On January 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into by and between Mexico, Canada and the United States, came into force. Chapter 19 of NAFTA addresses the Review and Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Matters. Furthermore, article 1904 of NAFTA, addresses issues related to the Review of Final Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Determinations. The said article stipulates that an involved Party may request that a panel review, based on the administrative record, a final antidumping or countervailing duty determination of a competent investigating authority of an importing Party. The object of such review is to determine whether the determination was in accordance with the antidumping or countervailing duty law of the importing Party. In order to review such determination, the panel shall apply the standard of review set out in Annex 1911 of NAFTA, and the general legal principles that a court of the importing Party otherwise would apply to review a determination of the competent investigating authority. / Since these kinds of regulations are quite new in the Mexican legal system, the interpretation of the standard of review, has raised a lot of discussion among several panelists, governmental authorities and authors. Therefore, this paper will focus on the application and interpretation of the standard of review under NAFTA chapter 19, mainly by Mexican authorities.

As foreign direct investment (FDI) grows rapidly in this highly integrated world, numerous new challenges confront the existing global trading system. Both developed countries and their developing counterparts have been trying to reach harmonious bilateral or multilateral agreements. However, disputes between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and host countries continue to increase as FOI rises. Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) were proposed by the United States in the 1994 Uruguay Round as a way to create a better investment environment in both developed and developing countries. Since many theoretical and empirical analyses of TRIMs agreement are ambiguous or incomplete, this three-essay dissertation will examine theoretical and empirical trade-related investment policies with a focus on the strategic regulation of TRIMs policies in developing countries. The first essay provides background information about TRIMs agreement that are currently employed around the world. It also includes definitions, controversial debates and applications, a description of the theoretical framework for analysis of the TRIMs agreement and the historical development of the TRIMs agreement from the Uruguay Round to the Doha meeting in 2001. The objective of this essay is to emphasize the importance of the TRIMs agreement in the structure of the global economy and their significant economic impacts on host countries. The second essay considers the impacts of the TRIMs policies on developing countries by employing a theoretical model. A dynamic general equilibrium model is used to examine two types of TRIMs policy instruments, local content requirements (LCRs) and government investment incentives (GIIs), such as subsidies given to MNEs operating in host countries. The model shows that increasing LCRs will benefit the economy of developing countries through increases in R&D and technology transfer in the short run. However, in the long run, increased LCRs will hinder their economic development because production of less competitive goods of higher cost will reduce domestic demand. GIIs use in developing countries will result in increase in available resource inputs for relative wages for R&D or technology adapting sector, while decreasing these inputs and relative wages for manufacturing sectors. Finally, the third essay studies TRIMs policies in a CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model of a small open economy, and quantifies the economic impacts of the strengthening of TRIMs policies under a post Uruguay Round scenario in Tunisia. The employed model is based on the model of Konan and Maskus (2000), which concentrates on trade liberalization in Tunisia. In our model, the policy instruments are government subsidies and taxes. Strengthening of these TRIMs policies was examined for 35 sectors. In order to analyze TRIMs policies, another important feature, FDI, was integrated into this CGE model. It was found that TRIMs policies tend to have a significant impact on service and other capital-intensive sectors, but have only a minor impact on mining, utilities, agriculture and other highly protected and labor intensive sectors. Government taxes on MNEs would cause a loss in the GDP of a host country and lower its relative wages, while investment incentives would increase both the GDP of the host country and its relative wages.

