The main goal of my Master´s thesis is to evaluate dynamic environment of international trade with fresh fruit and vegetables. In the first part of my thesis I analyzed importance of the production of fresh fruit and vegetables for economies of selected countries. Next I had described the trade flows and patterns. In the second part I made a characterization of payment terms and trade negotiations in the context of international trade with fresh fruit and vegetables. Furthermore I made an analysis of import and export rules and regulations of the EU. Based on this analysis I came to general conclusions on the trade policies of countries and communities. In the last part of my thesis I applied findings from the previous parts on the analysis of two cases. The first analyzed case is the situation of imports of Chinese pomelo to the EU, with regards to maximal residue levels of pesticides. Second analyzed case is the situation of South African citruses imported to the EU, with regards to the problematic of citrus black spots.

This thesis comprises three essays on the international movement of merchandise and people. The first essay measures the effects of foreign aid flows on a donor's merchandise exports. On average, donor countries tie approximately 50% of their foreign aid to exports, but the export stimulation of aid may exceed the amount that is directly tied. This essay uses the gravity model of trade to statistically test the link between aid and export expansion. The results suggest that aid is associated with an increase in exports of goods amounting to 120% of the aid. The essay also makes comparisons among donors and finds that Japan, which has drawn harsh criticism for using aid to gain unfair trade advantages, derives less merchandise exports from aid than the average donor. The second essay investigates the effects of immigration on Canada's pattern of trade. I derive three alternative functional forms capturing the relationship between immigration and trade based on the proposition that immigrants use their superior "market intelligence" to exploit new trade opportunities. I then employ province-level trade data with over 150 trading partners to identify immigrant effects and obtain results suggesting that immigrants account for over 10% of Canada's exports. The third essay addresses the question of whether tax differences contribute toward the brain drain from Canada to the U.S. This essay tests whether the U.S.'s lower taxes draw Canadians south by examining a sample of Canadians living in Canada and a sample of Canadians living in the U.S. Using information from these samples I estimate how much these individuals would earn in the opposite country and estimate the taxes they would pay. I find that the people who have the most to gain in income and in tax-savings are the most likely to choose to live in the U.S., and thus corroborate the claim that tax differences contribute toward Canada's brain drain. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Using the example of three commodities and three countries, the purpose of the thesis "Trade with selected commodities with focus on fair trade" is to analyse a chosen commodity market in different states. Focusing on developing countries, the work aims to confirm the validity of theoretical models of the international trade. Moreover, extra attention is paid to the alternative concept of fair trade. The thesis is divided into four chapters with the first giving the theoretical basis for the consequential analysis. The second chapter deals with the fair trade movement, the third part examines the concrete industry in the particular country, and the last chapter studies the consequences of fair trade on producers in the Sub-Saharan region.

The thesis focuses on export opportunities of Czech companies in the markets of the Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The first part is devoted to basic political and economic characteristics of these countries, especially after the course and consequences of the recent economic crisis in these markets. Following chapters deal with the analysis of the business environment of the Baltic states by PEST analysis and foreign trade of these countries with the Czech Republic for the past 10 years. Gathered information together with defined comparative advantages of the Czech Republic are used to identify export opportunities of Czech companies in the markets of the Baltic countries. The final part deals with more detailed analysis of these opportunities with regard to the predicted economic development in the region, presents suitable procedure to enter the markets of the Baltic States and the examples of successful exports of Czech companies.

This paper investigates the effects of international trade in a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms where a welfare state redistributes income. We look at a very stylised progressive non-distortionary redistribution scheme. We show that for a given tax rate international trade increases income per capita, but also leads to higher income inequality. Two aspects of income inequality are examined. First, inter-group inequality between managers and workers is considered. Second, intra-group inequality within the group of managers is investigated. For a given tax rate the size of the welfare state and therefore the transfer per capita increases when going from autarky to trade. This second-round effect counteracts the primary increase in inequality, yet cannot outweigh it. Since the redistribution scheme is non-distortionary, it is possible to decrease trade-induced inequality by increasing the tax rate without jeopardising the gains from trade.

