Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016 / The role of international trade in countries development process is well documented. In this era of globalisation, the notion of free international trade has dominated both the political and economic discourse. It is presumed that integration of poor countries into the world economy will be advantageous to sustain economic development. A growing number of economists however, doubted the benefit that could emanate by engaging in trade liberalisation most importantly multilateral trade agreements. Primarily because membership necessitates opening up their immature economy to stiff foreign competition. Nevertheless, many developing countries have joined the WTO with its perceive benefits of increasing market access and integration into the global market. Theoretically, both the Classical and Neo-classical trade theories signify the benefits of unrestricted trade towards the development of economies. This research report investigates the rationality or otherwise of Ethiopia’s accession into the WTO. Specifically, the research has looked at the possible economic benefits of joining WTO as a result of increased market access and pinpoint the challenges the country could face with regard to current account BOP disequilibrium. The economic rationale of the integration of developing countries has been closely linked to the benefits to be derived from increasing market size. The study employed secondary data to answer the research questions and reach at conclusion. The results indicate that for the country to be benefited from the increased market access, there is a need to diversify the export basis as well as adding value to the existing export commodities. The trend analysis with regard to BOP current account deficit illustrate that the trade deficit is widening in the recent time. Appropriate measures should be in place to reduce the aggravated BOP disequilibrium. / MT2017

Thesis advisor: Georg Strasser / Exchange Rate Pass Through (ERPT) is the percentage change in a destination country’s import price given a percentage change in the exchange rate. A complete ERPT occurs when import price decreases by the same percentage as the depreciation of the exporting country’s currency and vice versa. In this paper I analyze ERPT in large and small open economies, and hypothesize that as destination economy size gets larger, ERPT will decrease. Reasons I provide to support this hypothesis are: the import share of exporters in destination economies, the demand elasticity that foreign exporters face, and the proportion of consumer demand to world demand that the foreign exporter faces. I find, with statistical significance, that ERPT decreases as the destination economy size increases. The main reason attributed to this inverse relationship is the import share of foreign exporters in destination economies. As import share of the foreign exporter increases, ERPT increases within those destination economies. Since foreign exporters have a higher chance of establishing a large import share in small economies than in large economies, they have a better chance of passing through exchange rate changes into destination country prices. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

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.

La théorie du commerce international commença à prendre en compte les firmes dans le début des années 1980. Suite à l’échec des théories traditionnelles à expliquer l’importance du commerce intra-branche, des modèles de concurrence monopolistique (Krugman 1979,1980) et oligopolistique (Brander, 1981) ont été développés. Ces deux approches sont regroupées sous le terme "nouvelle théorie du commerce international". Ainsi qu’il sera expliqué infra, la concurrence oligopolistique est restée négligée dans les trente dernières années, alors que la concurrence monopolistique est devenu le cadre standard. Par rapport aux théories traditionnelles, ces deux types de modèles apportent un changement majeur : la présence des firmes. Néanmoins une différence non moins majeure existe entre concurrence oligopolistique et monopolistique. Alors que la firme est capable d’agir stratégiquement quand elle est en concurrence oligopolistique, elle reste représentative dans un cadre de concurrence monopolistique. Cette différence explique partiellement le fait que le cadre oligopolistique fut délaissé. Alors que la première motivation de la nouvelle théorie du commerce fut de proposer une explication aux flux de commerce intra-branche, l’intuition selon laquelle les firmes doivent être prises en compte fut remis à l’ordre du jour par une littérature empirique des années1990-2000.Grâce à l’émergence de données d’entreprises, nous avons découvert que seules une faible partie des entreprises exportent et que la probabilité de participer ou non au commerce n’est pas aléatoire. En effet, la probabilité d’exporter et la productivité sont fortement corrélées. De plus, parmi les exportateurs, il y a également une forte hétérogénéité. Un des faits les mieux acceptés par les économistes est que les exportations d’un pays sont très concentrées sur quelques (grosses) entreprises. Melitz (2003) en a proposé une explication théorique. En introduisant des firmes hétérogènes dans un modèle à la Krugman, ce modèle prédit, contrairement à la nouvelle théorie du commerce international, que seule une fraction des entreprises exporteront - les plus productives. Cette approche théorique devint rapidement le nouveau cadre standard de la littérature et est également connu sous le nom de "nouvelle nouvelle théorie du commerce international". La présente thèse vise d’abord à prendre part au débat concernant la pertinence de cette nouvelle approche théorique eu égard aux stratégies des firmes à l’exportation. Ensuite, elle essaie de plaider, parmi d’autres, pour un retour des interactions stratégiques dans les modèles de commerce international afin d’affiner notre compréhension des exportations et des firmes multinationales. [...] / Firms were introduced into trade theory in the early 1980s. After traditional trade theory failed to explain the importance of intra-industry trade, monopolistic competition (Krugman, 1979, 1980) and oligopolistic competition(Brander,1981)models were developed. These two approaches are in fact grouped under the label "new trade theory". As will be explained further, oligopolistic competition was quite neglected in the last thirty years, while monopolistic competition became the standard framework in the trade literature. These two frame works share a common feature which represents a major change compared to previous perfect competition models: the presence of firms. Nevertheless, a notable difference between the two is that firms are representative in the monopolistic competition framework, while they are able to act strategically in an oligopolistic setting. This partly explains why the former has been the most used. While the first motivation of new trade theory was to provide a rationale for trade patterns, the intuition that firms had to be taken into account was supported by a broad strand of empirical literature in the 1990s-2000s. Thanks to the emergence of firm-level data, trade economists discovered that only a handful of firms are responsible for the bulk of international trade. The most important feature, and probably the best known and most discussed by trade economists, is that firms’ participation in trade is far from random. Only the most productive ones export. Beyond this comparison between exporters and non-exporters, there is also much heterogeneity among exporters themselves. This fact found a rationale thanks to Melitz (2003) who introduced heterogeneous firms into a monopolistic competition model à la Krugman. This model became the most used in trade and is the cornerstone of "new new trade theory". The present Ph.D. dissertation first tries to take part in the debate about the relevance of monopolistic competition models in new new trade theory with respect to exporting firms’ strategies. Second, this dissertation tries to contribute to showing the need to put strategic interactions back into trade models in order to enhance our understanding of exporting and multinational firms. [...]

