Enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the United States, Mexico, and Canada 20 years ago advanced economic integration and started a public debate running to today about the merits of trade agreements in the era of globalization. As the first major trade accord...

Services trade continues to be the most dynamic part of world trade, and service sectors have long been the largest destination of foreign direct investment flows. Countries can reap huge potential gains through greater liberalization of services trade and investment, including increased job...

The need for US corporate tax reform is blindingly obvious. Conservatives contend that the top corporate tax rate—whether measured in statutory or effective terms—is the second highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Liberals argue that the US corporate...

Public opinion holds that large corporations should pay a higher statutory tax rate than other business firms, and enjoy fewer deductions in computing their taxable income. Americans and their representatives in Congress have long entertained the notion that a corporate check paid to the US...

The debate about "tax reform," during the 2012 presidential race and congressional budget battles this year has centered on closing loopholes, creating new incentives for growth, and raising revenue through higher personal taxation of wealthy Americans. But the debate overlooks an important...

President Barack Obama declared in his State of the Union address--echoing the rhetoric during his days as presidential candidate--that "it is time to finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the...

The US House of Representatives has just passed the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. The tax provisions of this bill will hurt American workers, reduce American exports, and make American companies less competitive in the international marketplace. Since the US Senate has already...

Laments over the decline of the manufacturing base in the United States are widespread. But while manufacturing employment has steadily declined for many decades, more direct measures of manufacturing productivity show that the growth of the US manufacturing sector has actually been strong and...

Japan is reemerging as the most important source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States. In 2013 Japanese firms were the largest source of new inflows of FDI into the United States for the first time since 1992, injecting almost $45 billion of fresh investment into the US...

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, which took effect 20 years ago, continues to face divided public opinion. Opponents of free trade agreements (FTAs) cite NAFTA as a job-killing precedent, while proponents argue that the economic gains...