Regional integration is not a new phenomenon in Africa. It can be traced back to the creation of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in 1917, which was the world's first customs union. Upon gaining independence, states formed the Organization of African Unity (OAU). At that time, Heads of States viewed regional integration as a protectionist measure against colonialism and as a way of forming a self-sustaining continent. However, the additional challenges facing Africa over time prompted various initiatives by Heads of States which were aimed at deepening integration on the continent. Notable actions include the signing of the Abuja Treaty, which established the African Economic Community (AEC), and the replacement of the OAU by the African Union (AU). Further, the continent experienced an increase in the number of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and there are now fourteen RECs. Despite the steps taken to further integration, the success of such regional integration on the continent has been minimal and Africa has become even more marginalized on the global market. This lack in progression can be attributed to challenges such as inadequate resources, overlapping memberships in multiple RECs and duplicated programmes and efforts. Another challenge that is not readily recognized is the lack of attention to the role of law in economic integration. RECs have largely focused on the economic and political aspects of regional integration but have given minimal attention to the necessity of a strong legal foundation. RECs develop community law and these laws should be enforceable within Member States. However, due to the weak legal systems of RECs in Africa that do not make community law supreme, enforceability of this law has proven challenging. Comparatively, other RECs such as the European Union, have achieved deeper levels of integration and this can partly be attributed to the strong legal systems that have been developed. It is on the basis of this challenge that this study is conducted. The study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the weaknesses of existing legal systems of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The study further analyses the manner in which other RECs, such as the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, have successfully integrated through law, with the aim of identifying solutions for the existing weaknesses in Southern Africa.

Climate change is the most obvious and pressing impairment of the biological, physical, and chemical systems. To help mitigate this unprecedented problem, I present heads of state, policymakers, and members of civil society with a set of new provisions that they can include in their trade agreements to drive emissions reduction from countries inside and outside of their trade agreements, maintain their ability to compete in an increasingly globalized world, and comply with international trading rules. Ultimately, I seek to demonstrate the untapped potential for leveraging trade agreements to reduce emissions in the midst of an international system that lacks concerted climate action. In light of humanity’s inadequate efforts to address the immense threats posed by a changing climate, decentralized efforts, such as these, are increasingly essential to reduce emissions.

