In recent years, scholarly attention on the complementary role of monetary integration to further economic integration in developing countries has tended to emphasise the direct and indirect benefits of 'limited monetary integration' while neglecting considerations of those benefits likely to accrue from adopting a common currency or fixed rates of exchange between their national currencies. However, the decision by the Heads of State and Government of the 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in May 1983 requesting a study of proposals leading to the creation of a single ECOWAS monetary zone has given a new scope and dimension of interest in the economics of common currencies. The West African countries in their efforts to integrate and achieve higher growth and development are increasingly frustrated by a number of internal and external factors including their dependent, disintegrated and inefficient patterns of domestic production, trade and currency systems, in particular, the continuing weakness and increasing precariousness of their national currencies, and a succession of global monetary and financial crises. These constraints, together with the payments and adjustment problems they have occasioned, and the relative unsuccessful experiences in currency management, payments and exchange restrictions within the West African Clearing House (WACH) and the exclusively francophone West African Monetary Union (WAMU or UMOA), have created a need for extending and deepening the scope for monetary and economic cooperation in the region. The Study advocates principally an all-embracing monetary union by means of a common currency as a strategic catalyst and timely element of realism that would create an impulse for national development and regional economic integration. Using basic propositions concerning aspects of monetary integration, stressing in particular the foundations of optimum currency areas, the Study tries to present a comprehensive and analytic discussion of the feasibility, processes, beneficial effects and constraints involved in achieving currency unification in the broader setting of West Africa's disparate economic and socio-political developments.

A maior integração entre os mercados traz novos desafios às empresas que se arriscam no comércio internacional. Para competir no mercado global, as firmas nacionais precisam atingir patamares de produtividade compatíveis com as suas concorrentes estrangeiras. Além disso, existem sunk-costs que precisam ser pagos pelas firmas estreantes no mercado externo. Assim, uma empresa que deseja exportar precisa (1) atingir níveis de produtividade competitivos e (2) ter fluxo de caixa ou condições de tomar crédito para pagar os sunk-costs. A pesquisa se propõe justamente a analisar os efeitos do acesso ao comércio internacional sobre as firmas industriais brasileiras. Observaremos quais os impactos da exportação sobre a produtividade e da restrição de crédito das empresas sobre a exportação. Três artigos serão elaborados. No primeiro, estudaremos o número de destinos atendidos pelas firmas brasileiras nas suas vendas ao exterior. Queremos analisar as diferenças entre as empresas que exportam para muitos países das empresas que exportam para poucos. Também, queremos saber quais mercados as firmas priorizam e se há uma ordem de entrada nos países. No segundo artigo, avaliaremos os ganhos de produtividade ex-ante e ex-post que são obtidos pelas empresas que exportam para quatro blocos econômicos: o Mercosul, o Nafta, a Comunidade Européia e o Leste Asiático. Procuraremos detectar qual bloco oferece maior efeito aprendizado (ex-post) e qual bloco favorece nossas empresas mais produtivas (ex-ante). A análise é relevante diante da atual discussão acerca de qual estratégia de integração é mais vantajosa para o Brasil. Por fim, no terceiro artigo, trataremos da relação entre restrição de crédito e a decisão de exportar. Procuraremos testar uma direção de causalidade entre os dois: se firmas com menor restrição financeira são mais propensas a exportar, ou se firmas exportadoras tem a sua restrição de crédito reduzida. O estudo objetiva colaborar com políticas de crédito a empresas exportadoras. Nos três ensaios, confrontaremos os resultados obtidos no Brasil com o que foi observado por trabalhos feitos em outros países, procuraremos justificativas para as diferenças e, se possível, proporemos temas para pesquisas futuras. / International trade brings new challenges to companies that start to export. To compete in global markets, national firms need to reach levels of productivity similar to those of foreign competitors. Moreover, there are sunk costs which have to be paid by entrant firms in foreign markets. Hence, a company that wants to export has to: (1) reach competitive levels of productivity, and (2) have internal funds or access to credit to pay the sunk costs. This research aims at analyzing the impact of international trade on Brazilian manufacturing companies. We observe the effects of export on productivity and the relation between exports and credit constraints. Three essays will be presented. In the first one, we study the number of destinations attended by Brazilian companies when they sell abroad. We want to analyze the differences between companies that export to many countries, and companies that attend a few ones. Also, we want to know which markets Brazilian firms prioritize and if there is an order of entry in international markets. In the second essay, we evaluate ex-ante and ex-post productivity gains which are obtained by companies that export to four economic blocs: the Mercosur, the Nafta, the European Community and the East Asia. We want to discover which bloc offers the higher learning-effect (ex-post) and which bloc favors the most productive firms (ex-ante). In the third essay, we treat the relation between credit constraints and the decision to export. We test a direction of causality between the two: if companies with less credit constraints have more chances to export or if exporting firms have less credit constraints than domestic firms and novice exporters.

