This thesis argues that the explanation for underdevelopment should be sought primarily in the structural distortions of the domestic economy, the incoherence of national interests, as well as other internal political contradictions. By looking at the dynamics of Japan's relations with Nigeria between 1960 and 1985, it seeks to demonstrate how these factors militate not only against a beneficial interchange with a Northern economy, but against effective participation in the international economy. This constitutes a contrary diagnostic position to the literature which underpins the logic on which The Bretton Woods and Dependency Schools of thought are based. The thesis considers the following issues. First, it critically examines the role of the trading pattern, characterized by its vertical structure, along with trade policies, in the relationship between Nigeria and Japan. Secondly, it considers whether Japanese investments in Nigeria have contributed to the growth and development process in Nigeria. To that extent it considers whether they were merely part of a calculated trade objective; namely, the dominance of certain sectors of the Nigerian economy. The thesis also examines the role played by Nigerian domestic policies and its environment in determining the degree of reciprocity and interdependence. Finally, it seeks to assess the role played by Japanese aid and the degree of importance attached to Nigeria in particular and development issues in general in Japan's foreign policy. The thesis concludes that at the time of Nigeria's independence, the relationship was potentially one of interdependence and the explanation for any subsequent asymmetry needs to be sought in government's failure to mobilize national potential and in terms of the operation of the international market economy. At issue is not just the nature of a particular bilateral relationship but the management of North-South relations.

The international trade in agriculture and food markets are characterised by extensive use of regulatory measures. Most of the measures used comprise Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The use of regulatory measures between members can be asymmetric. This implies that one partner implements more regulatory measures than another might. This can lead to trade imbalance or be viewed as trade barriers by exporters. Global exporters of agri-food products to the European Union (EU) need to comply with more regulatory measures than for any other region. These measures apply to all exporting countries, regardless of trade agreements. South Africa has signed two free trade agreements with the EU since the beginning of the 21st century. These free trade agreements imply that South African exports in general to the EU would be expected to increase and vice versa. However, in the case of South African beef exports to the EU, these declined from 2000 to 2019. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of EU regulatory measures on South African beef exports to the EU. From this perspective, four objectives were specified in pursuit of this aim, namely to: (1) determine whether there were significant differences in the number of regulatory measures between the EU and South Africa; (2) determine whether the EU regulatory measures affected South African beef exports to the EU; (3) determine whether the EU regulatory measures affected South African beef exports to other trade partners; and (4) evaluate other factors affecting South African beef exports to the EU. The study used t-tests and a gravity model to address the specific objectives. A panel data set from 1992 to 2019 was used, which covered six trade partners. These were: the EU, SADC, the Rest of other African countries, the Middle East, China, and the Rest of the world. The gravity model was conducted using pooled, fixed and random effects. Later, the best model selection tests were conducted. At first, the study did the poolability test, which was followed by the Hausman test. The study found that from 1992 to 1999, the EU was the leading importer of South African beef. However, from 2000 to 2019, the EU imports of South African beef declined. These exports were diverted to other trading partners. The study found that from 2000 to 2011, the SADC was the main importer of South African beef. From 2012 to 2019, the Middle East, China, and the SADC became the leading beef importers of South African beef. The study also found that there were significant differences in the numbers of regulatory measures. It was revealed that there were both asymmetric regulatory measures and trade arrangements between the EU and South Africa. At first, the EU tariffs were high as compared with the regulatory measures. But later, when the tariffs reduced, the EU increased the regulatory measures. It was found that the EU regulatory measures negatively affected South African beef exports to the EU, while they positively affected South African beef exports to all other partners. Lastly, it was found that the EU tariffs negatively affected South African beef exports to the EU. The reduction in tariffs reduced the trade cost; hence, South African beef exports to the EU were expected to have increased. On other factors that have affected South African beef exports to the EU, the study found that the EU GDP positively affected South African beef exports to the EU. Furthermore, the EU population was found to have a negative effect, and the EU exchange rate was insignificant in determining beef exports. This study recommended that there should be negotiations on the use of regulatory measures. Secondly, there should be a development of mutual recognition between the parties. Lastly, policymakers should review regulatory measures to improve South African beef exports to the EU. / Mini Dissertation (MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics) / Unrestricted

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Thesis (doctoral)--Department of Political Science, University of Stockholm, 1987. / Summary in English. Material type: Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-253).

