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Free trade agreements (FTAs) now play an increasingly significant role in international trade. The removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers through a bilateral FTA could promote and facilitate trade in both directions by increasing the opportunities available to exporters from both countries. Beyond opening up important new market access opportunities, these agreements may also deepen economic integration with trading partners and thus strengthen trade and economic relationships. Drawing on conventional and new trade theoretical approaches, this thesis attempts to suggest that new trade theory might be more superior to shed light on policies to secure greater benefits from FTAs.There is now an extensive body of literature analyzing the economic impacts of FTAs. In common with a broader division in trade theory (Rangasamy 2003), this literature may be classified into two categories; namely, that informed by conventional trade theory (which has a neo-classical foundation) and new trade theory. The conventional approach is one grounded on the theories of trade creation and trade diversion pioneered by Viner, and based on the assumptions of perfect competition and constant returns in production, this strongly emphasizes a neutral policy environment to ensure the gains from trade and FTAs are reaped. The new trade theory is based on an opposing set of assumptions emphasizing the existence of imperfect competition and economies of scale (see e.g. Dixit and Norman 1980, Krugman 1980, 1981, Helpman, 1981). In this view, neutral incentives and laissez faire policies are not always beneficial to industrial development as advocated by conventional trade theory. On the contrary, government policies play an increasingly important role to ensure the gains from trade and FTAs are realized.Drawing on the perspective of new trade theory, a number of important policy suggestions have been put forward to improve the gains from FTAs, including profit-shifting, innovation and R&D, and industry clustering arguments. In addition to these theoretical insights, the practical experience of FTAs in Singapore may present further lessons. The available evidence suggests that FTAs have brought tremendous gains in terms of trade and GDP growth, welfare improvement, as well as structural changes. The Singaporean government has put in place an extensive policy framework to ensure that these benefits are maximized. A close examination of the policy mix that they have pursued should therefore have important implications for policy makers in New Zealand.In light of the theoretical framework and empirical findings, the present thesis makes a number of policy suggestions with regard to the maximization of the long term benefit of FTAs in New Zealand economic settings. These suggestions aim to deal with the impact of FTAs and enable New Zealand to compete more effectively for profit in an FTA environment.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-84). Also available via the Internet.

<p>Departing from the case of textile and clothing trade dispute between the EU and China in 2005, it has been noticed that the EU’s policy in textile trade to a large extent has been situated in a position of dilemma. On the one hand, the growing global impetus of liberalization in the sector forces the EU to open up its market to cheap textile imports from the developing countries; on the other hand, the fierce protectionist pressures come from the domestic producers and slow down the paces towards liberalization, or sometimes even take setback towards more conservative performances. By placing this case in a broader context, the EU’s external trade policy is confronted with the similar dilemma, swaying between the trade liberalization and trade protection. Consequently, does the EU emerge in the current multilateral trading system of the WTO as a force for trade liberalization or a force for trade protectionism?</p><p>Bearing this question in mind, the general climate of global trade under the GATT/WTO and the EU’s external trade policy will firstly be examined. Then, the EU’s trade protectionism is about to be explained by strategic trade theory, the high political content of the EU’s external trade policy and the fragmentation in the EU’s policy networks; while the EU’s inclination towards trade liberalization will be explained by the implications from the conventional trade theory and new institutionalism, and as well as the impacts from the general climate of global trade.</p><p>The results shows that the EU’s external trade policy under the global trade liberalization is a mixture, neither pure liberalization nor pure protectionism. With regard to the trade issues concerning to the vital interests, the Union without exception inclines to conservative protectionism; whereas concerning the issues of less importance, compromises and concessions always lead the outcomes of the policy to the inspiring liberalization.</p>

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1984. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-90). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The U.S. white wheat industry relies heavily on export markets. Since the early 1960s these markets have been geographically concentrated in a few countries in Asia. This suggests that developments in a few Asian countries may significantly affect the prospects for U.S. white wheat exports and thereby the economic well being of the U.S. white wheat production-consumption system. However, very few studies have been undertaken of the U.S. white wheat market in these Asian countries. The objective of this study is to analyze and evaluate the effects of variations in: U.S. white wheat price, income, domestic wheat production, the availability of other food grains, shipments of U.S. white wheat under P.L. 480 programs, imports of Australian standard (white) wheat, and exchange rates on the Japanese and Korean import demand for U.S. white wheat. Three short-run empirical models of the U.S.-Japan- Korea market for U.S. white wheat are estimated by fitting regression curves using annual data over the period 1963-1964 to 1980-1981. The results of the study indicate that an inelastic import demand curve for U.S. white wheat is present in both Japan and Korea. This finding along with other evidence suggest that both the Japanese and Korean governments have greatly distorted the Japanese and the Korean import demand for U.S. white wheat. In the Japanese case, import demand for U.S. white wheat is strongly affected by domestic (soft) wheat production as well as the quantity imported of Australian standard (white) wheat. Per capita real income, the quantity of rice available, and the real exchange rate (as an interaction with average shipping costs paid in U.S. dollars), however, did not meaningfully affect the Japanese purchases of U.S. white wheat. In the Korean case, import demand for U.S. white wheat is closely associated with the quantity of rice available, the amount of U.S. white wheat imports under P.L. 480 programs, the quantity of barley available and Korean per capita real income. On the other hand, domestic (soft) wheat production and the real exchange rate (as defined earlier) did not meaningfully affect the Korean purchases of U.S. white wheat. / Graduation date: 1983

Thesis (MScAgric)--University of Stellenbosch, 1985. / Bibliographical references. Also available via the Internet.