeast Asian region.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process was the first structured forum for intergovernmental cooperation among the economies of East Asia and their main trading partners in North America, Australasia, and Russia.
The spectacular growth in the intensity, scope, and visibility of globalization since 1990 has been accompanied by a parallel growth in anti-globalization a broad term used to characterize a public debate over the shaping, slowing, or rejecting of globalization.
Many countries reserve the right to impose import taxes on foreign products that have been found to be ‘‘dumped’’ into their domestic economies (that is, sold at less than their ‘‘normal’’ prices).
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has become the most important and far-reaching international accord in the field of intellectual property.
The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) came into effect in 1995 as a part of the Marrakesh Agreement that established the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Open to all countries in the African continent, the African Union (AU) is an organization designed to foster political and economic cooperation and development among its member countries.
The trade and development relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries has been shaped by a number of formal treaties and agreements since the end of World War II.
Around 1980, our understanding of international trade the exchange of merchandise and services among the countries of the world began to change. In response to emerging patterns of trade within (rather than between) manufacturing and service sectors, new theories emerged based on imperfect competition and economies of scale, supplementing the old stories of comparative advantage based on factor or resource endowments in which, for example, a country with a relatively large amount of labor would export labor-intensive goods. At the same time, trade policy agendas rapidly expanded into new areas such as trade in services, intellectual property, a new generation of preferential trade agreements, and the settlement of disputes. Trade economists and trade lawyers became acquainted. Unforeseen issues emerged out of or alongside of trade negotiations such as trade and the environment, trade and labor, and trade and public health. Trade-related entries in this Encyclopedia reflect this new reality. Standard models of international trade (the Ricardian model, the Heckscher-Ohlin model, and the specific-factorsmodel) are given their due by world-renowned trade theorists. New Trade Theory (i.e., based on oligopoly and monopolistic competition) also receives attention, as do its applications in areas such as theNewEconomicGeography. We supplement these core models with entries on a large set of basic concepts, from absolute and comparative advantage to terms of trade and fragmentation. A host of trade policy instruments are covered, from basic tariffs to nontariff measures, including quotas, tariff rate quotas, and technical barriers to trade. A large number of institutions and agreements are covered, fromthe obvious (e.g., theWorld Trade Organization) to the less well known (e.g., the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). We also give attention to commonly used tools of analysis, such as revealed comparative advantage, effective protection, and gravity models. Finally, we cover a range of special issues such as access to medicines, gender, and the illegal drugs trade.