Submitted by Marcos Ritel Franco Júnior (marcosritel@gmail.com) on 2016-04-13T20:51:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 diss_MarcosRitel_final.pdf: 679285 bytes, checksum: f12011f49419f56a55fe0863eb8eb086 (MD5) / Rejected by Letícia Monteiro de Souza (leticia.dsouza@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Marcos, Favor alterar seu trabalho de acordo com as normas ABNT: 1 – a fonte padrão deve ser Times New Roman, tamanho 12. 2 – capa: O nome Getulio não tem acento. Favor arrumar em todas as páginas que constam o nome da Fundação. 3 – Agradecimentos: Deve constar em caixa alta (o título) e o texto deve estar formatado normalmente, sem o pulo de linhas. on 2016-04-14T14:06:14Z (GMT) / Submitted by Marcos Ritel Franco Júnior (marcosritel@gmail.com) on 2016-04-14T18:10:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 diss_MarcosRitel_final.pdf: 609592 bytes, checksum: 9af885fd5d9dccd2ef6e98b967883279 (MD5) / Rejected by Letícia Monteiro de Souza (leticia.dsouza@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Marcos, Favor alterar o tamanho dos títulos para 12px. Caso esteja correto, favor mandar o arquivo em word por e-mail para que eu confira. Atenciosamente, Letícia Monteiro 3799-3631 leticia.dsouza@fgv.br on 2016-04-14T18:18:00Z (GMT) / Submitted by Marcos Ritel Franco Júnior (marcosritel@gmail.com) on 2016-04-14T18:38:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 diss_MarcosRitel_final.pdf: 609592 bytes, checksum: 9af885fd5d9dccd2ef6e98b967883279 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Letícia Monteiro de Souza (leticia.dsouza@fgv.br) on 2016-04-14T18:39:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 diss_MarcosRitel_final.pdf: 609592 bytes, checksum: 9af885fd5d9dccd2ef6e98b967883279 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-14T19:58:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 diss_MarcosRitel_final.pdf: 609592 bytes, checksum: 9af885fd5d9dccd2ef6e98b967883279 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-21 / This dissertation uses an empirical gravity equation approach to study the relationship between nonreciprocal trade agreements (NRTAs) and members’ trade flows. Estimations relate bilateral imports to trade policy variables using a very comprehensive dataset with over fifty years of data. Results show that meager average trade effects exist only if members are excluded from the world trading system or if they are very poor. As trade flows between NRTA members are already rising before their creation, results also suggest a strong endogeneity concerning their formation. Moreover, estimations show that uncertainty and discretion tend to critically hinder NRTA’s performance. On the other hand, reciprocal trade agreements show the opposite pattern regardless of members’ income status.Encouraging developing countries’ openness to trade through reciprocal liberalization emerges consequently as a possible policy implication. / Esta dissertação estuda a relação entre acordos comerciais não recíprocos e fluxos de comércio entre seus membros. Com o auxílio de equações de gravidade e uma base de dados bastante extensa, estimam-se regressões que permitem observar o impacto de variáveis de política comercial em fluxos bilaterais de comércio. Os resultados mostram que, em média, o impacto comercial de acordos não recíprocos é bastante modesto e se dá em apenas uma situação: quando exportadores estão excluídos do sistema multilateral de comércio. Esse quadro se mantém quando exportadores são alguns dos 'Least Developed Countries' definidos pela Organização das Nações Únidas. Nesse caso, entretanto, o impacto positivo do acordo é maior. Os resultados também sugerem a existência de forte endogeneidade na formação de acordos não recíprocos, uma vez que um aumento nos fluxos comerciais já é observável 10 anos antes da sua criação. Além disso, estimações indicam que incerteza e arbítrio são pontos fundamentais que atrapalham o seu desempenho. Por outro lado, acordos recíprocos de comércio apresentam efeitos positivos e bastante fortes independente do nível de riqueza de seus membros. Encorajar o envolvimento de países em desenvolvimento em liberalizações recíprocas surge então como uma possível recomendação de política.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / Yang M. Chang / There have been considerable discussions about why countries have interests in forming preferential trade agreements (PTAs), which typically take the forms of a “free trade area” (FTA) with Rules of Origin (ROO) and a “customs union” (CU) (World Bank, 2005). This dissertation contains three essays with three different models of trade under oligopoly to analyze various issues on preferential trade agreements. The first essay examines welfare implications of forming preferential trade arrangement (PTAs) between two asymmetric countries that differ in their market sizes. Key findings are as follows. First, when market size asymmetry between two countries is not too large and ROO requirements are not too restrictive, the formation of an FTA with effective ROO can be welfare-improving to both members. Second, the formation of a PTA is more likely to emerge between countries of similar in their market sizes, ceteris paribus. Third, compared to the pre-PTA equilibrium, there are greater reductions in external tariffs under an FTA than under a CU such that a non-member country is relatively better off under the FTA. The second essay presents a three country model of trade under Bertrand price competition to analyze differences in welfare implications between an FTA with ROO and a customs union (CU). It is shown that the maximum limit of ROO requirements over which there are welfare gains from trade for FTA members depends crucially on the degree of substitutability of final goods (or the intensity of product market competition). It is also found that member countries and their final-good exporters are better off in a CU than in an FTA. There are greater reductions in external tariffs under an FTA than under a CU such that a non-member country is relatively better off under the FTA. The third essay presents a three country model of FTA with Cournot quantity competition and derives the maximum enforceable level of ROO over which there are welfare gains from trade to each member country. It is shown that ROO and external tariffs are strategic complements such that the higher is the regional input restrictions, the higher is the external tariff necessary to induce firms to fully comply with ROO requirements. It is also shown that an FTA with effective ROO has a positive effect on the final-good trade. But the trade-diverting effect does not occur in the final-good sector.

The North American Free Trade Agreement continues to be a controversial topic, and with the impending implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, NAFTA has been a heavily discussed issue during the 2016 presidential campaign. Past research has critically assessed the extent to which NAFTA delivered on promises made by its lobbyists to improve economic welfare and stimulate growth in the North American markets, via trade and investment. These studies explain that NAFTA has helped to boost intra-regional trade and investment flows in North America, but has fallen short on any substantial improvements in welfare and deeper regional economic integration. However, researchers have found evidence for convergence among North American equity markets, and argue that this is generated by NAFTA. Using time series data from 1990 to 2007, this study builds on these conclusions to examine how NAFTA impacted equity markets in the North American region. I look at returns to each major stock index for Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, and find evidence that returns on these indexes improve in the post-NAFTA period for Mexico and the U.S., but not for Canada. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that exports and FDI are the primary drivers for this improvement in stock returns.