L’élargissement de l’Union Européenne (UE) vers les pays d’Europe Centrale et Orientale (PECOs) constitue un événement historique sans précédent ayant marqué le début du XXIème siècle. La Roumanie s’est embarquée dans une course sans équivoque aux réformes économiques et structurelles dans tous les domaines, y compris le commerce et l’environnement. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif de cette thèse est de procéder à une analyse des performances commerciale et environnementale de la Roumanie ainsi que de leurs interdépendances dans le contexte de rattrapage économique vis-à-vis de l’UE. S’il est généralement reconnu que le commerce extérieur constitue un moteur de croissance économique, il est également essentiel d’examiner si la Roumanie est capable d’atteindre les objectifs de développement et de compétitivité tout en respectant en parallèle ses engagements en terme de protection de l’environnement dans un milieu en perpétuel changement structurel et rempli d’incertitudes. Notre recherche porte d’abord sur l’analyse du commerce (exportations et importations) ainsi que sur la balance commerciale afin de mettre en évidence la performance commerciale de la Roumanie dans l’économie de l’UE. Nous cherchons à étudier le volume et la spécialisation qui émergera suite à une intégration économique des pays avec des niveaux de développement différent, comme c’est le cas de la Roumanie et des pays de l’UE. Plus particulièrement, nous identifions les déterminants économiques et non économiques qui expliquent le mieux les échanges commerciaux ainsi que la balance commerciale entre ces pays en utilisant des données récentes. De plus, nous essayons à déterminer si la Roumanie va continuer de renforcer sa spécialisation initiale, c’est-à-dire un commerce inter-branche reposant sur des industries traditionnelles ou des secteurs intensifs en travail à bas salaires, ou bien si elle va évoluer vers une spécialisation intra-branche adapté aux conditions de compétitivité, qui conduit à la convergence économique au sein de l’UE. […] / No English summary available.

