Magister Legum - LLM / Government procurement is a very important aspect of international tradeas it can either promote or inhibit trade depending on laws and policies of a country. The study is confined to issues pertaining to the role of RTAs in establishing government procurement standards that resemble or conform to those of the GPA in developing countries. The study used Africa as a case study by evaluating selected RTAs that have been signed focussing on RTAs such as the procurementinitiativeof the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. The major objectives of the study were to examine the role of the existing international regulatory instruments towards the harmonisation of global standards on government procurement. The reserach aimed at analysing the role of the WTOs GPA as a possible global standard for government procurement and to investigate reasons of limited membership by developing countries. / South Africa

This study examines the extent to which the equivalency provision presented in the SPS agreement is able to foster trade negotiations between countries adopting different food safety measures. The study examines the role of scientific evidence as well as the political, economic, and cultural factors in impacting the national regulatory process and the international trade negotiations. It focuses on the limitations of science in allowing countries to reach consensus in contentious trade-related debates laden with risk uncertainty and missing data. The study consists of comparing the key components of the U.S. and French regulatory systems to identify the cultural basis for the differences in the perception of listeria risk and in preferences to control it. The stringent standards adopted in the U.S. and the preference for pasteurization are attributed to the complete separation of the regulatory functions form those of food production, the open style of decision-making which allows private citizens to review and comment on administrative actions, the unwillingness of U.S. regulators to expose vulnerable individuals to deadly pathogens, and the reliance on quantitative data to validate the effectiveness of pasteurization. The more flexible standards impacting listeria regulation in France are attributed to the the integration of regulatory functions with those of food production, the consumer preference for natural products, the public's trust in the government's regulatory decisions, and the belief that the determination of appropriate safety measures should be left up to the producers. / Master of Science

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Peri da Silva / Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) are known to facilitate liberalization with respect to only a few trading partners and thus they have been a topic of debate for the past two decades especially because their effect on most favored nation (MFN) tariffs is known to be ambiguous. We provide insights for analyzing whether the PTAs indeed hamper or support multilateral liberalization. Using product level official and actual tariffs we provide evidence from the United States (US) import data that the stumbling block effect on the US MFN bound tariffs is present only for goods that receive full preference in books or in actual. However, my dataset does not statistically support the stumbling block hypothesis in the case of Applied tariffs.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree M.Com. Development Theory and Policy in the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwayersrand, 2013 / This paper undertook qualitative research to determine the trade policy space for South Africa to implement its industrial policy action plan (Ipap). The South African economy was transformed from import substitution in the 1970s to export-orientation in the 1980s. The apartheid regime failed to develop coherent policies for industrialisation. In the 1990s, there was a deliberate government decision as articulated in the GEAR policy to liberalise the economy and with regard to trade this is associated with accession to the World Trade Organisation and commitments made thereof. In 2007, the country adopted the national industrial policy framework to guide its reindustrialisation efforts and subsequently various iterations of the Ipap. Therefore, given that a lot of policy space was lost when the country joined as the WTO as a developed country, the question is “does South Africa have enough policy space to use some of the instruments that were used by successful Asian countries to industrialise”. The WTO made some of these instruments illegal. To analyse policy space, the paper looked at the effect of WTO Agreements on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM), on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS), on Government Procurement (GPA), as well as the tariff commitments. The study found that although SCM has made certain subsidies illegal, other kinds of subsidies are allowed such as those for economic development in disadvantaged regions and for rural development. Therefore, strategy and packaging of these subsidies for development is important. TRIMS was found to have significantly reduced policy space by making a number of instruments on foreign direct investment illegal such as enforcing local content as well as export requirements. Since South Africa is not party to the GPA, it retains policy space to use government procurement to promote industrialisation in the country. In terms of tariffs commitment, the study found that there is no “water” between applied and bound rate for a number of critical sectors such as textile, clothing, footwear, and furniture. However, other important sectors such as automotive and automotive components and white goods still have “water” to increase tariff in future as necessary. Therefore, the study concluded that there is policy space to implement industrial policy in South Africa but this requires strategy and closer look at the WTO rules for flexibility.