El fenómeno global ha venido generando y promoviendo importantes cambios a nivel mundial con la finalidad de impulsar al Comercio Internacional; por lo tanto, capitalizando los beneficios derivados de la Nueva División Internacional del Trabajo, los procesos de producción se deslocalizan con el fin de obtener los mayores beneficios a nivel global; para ello, se han gestado e impulsado en su momento acciones a través de organismos internacionales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), el Banco Mundial (BM) y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), que al otorgar apoyos a los países localizados en la periferia, sujetan muchos de estos soportes al adelgazamiento del Estado, privatizaciones, eliminación de subsidios, reformas a la seguridad social, flexibilización laboral, políticas de apertura comercial y de simplificación administrativa, tendientes a crear las condiciones que más favorezcan desplazamientos tanto de capitales como de importantes volúmenes de materias primas para su transformación. En este nuevo concierto de acciones dirigidas juegan un papel fundamental la construcción de nuevas y más grandes embarcaciones, que faciliten la transportación de grandes volúmenes de cargas, así como los puertos que para recibir a estas nuevos buques han venido transformando y modernizando sus instalaciones portuarias y vías de conectividad, con el fin de responder a estas nuevas exigencias mundiales en materia de transportación, que en la actualidad ya no dependen de los hinterlands portuarios cautivos o tradicionales, sino de las ampliaciones y extensiones alcanzadas como resultado de la creación de puertos secos y de mejores ejes carreteros y ferroviarios. Como consecuencia de estas acciones, los puertos en México, que conforman el sistema nacional portuario hasta antes de la proyección de puertos industriales en litorales mexicanos, si bien recibían inversiones por parte del gobierno federal para realizar la transformación de sus instalaciones éstas, en la mayoría de los puertos, no lograron ajustar la reestructuración a los niveles demandados; por ello se decidió apoyar la creación de puertos nuevos, dotados de estructuras modernas que respondieran al comercio internacional. En este nuevo escenario puertos como el de Tampico, que por falta de recursos se rezagó de esta dinámica, dejaban la posibilidad para que otros puertos capitalizaran los beneficios de estas adecuaciones, que en el caso de Tamaulipas, está representado por el puerto de Altamira, que en su calidad de puerto industrial, obtenía los beneficios de importantes inversiones para su construcción e inserción en el sistema portuario nacional, con el fin de aprovechar que los armadores buscan afanosamente puertos que ofrezcan las mejores condiciones para sus flujos de cargas, con los correspondientes impactos negativos para el puerto de Tampico. La metodología empleada para la realización de esta investigación fue de tipo cualitativo, ya que se consideró que al partir de lo particular hacia lo general nos permitiría identificar algunas de las causas más importantes que han marcado el declive del puerto de Tampico. Para este propósito se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas en profundidad con un número de personas predeterminadas para este fin, que forman parte del conglomerado de empresas con actividades ligadas, directa e indirectamente, con los puertos como agentes aduanales, agentes consignatarios de buques, transportistas autoridades portuarias, municipales, ferrocarrileros, y líderes de opinión; sus respuestas fueron clasificadas y una vez identificadas las palabras clave se procedió a su análisis. Como parte de los hallazgos, podemos citar la falta de una planeación estratégica de mediano y largo plazo, que hubiera permitido prospectar el puerto deseado para responder a las nuevas exigencias en materia de comercio internacional, y realizar las ampliaciones y modificaciones estructurales y tecnológicas indispensables, incluida la posibilidad de incrementar el calado del río o la determinación oportuna de una vocación para el puerto de Tampico, evitando los resultados de una competencia totalmente desigual entre estos puertos del mismo estado, localizados a menos de 50 kilómetros. / The global phenomenon has been creating and promoting major changes worldwide, with the aim of promoting international trade, thus capitalizing on the benefits of the New International Division of Labour, are relocating production processes to obtain greater benefits globally, for that have gestated and driven at the time, actions by international bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that by giving support to the countries located in the periphery, holding many of these supports, the thinning of the state, privatization, elimination of subsidies, social security reforms, labour deregulation, trade liberalization policies and administrative simplification, aimed at create conditions more conducive to both the capital movement of large volumes of raw materials for processing. In this new concert for action, play a fundamental role to build new and larger vessels, to facilitate the transportation of large volumes of cargo, and ports to meet these new vessels, have been transforming and modernizing its facilities connectivity ports and roads, to meet these new global demands on transportation, which now no longer rely on captive or traditional port hinterlands, but additions and extensions, reached as a result of the creation of dry ports and better road and rail axes. As a result of these actions, the ports in Mexico, which make up the national port system even before the screening of Mexican coastal industrial ports, while receiving investment from the federal government to perform the transformation of its facilities, these, in the most ports restructuring failed to adjust the levels defendants, it was decided to support the creation of new ports, equipped with modern structures, to respond to international trade. In this new scenario ports like Tampico, that lack of resources fell behind in this trend, leaving the possibility that other ports capitalize on the benefits of these adjustments, which in the case of Tamaulipas, is represented by the port of Altamira that as the industrial port, got the benefits of major investment for construction and integration in the national port system in order to take advantage of the owners, who zealously ports offering the best conditions for their cargo flows , with corresponding negative impacts to the port of Tampico. The methodology for conducting this research was qualitative, as it was felt that from the particular to the general, allow us to identify some of the major causes that have marked the decline of the port of Tampico. For this purpose ended interviews in depth with a number of defaults for this purpose, as part of the conglomerate of companies with activities related, directly and indirectly with the port and, custom brokers, agents, shipping agents, carriers, port authorities , municipal, railroad, and opinion leaders, their responses were classified and identified after the keywords, then analyzed. As part of the findings, we can cite the lack of strategic planning and long-term prospect that would have allowed the desired port, to meet the new requirements of international trade, and make additions and structural and technological changes necessary including the possibility of increasing the depth of the river or the timely identification of a vocation to the port of Tampico, avoiding the results of a totally unequal competition between these ports from the same state, located less than 50 miles.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006 S. 5-11: introduction and summary, s. 15-99: 3 papers

