Current U.S. trade policy stresses establishing free trade areas (FTAs) with partners spanning the globe. Motivations include enhancing goods and services trade; stimulating investment flows; extending standards on intellectual property rights, labor, and the environment; and addressing...

This paper reviews major issues involved in achieving the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Using a simple framework for evaluation, the analysis highlights considerations relevant to policymakers in the areas of poverty reduction, macroeconomic policies, trade...

This paper provides a framework for understanding trade patterns in the Mashreq. An augmented gravity model is used to compare actual with expected levels of trade. Trade barriers, political uncertainty, and over-appreciation of domestic currencies seem to explain low levels of international...

This paper contributes to the debate on the development potential of South-South trade in services. It represents the first attempt to identify key features governing the South-South dimension of services. Services trade between developing countries is predominantly regional and may reflect an...

In this paper, we provide an overview of the agricultural trade negotiations within the current World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and we show that including agriculture in the Doha Development Agenda talks is important both economically and politically, although the political...

This survey concludes that including agriculture in the negotiations was particularly important economically. Although agricultural exports are less than 10% of merchandise trade, the high and variable protection in this sector appears to account for the majority of the cost of distortions in...

The Asian Economic Integration Monitor is a semiannual review of Asia’s regional economic cooperation and integration. It covers the 48 regional members of the Asian Development Bank. This issue includes a special chapter—Multilateralizing Asian Regionalism: Approaches to Unraveling the...

This paper examines the recent U.S.-Russian trade dispute over poultry meats exports. Russia embargoed U.S. poultry on February 16, 1996, alleging that the U.S. inspection system did not meet Russian standards. An agreement signed on March 25, 1996, establishing an inspection criteria for...

This paper uses a combination of Ethier (1982) and Melitz’s (2003) models to show that liberalizing trade among developing countries, so-called South-South trade, could contribute to improve the access to international markets of developing countries’ would-be exporters. Lower trade barriers...

This paper uses a combination of Ethier (1982) and Melitz's (2003) models to show that liberalizing trade among developing countries, so-called South-South trade, could contribute to improve the access to international markets of developing countries' would-be exporters. Lower trade barriers...