Thesis advisor: Robert Murphy / Given the increasing proliferation of preferential trade agreements, this work seeks to investigate the economic, political, and cultural relationships that may be built from the common foundation of a trade agreement. It evaluates the experiences of the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement and makes predictions and suggestions for future preferential trading partners, as well as analyzing the potential impact that PTAs will have on globalization and international relations. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo medir os efeitos do Mercosul em termos de criação, desvio de comércio e desvio de exportação, usando uma base de dados abrangente e o que há de mais moderno na literatura de gravidade. Nos últimos anos, houve um grande avanço tanto na teoria quanto na estimação de equações de gravidade, o que ajudou na microfundamentação destes modelos e na obtenção de resultados consistentes. As estimações feitas mostram que o bloco possibilitou uma criação de comércio, o que ocorre quando tanto o comércio realizado intra bloco quanto com o resto do mundo aumentam. Além do mais, foram estimados modelos com a finalidade de verificar como os efeitos do Mercosul sobre comércio evoluíram ao longo dos anos, mostrando que o efeito maior do bloco se deu nos anos 90. Outra importante questão analisada foi o impacto do Mercosul sobre dois setores econômicos: agricultura e indústria. Nestes setores também houve indícios de criação de comércio, no entanto a indústria presenciou desvio de exportações em direção ao bloco. Por fim, foram construídos alguns grupos contrafactuais, que indicam que na ausência deste acordo o comércio teria sido menor, apesar dos efeitos serem heterogêneos entre os anos e os países. / This dissertation aims to measure the effects of Mercosur in terms of trade creation and diversion and export diversion, using a comprehensive database and the most modern instruments in gravity literature. In recent years, there has been a great advancement in theory and estimation of gravity equations, which helped the microfoundation of these models and the obtainment of consistent results. Our estimates show that Mercosur resulted in trade creation, which occurs when both the intra regional trade and trade with the rest of the world increase. Moreover, we estimated some models in order to see how the effects of Mercosur on trade has evolved over the years, showing that the greatest effects occurred in the 90\'s. Another important issue discussed was the impact of Mercosur on two economic sectors: agriculture and industry. In these sectors there was also evidence of trade creation, however industry has suffered exports diversion towards the block. Finally, we constructed some contrafactual groups, which indicate that in the absence of Mercosur trade would be smaller, although the effects are heterogeneous across years and countries.

abstract: The current immigration flow to the United States from Mexico has been polarized by politicians and anti-immigration groups, with a rhetoric that immigrants are a danger to the sovereignty of the country and an economic burden. These accusations ignore the role played by trade agreements in causing such migration patterns by displacing Mexican migrants and how U.S. immigration policies subsequently condemn these economically displaced migrants into illegality. This thesis examines the role national governments and laws of both the United States and Mexico play in formalizing the undocumented flow and the contestation of these economic migrants. I challenge the contemporary view of trade agreements as pull factors by showing how they also function as problematic push factors of migration through displacing Mexicans from their land and any meaningful form of economic security. Once displaced, these communities seek opportunities by migrating to the U.S., where they cross into illegality. Together, examining displacement and subsequent illegality, this thesis reveals the problematic, yet hidden role played by trade agreements in Mexican migration to the U.S. and gaps in current U.S. immigration laws that has preserved the injustices created when neoliberal economic policies and immigration politics provide no protection to impacted indigenous communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Interdisciplinary Studies 2019

This thesis contributes to the analysis of optimal industrial and strategic trade policy in the presence of oligopoly and other forms of imperfect competition, so as to make contact with important empirical regularities and policy concerns, such as international R&D collaboration, unionization and free trade. First, in the context of international competition in which R&D plays an important role, we study the consequences of allowing governments to subsidize R&D and coalition deviation on the R&D collaboration networks. Then we investigate the formation of FTAs as a network formation game. While the analysis of welfare effects takes the central stage, we also analyze the nature of trading regimes that are consistent with the incentives of individual countries. We address the issue of conflict of interests among firms, consumers and governments as well. Finally, we integrate the analysis of international R&D collaboration and strategic trade policies, and demonstrate how an asymmetric equilibrium arises from an international trade model with symmetric countries and symmetric firms, and study whether it is sometimes possible to improve national welfare by jointly implementing trade and industrial policies.

This paper discusses the role played by Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the way in which they potentially contribute to the constitutionalization of such Regional Trade Agreements. The European Court of Justice has played a major role in the constitutionalization of the European Union due to the preliminary reference procedure, as well as the principles of direct effect and supremacy. The lack of availability to NAFTA Dispute Resolution Mechanisms of the principles which are so influential with the European Court of Justice mean that NAFTA’s Dispute Resolution Mechanisms are unable to drive constitutionalization in a manner similar to the ECJ. Chapter 11 of NAFTA however has the potential to act as a agent of constitutionalization within the scope of international investment law, but not of NAFTA itself.

This paper discusses the role played by Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the way in which they potentially contribute to the constitutionalization of such Regional Trade Agreements. The European Court of Justice has played a major role in the constitutionalization of the European Union due to the preliminary reference procedure, as well as the principles of direct effect and supremacy. The lack of availability to NAFTA Dispute Resolution Mechanisms of the principles which are so influential with the European Court of Justice mean that NAFTA’s Dispute Resolution Mechanisms are unable to drive constitutionalization in a manner similar to the ECJ. Chapter 11 of NAFTA however has the potential to act as a agent of constitutionalization within the scope of international investment law, but not of NAFTA itself.