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Peri Da Silva / It is usually preached by economists that trade should be free, but in reality, it is almost always chained. The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that trade policies are set in political contexts in which policy makers have different objective function than maximizing economic efficiency. So, endogenous protection literature evolved around the ideas and reasons to explain trade policy as determined under specific political contexts. The early empirical work until late 1980s examined the correlation between different political factors and trade policies. These works were helpful in identifying relative importance of political economy variables, but were criticized to have specifications which were loosely linked with the theories behind them. In recent years with development of theoretical platforms, study of political economy of trade policy has moved to a more structured direction and empirical investigations have been done to link real world data with the model predictions. In this regard, Median Voter model and Grossman-Helpman (GH) model are the main branches of literature. Median Voter model predicts positive tariffs in capital-abundant countries and negative tariffs in labor-abundant ones, but in real world, negative tariffs are rare. Empirical investigation of this model tries to reconcile observed trade policies with median voter model and two of these studies are included in this report. Interest group model is the framework of Grossman-Helpman model in which the effect of organized lobbies in trade policy determination is taken into account. Two empirical studies of this model showed that real world data support this model. By employing modifications in GH model, researchers try to account for factors like lobbying competition and foreign lobbying in explaining data. These results show that foreign lobbying is not necessarily against trade and ignoring lobbying competition may lead to wrong conclusions about welfare mindedness of government.

Diss. Örebro : Örebro universitet, 2005.

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<p>This thesis consists of three essays in the fields of the political economy of international trade.</p><p><i>Location Equilibrium with Endogenous Rent Seeking:</i></p><p>This paper analyzes the location of manufacturing activities when regional policy is determined by endogenous rent seeking. Once lobbying for government transfers to regions is included in an economic geography framework with size asymmetries, the standard prediction that the larger region becomes the core when trade barriers are reduced no longer holds. The establishment of manufacturing production in the economically smaller region is increasing in the level of regional integration once trade becomes freer than a certain threshold value. When free trade prevails, the relocation of industry takes place up to the point where there are as many firms operating in the South as in the North. Furthermore, lobbying slows down the agglomeration process, whereas the home market magnification effect (Baldwin, 2000) becomes weaker.</p><p><i>Endogenous Tariff Formation and the Political Economy of Trade Retaliation:</i></p><p>This paper extends the notion of endogenous tariff formation under representative democracy by allowing for strategic interaction between governments. The model developed suggests that the ideological distribution in the electorate within a country affects the tariff setting behavior among its trading partners. The equilibrium tariffs in a country depend on the trade policy preferences of the ideologically neutral voters among such partners as well as on the distribution of their sector-specific factor ownership. Ideological shifts in the population which systematically alter the political power of different voter groups, or types of factor owners, in one country thus influence the tariff setting behavior in competing trading nations.</p><p><i>On the Indeterminacy of Trade Policy under Different Electoral Rules:</i></p><p>Current research has found ambiguous results with respect to the effects of the type of electoral regime on trade policy. The present paper proposes a solution to this indeterminacy. It is shown that the equilibrium level of trade protection can be relatively higher, as well as lower, under a majoritarian electoral rule compared to proportional representation. The framework developed in this paper thus includes as special cases earlier models reported in the literature. The equilibrium outcome is shown to depend on the number of voters in swing districts who own a factor specific to the exporting industry in relation to those who possess claims to the specific input employed by the import-competing sector. Using a cross section of countries, empirical evidence is consistent with this hypothesis.</p>

The thesis examines the relationship between free trade and the economic growth in developing countries. The developments of a more integrated and globalized world challenges countries in new ways by easier access to information and technology, intensified competition and larger requirements on economic efficiency and increased productivity. It is important to examine if trade can induce economic growth, since long-run economic growth determine how living standards change, and provides an opportunity to improve the welfare and reduce the worlds poverty rates. Trade affects countries in different ways and developing countries have diverse growth experiences, where some countries have managed to increase their economic growth compared to others. The thesis presents trade policies and theories, and a brief overview of the controversies regarding trade. The relationship between economic growth and trade is dynamic and complex and trade can be used as a mean to benefit from technological transfers and knowledge spillovers, factors that have a substantial influence on economic growth, along with investments. A cross-section regression analysis is conducted to examine the relationship between trade openness and economic growth. The empirical results show a positive correlation between trade openness and economic growth in developing countries. High initial GDP and population growth are negatively correlated with GDP per Capita growth, while Rule of Law has a positive impact on GDP per Capita growth.

The aim of the thesis is to introduce the current economic situation of Italy, is macroeconomical characteristics and features. Gravitz model of international trade is introduced here and applied to analyse trade relations of Italy with its major business partners. Recommendations and ways to improve its trade balance by increasing exports are presented in the thesis.