International supply chains are dependent on ease of crossing borders and efficient connectivity in terms of price, speed, and reliability. Initially responding to demand from automobile and electronics firms to connect their European and Chinese supply chains with faster and more reliable...

Recent empirical studies of the phenomenon of intra-industry trade, i.e. simultaneous import and export of goods from the same industry, have found it to assume significant proportions in the industrialized countries. The present paper reports the extent of intra-industry trade in the...

In this paper the policy of the Israeli government towards imports of manufactured goods is examined. This policy has passed throuth two distinct phases. In the 1950s quantitative restrictions on imports were enforced to stimulate domestic production of import substitutes. In the 1960s the...

In 1975 Israel and the EEC signed a preferential trade agreement, which included provision for free trade in manufactured goods between the signatories by 1989 at the latest. The present study examines the economic consequences for Israel of such a free trade area. Although political factors are...

The aims of this paper are firstly to present a unified description of the Israeli government's export policies and of the growth and composition of Israel's exports and secondly to provide macroeconomic analysis of her export performance. The first section outlines the major policies which the...

Central Asian governments frequently express the goal of economic diversification, and specifically of diversifying their agricultural sector, but with little actual impact. Diversification has not happened because high trade costs discourage farmers, potential foreign investors and others from...

The results highlight the conflicting interests of countries - to stabilize exchange rates or to keep the option of exchange rate depreciation in order to maintain competitiveness of domestic tradable producers. With deepening integration in East Asia, however, the desire for exchange rate...

The agricultural sector in Kazakhstan experienced declining output throughout the 1990s, partly because relative prices shifted from being distorted in favor of farmers to being distorted against them. After the end of the decade public policy shifted towards support for (or less discrimination...

Past episodes of energy insecurity have been fleeting and the fears have been assuaged by market forces or technical change. This paper analyses the nature of the EU's current energy security problems, emphasising the increased importance of natural gas and high level of dependence on Russian...