This work focuses on globalization, more closely on the economic aspects of this process. Small countries, especially developing ones are in the spotlight, as they face unique challenges that have been addressed by the international community for decades at least. The success rate of the intervention is very questionable and leaves room for improvement, which may be a platform to elevate millions out of poverty, solve crippling problems, provide access to technology and improve the global economic system. The uniting hypothesis is that that small developing nations are functioning in a hostile environment when it comes to trade, intellectual property protection and debt, which makes it extremely difficult for them to globalize competitively. Economic history, trade and technology are the main filters of this research. Conventional economic theory like market fundamentalism, and international trade theories will be discussed. A holistic literature review, will try to depict the many sides of the argument. The data used will be from the World Competitiveness Report, World Bank's World Development Indicators, other World Bank data, apropriatiate statistical offices. A case study is implemented to conclude the thesis and in this case to evaluate the hypothesis as only partly true, since small...

Agricultural support levels are at a crossroad with reduced distortions in OECD countries and increasing support for agricultural producers in emerging economies over the last decades. This paper studies the determinants of distortions in the agricultural markets by putting a specific focus on the role of trade policy. Applying various different dynamic panel data estimators and explicitly accounting for potential endogeneity of trade policy agreements, we find that an increase in the number of bilateral free trade agreements exhibits significant short- and long-run distortion reducing effects. By contrast, WTO's Uruguay Agreement on Agriculture has not been able to systematically contribute to a reduction in agriculture trade distortions. From a policy point of view our findings thus point to a lack of effectiveness of multilateral trade negotiations. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Thesis advisor: David Deese / The proliferation of regional trade agreements is a well-documented phenomena. This thesis focuses on the relatively unexplored area of non-economic motivations states may have for joining regional trade agreements. It uses the formation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the negotiation of the European Community's Single European Act as case studies. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

From its emergence to its expansion, intellectual property (IP) has not been isolated from trade. However, in the late 1970s, business interests in the United States (US) exerted powerful pressure, leading to IP norms becoming increasingly trade-centric. Hypothesis of this thesis is that such trade-centric IP norms, encouraged and formed by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and subsequent TRIPS-plus rules pursued by the two most active actors, the US and the European Union (EU), fail to achieve the intended purposes of IP protection. This normalization of tradecentric regulation also creates conflict with a range of economic, social and cultural values that have significant human rights implications. The goal of this thesis is to: (a) critically examine this predominance of trade in contemporary IP norms; and (b) provide a counter framework for IP policy reform. It seeks to do this by juxtaposing the theoretical and empirical aspects of IP norms against human rights. This study will pursue to prove the hypothesis by conducting case studies on two free trade agreements (FTAs) enacted by South Korea with the US and the EU. The thesis concludes that, on the whole, the context of human rights provides a just counter framework that can unify the diverse range of issues. This is more so given that human rights are strengthened by international consensual norms institutionalised by intergovernmental organisations and supported by transnational advocacy networks. Nevertheless, this thesis advocates that an overemphasis on state and individuals in the human rights discourse needs to be challenged by taking into account the dominance of global economic regulations, the prevailing role of non-state actors, and the culturally relative nature of IP.

Little is known about the impact of nontrade issues on developing countries entering trade agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) represents an attempt to set high-standard trade rules for participating countries in the Asian-Pacific region that require the inclusion of wide-ranging nontrade issues in the TPPA. This general qualitative study explored the economic, social, and political consequences for developing countries by including nontrade issues in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The overarching research question addressed whether nontrade issues in FTAs detract developing countries from achieving their trade goals. This study was guided by the theory of comparative advantage propounded by Ricardo and the focus on trade in goods and services. This general qualitative study used multiple sources of data collection including documentation-primary and secondary online and digital archival data, bibliographies, textbooks, and scholarly trade journals; researcher's notes; and interviews of 15 participants (13 economists and 2 trade unionists). All data were coded using open, selective, and axial coding followed by Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis procedure. Data analysis revealed 4 themes that crystallized the findings within the context of the research; the role, ramifications of nontrade issues, trade barriers, and the distraction of developing countries from achieving their goals-tariff reductions, market access, jobs, and economic growth. The key finding of this study was the interest of participants in wages, health, and safety of workers in FTAs. The implications for positive social change include recommendations for welfare enhancement gained by trade policymakers' understanding of the consequences of nontrade issues in FTAs.