The thesis deals with the opportunities and problems created for an oil economy by the price rise of 1973 with a special reference to Iran, and it is, as far as the author is aware, the first study to analyse the socio-economic performance of the Shah's regime in the subsequent period. We studied the Government's policies in the use of oil revenues, stressing the failure to pursue productive and social goals which would have been feasible. The data employed are based mainly on the Government budget, supplemented by figures on trade, national income, prices, employment, etc. The study includes two conceptual chapters, and the rest is empirical. The conceptual chapters argue that the opportunities provided by oil cannot last for ever; an oil economy should gradually diversify output and exports 'out of' this exhaustible resource, specialisation in which involves risks. We envisage diversification in a novel sense, as a dynamic concept interrelated with oil price and depletion policies, as a part of general development strategy. The economy may first go 'into' oil to raise revenues with the intention of diversifying 'out of' it in the long run. The revenues should be spent on accelerating the growth of non-oil GDP, paying due attention to basic needs. Development is the ultimate aim, diversification is the result; it is also the means through which development takes place. Developing the Kalecki approach to explain problems of acceleration of growth in an oil economy, we hypothesise that while the OPEC agreement raises the means to· diversification, its achievement is limited by i) various 'physical bottlenecks', and ii) institutional factors. Iran's experience shows that Kalecki over-stressed the role of imports in accelerating growth and combating inflation. Even where foreign exchange is ample, an increase in the rate of growth could nevertheless be limited by the physical capacity for imports, the shortage of skilled labour, the lack of infrastructure, and the ceiling on the rate of growth of 'supply determined' commodities, particularly non-tradeable inputs and agricultural goods. Moreover, a mixture of demand-pull and cost-push inflation may arise as a result of imbalances in both the commodity and labour markets. At the same time, given a strong exchange rate made possible by oil, inflation would reduce the competitiveness of non-oil exports in foreign markets. Outlining a socio-economic frameworkfor Iran, we showed also that both the pace of development and the pattern of distribution of its benefits were adversely affected by Government policies. Oil made the role of the Government in the Iranian economy more decisive than in many socialist countries; but the objectives of the Government diverged from the aspirations of the masses. Its various policies exacerbated shortages and inflation, and they were also responsible for the slow growth of agriculture. In particular, a large diversion of public expenditures to 'nonproductive' uses, together with a rapid expansion of private consumption and investment in housing, limited the supply of physical resources to productive sectors. Further, Government policies biased the distribution of social services and private consumption heavily in favour of a minority 'governmental class'; and 'despotism' was intensified through militarism. The bias against ·rural areas too was pronouncede The study indicates that the factorial distribution of income changed in favour of profit earners owing to the increase in the 'degree of monopoly', as hypothesised by Kalecki and Riach. The results of Government policies were fast depletion of oil, yet disappearance of the surplus in the balance of payments. Economic failure accompanied by social frustration led to the collapse of the regime, leaving the economy more than ever dependent on oil and imports of necessities. One conclusion is that the new regime would be well advised to aim at a strategy of slower economic growth associated with a slower rate of depletion; this allows more time to remove the structural bottlenecks.

