What are the choices the Asia-Pacific community will face if it proceeds further down the path of developing preferential regional trading arrangements? Fragmentation of the region into preferential trading arrangements on a bilateral or subregional basis promises relatively little economic gain...

The Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) holds more than $40 billion that is at the disposal of the US Secretary of the Treasury for use in foreign exchange intervention and international financial support operations. Its use in the Mexican rescue package of 1995 brought the ESF into the public...

Global currency markets have remained unsettled. The dollar hit record lows against both the yen and the mark in 1995. The Mexican crisis led to a free fall of the peso. Renewed tensions in the European Monetary System required devaluations in Spain and Portugal. It is thus fortuitous that the...

From 1975 through 1993, five US presidents were granted fast-track trade negotiating authority by the Congress. This authority has enabled them to submit legislation implementing trade agreements to Congress under procedures that assure an up-or-down vote, without amendments, within a limited...

Would a free trade agreement (FTA) between the nations of the Middle East and the United States be beneficial to both sides? Robert Z. Lawrence provides an analysis that incorporates both economic and political considerations. He documents the scope for enhancing the trade linkages, domestic...

The rapid emergence of China as a major industrial power poses a complex challenge for global resource markets. Backed by the Chinese government, Chinese companies have been acquiring equity stakes in natural resource companies, extending loans to mining and petroleum investors, and writing...

Parental Supervision amplifies the research Theodore Moran first presented in Foreign Direct Investment and Development (1998), assessing the opportunities and dangers that foreign direct investment may present to the growth of developing countries. Moran uses almost 50 percent more case studies...

On 15 February 1997, the World Trade Organization's negotiating group on basic telecommunications service reached a path-breaking agreement. In all, 68 countries accounting for more than 90 percent of telecom revenue worldwide made commitments to open their telecom markets to competition and...

The turmoil that rocked Asian markets after the middle of 1997 and that spread far afield was the third major currency crisis of the 1990s. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea suffered outright recessions in 1998. In an effort to contain the crisis, almost $120 billion was pledged in...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in eclipse as the preeminent institution promoting international economic and financial stability. Successful reform of the IMF must engage the full spectrum of its members. The IMF should not focus primarily on its low-income members and the challenges...