Orientador: Rachel Negrão Cavalcanti / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T09:54:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alves_Alexandre_D.pdf: 4348305 bytes, checksum: 220fb238b7f5463312cd8526e051cbe1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A motivação inicial desta tese foi estudar a participação da pequena e média empresa nas atividades exportadoras do Estado da Bahia. Após o mapeamento dos segmentos produtivos envolvidos, buscou-se identificar um setor onde houvesse uma vantagem comparativa natural ou construída localmente. Como objeto de estudos, elegeu-se a indústria de rochas ornamentais, representada pelos mármores e granitos, em função de uma série de condições favoráveis à sua expansão: presença de matéria-prima local diferenciada, com uma variedade de tipos conhecidos internacionalmente como exóticos e excepcionais; expansão da demanda interna e externa por seus produtos, pela crescente utilização de rochas naturais na construção civil; número significativo de micro e pequena empresas no ramo, inclusive exportadoras; capacidade de geração de empregos não agrícolas nas zonas rurais e semi-árida. Apesar dos fatores positivos, a indústria baiana está concentrada na extração e venda de matéria-prima para os mercados interno e externo. Sua participação nas exportações brasileiras de rochas processadas tem sido decrescente. Para tentar analisar o problema primeiramente, fez-se uma revisão das principais abordagens de teoria econômica sobre os fatores determinantes do comércio internacional, dos economistas clássicos às teorias dos clusters. Várias correntes teóricas demonstram que a inserção de pequenas e médias empresas no mercado mundial pode ser viabilizada pela formação de arranjos produtivos locais com a participação ativa dos agentes institucionais de coordenação. Depois de se fazer um estudo da indústria de pedras ornamentais, nos planos internacional e nacional, com base na literatura sobre arranjos produtivos, procurou-se identificar onde havia aglomerações de empresas dedicadas à serragem de rochas que pudessem se constituir num ponto de partida para a formação de arranjos produtivos locais. O estudo empírico foi focado nas serrarias de mármore bege de Jacobina e Ourolândia (região norte, no semi-árido baiano), e nas produtoras de chapas e ladrilhos de granito em Salvador, Feira de Santana (110 km de Salvador, direção noroeste), e Teixeira de Freitas (no extremo sul do Estado). Na conclusão do trabalho, enumeraram-se os principais mecanismos de políticas públicas como alternativas para promover a evolução virtuosa da indústria baiana de rochas ornamentais / Abstract: The driving force of this thesis was the study of the participation of small - and medium - sized firms in the export market of the State of Bahia, Brazil. After identifying its main productive fields, the work was focused on finding a sector industry, specializing in marble and granite, was selected as the main object of study, due to a series of favorable conditions to its expansion: avail ability know as exotic and exceptional; growth of the international and domestic demand for its products, as a result of the increasing use of natural stones in the construction sector; rising number of small-and medium-sized firms within the activity, including exporting companies; creation of non-agricultural jobs in rural areas of the semi-arid region. Despite the positive factors, the dimension ornamental stone industry in Bahia is concentrated on the extraction and sale of raw materials to both domestic and foreign markets. Its participation in the Brazilian exports of processed stone has been declining. In order to evaluate the problem, first a review of the main approaches on the determining factors to international trade was made, by the different schools of economic theory, from the classic economists to the cluster approach. Various theoretical models demonstrate that the insertion of small-and medium-size companies in the world market can be feasible by the organization of local clusters with support of institutional coordination. After studying the ornamental industry on both the target was find a concentration of firms, specialized in the production of stone slab national levels, based upon literature about clustering organizations, the target was find a concentration of firms, specialized in the production of stone slab and tile, with potencial to becoming a cluster. The empirical study was focused on producers of sawn travertine marble established around the towns of Jacobina and Ourolândia (semi-arid region), besides the producers of granite slab and tile located in the Greater Salvador area, as well as in Feira de Santana (100 km northwest of Salvador) and in Teixeira de Freitas (in the extreme southern region of the state). In the conclusion of the work, different instruments of public policy are presented as alternatives to promote a virtuous evolution of the ornamental stone industry in Bahia / Doutorado / Administração e Politica de Recursos Minerais / Doutor em Geociências