M.Com. (Business Management) / This study set out to explore the factors that facilitate the export readiness of emerging exporters who benefit from the Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) scheme at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). I hypothesised that management commitment, management skills, financial resources; technical knowledge, capacity to manufacture and international marketing intelligence have a positive relationship with export readiness. I used a questionnaire based on the work of Van Elden (2003) to collect data from emerging exporters. I tested the reliability of each scale showing Cronbach alpha values ranging from 072 to 0.86. A regression analysis confirmed that all six factors were significantly correlated to export readiness. I recommend that the dti view more carefully whether the beneficiaries of EMIA have the capacity indicated by the six factors before spending resources on such beneficiaries. EMIA staff should recommend interventions based on these six factors to those applicants who are unsuccessful.

Magister Legum - LLM / In most African countries the private sector provides the main impetus for economic growth, especially since countries started opening up their economics for foreign investment. Foreign investments have played an important role in the economic growth and development process. Consequently, the purpose of this work was to analyse the consequences of having a MAI in light of the proposed OECD Agreement, the implications it may have for developing countries in Africa, and the way forward towards a balanced multilateral Agreement. / South Africa

This dissertation investigates the factors that firms take into consideration when they decide in which manner to expand internationally (i.e. foreign direct investment and international trade). Another component of the investigation focuses on what types of firms benefit the most and what are the associated benefits with expanding internationally. I investigate self-selection and learning-by-exporting hypothesis by applying matched sampling techniques and non-structural econometric models. Using a Chinese firm-level dataset, I find that firms that start exporting are more productive than non-exporting ones. Additionally, in most industries exporters become more productive in time. I then investigate how income inequality leads firms to make different choices on how they expand internationally. I develop a simple theoretical model by carefully choosing a mean-preserving income distribution. I find that changing the mean-preserving parameter of the income distribution affects market demand for firms' products and firms' choosing of strategies for international expansion. Some, but not all firms gain market shares due to larger market size caused by the more concentrated income distribution around the mean. Using Gini coefficient as the proxy for income distribution, I demonstrate empirically that some firms gain market shares and benefit from more consumers becoming part of the middle class due to the corresponding change in income distribution. I also study the aggregate implication of opening the economy in a two-country Dynamic Stochastic Equilibrium in which firms have heterogeneous productivity in the spirit of Melitz (2003). I show that benefits incurred by international engagement are not equally distributed among firms. I separate firms into four categories based on their productivity levels. The highest productivity firms gain the most by breaking into a new market as multinationals. The second highest productivity firms become exporters and obtain the second largest market share. The third highest productivity firms only serve the domestic market, while the lowest productivity firms exit the market.

The first two chapters study the effect of foreign lobbies on trade policy of a country which is a member of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). They rely on a monopolistically competitive political economy model in which the government determines external tariffs endogenously. In the first paper the effect of foreign lobbying under the FTA is examined empirically using Canadian industry-level trade data that allow differentiating of lobby groups by the country of origin. The analysis suggests that the presence of foreign lobbying has a significant effect on the domestic trade policy: the presence of an organized lobbying group in an FTA partner country tends to raise trade barriers while an organized lobbying group of exporters from outside of the FTA is associated with less protection. The second paper analyses political viability of FTAs and their effect on the world trading system in the presence of lobbying by organized foreign interest groups. I show that the FTA in the presence of an organized lobby group in a prospective partner country may cause an increase in the level of protection against imports from third countries and impede trade with non-member countries. I also find that foreign lobby may encourage the local government to enter a welfare-reducing trade-diverting FTA. Finally, I show that the FTA increases the lobbying power of the organized lobby groups of the member countries, which can potentially obstruct the viability of welfare-improving multilateral trade liberalization. The last paper shows that the reason for a higher capital-labor ratio observed for exporting firms is a higher capital intensity of their production technology. Exporters are more productive, more likely to survive and, hence, more likely to repay loans. A higher repayment probability causes creditors to charge lower interest rate and reduces the marginal cost of the firm when a more capital-intensive technology is used. Here, a reduction in international trade costs stimulates exporting firms to use more efficient capital-intensive technologies, while non-exporters switch to less capital-intensive ones. This within-industry change in the composition of technologies reinforces the productivity advantage of exporters and contributes further to industry-wide productivity improvement. The results of model simulations highlight that to 10% of welfare and productivity gains of trade liberalization come from the adoption of new technologies by existing firms in the industry, thus amplifying the effect of resource reallocation from firms' entry and exit. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Owing to the increase in urbanisation and disposable income, South Africa offers the food industry enormous growth opportunities. According to Louw, Jordaan, Ndanga and Kirsten (2008: 287), supermarkets have become vital role players in South African food consumption. Within this market, it is especially important to note that “preferences for high quality… foods are emerging” (Louw et al, 2008:288). This highlights the need to introduce superior quality foods to the South African food market. This study took this need one step further by asking the question, “is there a need for a high-quality foreign product in the South African market?” The primary objective of this study was to conduct a needs analysis to determine whether there is a need to introduce a selected foreign product into the South African market. The high-quality product chosen for this research is a meat product called PICK salami. In addition, the distribution channel that would be the most appropriate for the possible introduction of the product to the market was also identified in the study. To accomplish this, a relevant literature study was performed. To realise the research objective, a triangulated research approach was selected and a multiple-case study conducted. The units of analysis chosen for this study were the four major South African supermarket chains: SPAR Group Limited, Shoprite Checkers, Woolworths (Pty) limited and Pick ’n Pay Retailers (Pty) Limited. The data from this study was then analysed to determine meaningful results. From the research, it was concluded that there is a need for a high-quality meat product such as PICK Salami in South Africa and that SPAR Group Limited is the most viable distribution channel to use. Both South Africa and Hungary can benefit from such a business venture as gaps in the market can be filled and both countries can profit, despite the current global economic downturn.