Globalization abates barriers and makes the world similar, but also leads countries to perform like companies seeking and competing for global capitals. In this competition the „nation brand‟ becomes a critical tool to stand out and attract any sort of foreign investments. In this research, the factors which affect the nation brand, presented in the Anholt´s hexagon model, will be tested through the combination of theory on nation branding and empirical data. The study analyzes how different organizations affect and promote the commercial image of Spain in Sweden. Up to seven entities susceptible to affect the brand Spain were analyzed; the ICEX, the economic and commercial office of Spain in Stockholm, the embassy of Spain in Stockholm, Invest in Spain, the Elcano Royal institute, the Hispanic-Swedish chamber of commerce in Madrid and the Swedish trade council in Madrid. The study also presents an outline of the current context of the brand Spain and its projection in Sweden, as well as an overview on the trade relationship between both countries. The individual commitment of most of the organizations investigated, under the guidance of the Ministry of foreign affairs and the Ministry of industry, tourism, and trade of Spain, appears as one of the main findings. Despite the limited scope of this investigation, the relative novelty of this field of study leaves room for further research in different directions, questioning those who claim that globalization threats local diversity.

This thesis sheds light on several macroeconomic aspects of international and domestic goods trade during the last three decades. The first chapter investigates the causes of the growth of world trade during this period and shows that it is best understood from a factor-proportions perspective. The second chapter analyses the decline in trade experienced by countries in the wake of sovereign debt crises. Empirical evidence suggests that it is due to a reduction in exporters’ access to foreign credit. The third and final chapter provides an explanation for the procyclicality of input trade among domestic firms. I argue that periods of economic expansion affect vertically integrated producers asymmetrically, providing incentives for intermediate-goods trade between fast-growing and slow-growing firms. / Aquesta tesis posa en relleu varis aspectes macroeconòmics del comerç internacional i domèstic en les últimes tres dècades. El primer capítol investiga les causes del creixement del comerç mundial en aquest període i demostra que s’entén millor des de la perspectiva dels proporcions dels factors. El segon capítol analitza la caiguda del comerç experimentada per països arran de crisis del deute sobirà. L’evidencia empírica suggereix que aquest declivi es deu a la reducció en l’accés dels exportadors al crèdit extern. El tercer i últim capítol ofereix una explicació per la prociclicitat del comerç d’inputs entre empreses domèstiques. En períodes d’expansió econòmica els productors integrats verticalment es veuen afectats d’una forma asimètrica, proporcionant així incentius pel comerç de bens intermedis entre empreses que creixen a diferent ritme.

No description available.

This thesis locates the global heroin trade within a world-systems theoretical framework. While the thesis identifies some of the factors responsible for the success of the international heroin trade, the primary aim is to focus on one facilitating aspect – global financial flows of ‘illegal’ or ‘hot’ money. Central to the argument is that international production and trade in illegal heroin are buttressed by cycles of economic contractions within the world economy and by a global financial system that provides the means for the heroin trade’s profits to be easily laundered and invested in the legal economy. To illustrate the utility of these approaches in terms of a world-systems context, the thesis employs a global commodity chain perspective and elaborates the case study of Hüseyin Baybasin, a highly prominent convicted Kurdish businessman who has sometimes been identified as the world’s leading international heroin trafficker. This particular case study permits us to examine not only the complex web of historical, cultural, social, economic and political interactions within the international heroin trade, but also how the global heroin commodity chain is relevant to the broader debate about secessionist ethnic nationalism and development in the Third World. Focusing on Turkey, the thesis outlines the early historical periods in which different traditional patterns have prevailed for the majority of Kurdish people, and explains the disappearance of these patterns through the process of modernisation and globalisation, and how this relates to the global heroin trade. The argument thus provides an alternative, world-systems perspective to the more familiar accounts of international heroin trafficking that tend to focus on conventional interpretations of supply and demand and the activities of law enforcement agencies in physical interdiction.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-155).

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Genève, 1994. / Material type: Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-323) and index.