Cette thèse porte sur le rôle joué par les coûts du commerce dans la détermination des flux commerciaux. Les deux derniers chapitres examinent le rôle des coûts commerciaux non conventionnels tandis que les deux premiers évaluent l'impact des coûts plus communément associés aux échanges à l'intérieur d'un pays ainsi qu'entre différents pays. Le Chapitre 1 est le résultat d'un effort conjoint avec Jules Hugot. Dans ce chapitre nous estimons l'élasticité du commerce à la distance et son évolution depuis 1870 en utilisant quatre épisodes importants de l'histoire du commerce international: les ouvertures des canaux de Suez et de Panama et les postérieures fermetures et réouvertures du premier. Dans le chapitre 2, j'étudie l'effet d'une réduction des coûts de transport internes à un pays. Pour pallier à l'endogénéité du placement des infrastructures, j'exploite l'expérience naturelle fournie par l'ouverture des routes maritimes reliant les côtes est et ouest du Canada à travers le Canal de Panama. Le chapitre 3 documente l'impact négatif des visas de voyage sur les flux commerciaux bilatéraux. Afin d'estimer leur effet causal, j'exploite une expérience naturelle fournie par les modifications introduites à l'Annexe I des Accords de Schengen. Je montre que l'introduction ultérieure de visas pour entrer dans l'espace Schengen a considérablement réduit les flux commerciaux. Dans le chapitre 4, j'examine empiriquement l'impact des différences politiques sur les flux commerciaux. En suivant la représentation du spectre politique d'Eysenck, je montre que la distance séparant les pays sur les différentes dimensions de cet spectre politique a un impact négatif robuste sur les échanges bilatéraux. / This dissertation focuses on the role played by trade cost in the shaping of trade flows. While the last two chapters examine the role of unconventional trade costs, the first two assess the impact of more traditional domestic and international trade costs. Chapter 1 is a joint effort with Jules Hugot. In this chapter we estimate the elasticity of trade to distance and its evolution since 1870. For this purpose we take advantage of four important episodes in the history of international trade: the openings of the Suez and Panama canals and the later closure and reopening of the first. In Chapter 2 I study the effect of a reduction of domestic transport costs. To address the endogeneity of infrastructure placement, I exploit the natural experiment provided by the opening of intercoastal shipping routes connecting the west and east coasts of Canada through the Panama Canal. Chapter 3 documents the negative impact of travel visas on bilateral trade flows. In order to estimate their causal effect I exploit a natural experiment provided by changes in Annex I of the Schengen agreements. I show that the subsequent introduction of visas to enter the Schengen Space considerably reduced bilateral trade flows. In chapter 4 I examine empirically the impact of politics on trade flows. Following Eysenck's depiction of the political spectrum, I show that distance separating countries on the different dimensions of the political spectrum has a robust negative impact on bilateral exchanges.

This paper examines the effects of a unilateral reform of the redistribution policy in an economy open to international trade. We set up a general equilibrium trade model with heterogeneous agents allowing for country asymmetries. We show that under international trade compared to autarky, a unilateral tax increase leads to a less pronounced decline in aggregate real income in the reforming country, while income inequality is reduced to a larger extent for sufficiently small initial tax rates. We highlight as a key mechanism a tax-induced reduction in the market size of the reforming country relative to its trading partner, resulting in a firm selection effect towards exporting. From the perspective of a non-reforming trading partner, the unilateral redistribution policy reform resembles a unilateral increase in trade costs leading to a deterioration of terms-of-trade and a decline in both aggregate real income and inequality.

This Thesis analyses various representation models in the matter of Latvian tractor market penetration by Zetor brand products and herewith presents all necessary information concerning this problem. All suggested representation models are going to be evaluated and the output of this evaluation is the optimal model presentation for Zetor Group management. This authority is responsible for strategic decision of final representation model for Zetor brand products on Latvian tractor market.

The diploma thesis focuses on the study of product innovation in a selected Czech company operating on foreign markets. It gradually analyses innovation in the different areas that affect it. The thesis contains an analysis of external and internal factors influencing this product innovation. In the last part of the thesis, there is a proposal for further progress in development and improvement of innovation.