Due to the abortion of the proposed Havana Charter and non-participation of the USSR and other State trading economies in the Charter negotiations, GATT has been acting as a traders' club - a club mainly beneficial to western •market economies. Its rules are formulated almost exclusively in favor of free trade on a comparative advantage and private enterprise basis. There is virtually no place for NMEs to have effective access. As one of the pivots of post-World-War-II multilateralism, GATT assumes a major role in compromising, integrating, regulating and supervising diversified member nations' trade laws and policies. Its legal framework, however, is inadequate to deal with the integration of NME. This is because GATT is framed essentially along the line of market ideology and minimal government intervention. NMEs, on the other hand, discard market ideology and adopt wholesale government intervention and central planning as a basic form of economy. While trading practice in NMEs is basically incompatible with the GATT-promoted free trade rules, accommodations were made to facilitate NMEs' request for membership. Consequently, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia became GATT members respectively during the 1960s and 70s. At that time East European countries maintained command state trading thus were unable to be fully integrated into the GATT-based international trade order. During negotiations on terms of NMEs' accession to GATT, GATT countries adopted an import commitments approach to solve the central and much debated issue of market access to NME countries. Despite its merits, the approach has been criticized notwithstanding the fact that no alternative has been suggested. Accordingly, the primary objective of the thesis is to rethink the existing approaches to NMEs in order to explore new ways of effectively integrating NMEs into the GATT legal framework. By approaching the thesis problem carefully, the writer arrives at the conclusion that although GATT would need new assumptions with a view to regaining a new consensus of broader international representation and participation, a considerable and substantial decentralization in the NME is unavoidable in order to adapt themselves into the GATT framework. In the meantime, it is stressed that all GATT countries should continue to facilitate NMEs' access to the GATT forum in the hope that NMEs being potential world traders would increase world prosperity and understanding by broader participation. World prosperity, needless to say, is the best guarantee of world peace and security. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, French economy as been affected by a constant and deeper trade deficit. After the financial crisis of 2009, the economy still experiences difficulties to bounce back in the context of a weakened Europe. On its side, in the early 2000s, the Latin American countries were about to go through a bright economic period. In deed, the region benefited from a rapid economic growth this last decade, with strong economies and reasonable political stability. The region is also counting with new strong economic partners like China and other Pacific Asian countries. In this work the main objective is to evaluate the trade relations between France and Latin America. I will explore the context in which those relations have been developed and their actual intensity. Then I will study the French external trade situation and the new plan the French Ministry of Trade implemented since 2012. Finally, I will develop the case of Chile and its relations with France, identifying the opportunities for both sides. Unfortunately, this specific subject is not documented by a large amount of printed literature. Thereby, this work is mainly based on statistical information published by international or regional organizations, and on transformed data collected from government or international institutions databases.