Nos últimos anos, o Brasil tornou-se um dos maiores peticionários de ações anti-dumping, medidas de defesa comercial que têm por objetivo evitar a discriminação internacional de preços que caracteriza a prática de dumping. Este trabalho avalia os efeitos das ações anti-dumping do país sobre os fluxos de importação originários dos países sujeitos e não sujeitos às suas investigações. Os resultados sugerem que as ações anti-dumping reduziram as importações provenientes dos países investigados (destruição de comércio), mas elevaram as importações provenientes dos países não investigados (desvio de comércio). Contudo, uma análise baseada na decomposição da variável de estudo em unidades e valores unitários revela que o desvio de comércio foi na verdade resultado de uma elevação generalizada dos preços de importação. Portanto, as ações anti-dumping do Brasil demonstraram eficácia tanto em restringir as importações acusadas de dumping quanto em proteger a indústria doméstica. / In the last years, Brazil has become one of the heaviest petitioners of anti-dumping actions, trade defense measures with the objective of avoiding international price discrimination that characterize dumping practice. We evaluate the effects of the country\'s anti-dumping actions on the import flows from countries that were subject to and not subject to investigations. Our findings suggest that anti-dumping duties decreased imports of targeted countries (trade destruction) but increased imports of the non-targeted countries (trade diversion). Yet, an analysis based on the main variable decomposition in units and unit values reveals that trade diversion was actually a result of an overall rise on import prices. Therefore, Brazil\'s anti-dumping actions revealed to be effective both in restricting dumped imports and in protecting the domestic industry.

A queda das barreiras comerciais artificiais entre os países trouxe destaque às barreiras representadas pelos custos de transporte do comércio internacional. Entre estes, o custo associados à atividade portuária tem sido alvo de atenção especial. Também no Brasil, a percepção de que a eficiência portuária é um fator crítico para a economia ganha força. No entanto, não existem estimativas da contribuição dos portos para a variação dos custos de transporte e da diferença de custos entre os portos. O presente trabalho visa preencher estas lacunas. Através de dados das importações brasileiras do ano de 2002, desenvolvemos um modelo econométrico [baseado em Blonigen & Wilson (2006)] que permite medir a variação do custo de importar uma mercadoria devido aos portos. O modelo permite-nos ainda ter uma idéia da eficiência relativa entre os portos da amostra, ou seja, em condições semelhantes qual porto oferece o menor custo. / The fall of artificial trade barriers between the countries highlighted the barriers represented by the transport costs of international trade. Among these, the cost associated with the port activity has received special attention. Also in Brazil, the perception that port efficiency is an important factor to the economy has gained strength. However, there are no estimates of the contribution of ports to the variation of the transport costs and of the difference of cost between the Brazilian ports. The present work aims to fill these gaps. Using data of the Brazilian imports for 2002, we develop an econometric model [based on Blonigen & Wilson (2006)] that allows us to measure the variation of the cost to import a good due to port. The model allows us to have an idea of the relative efficiency of the ports.

O objetivo desta dissertação consiste sobretudo em estabelecer as conexões entre o recente aumento no uso relativo de trabalhadores qualificados (em comparação aos não qualificados) e medidas de tecnologia, capital físico e tarifas, com especial enfoque para a manufatura brasileira nas últimas duas décadas. Para tanto, faz-se uso da metodologia de Berman, Bound & Griliches (1994), tendo a intensidade de P&D como proxy para progresso técnico. A evidência de complementaridade entre tecnologia e trabalho qualificado aparece mais robusta e fortemente entre 1994 e 1997, enquanto que o capital físico mostrou-se bastante correlacionado com o emprego de qualificados em todo o período considerado (1989-97). Já os impactos do comércio internacional mostraram-se limitados e pouco robustos. / The main goal of this dissertation is to investigate the relationship between skill upgrading and measures of technology, physical capital and tariffs, with emphasis on Brazilian manufacturing for the last two decades. We use Berman, Bound & Griliches’s (1994) methodology, with R&D intensity as a proxy for technological change. We found robust evidence of technology-skill complementarity for 1994-97, and positive correlation between physical capital and use of skilled labor for 1989-97. The impacts of international trade were weaker and less robust.

This thesis is concerned with whether international law is capable of evolving to adequately address the adverse impact of international trade practices on the billions of people living in poverty in the world today. To this end, it explores international law’s capacity to integrate ethical obligations into international trade through the hypothetical construction of an ‘international obligation to trade fairly’. Obligations of fairness in international law are defined as necessitating the construction of an obligation to not restrict processes of democracy and distributive justice between individuals and the state. The application of this obligation on international trade is considered necessary in light of global economic interdependence, which has diminished the capacity of the state. An examination of the extent to which such a norm already exists is undertaken before considering the internal and external limitations to the universalization of such a norm. The central obstacles concerning the proposed obligation are identified as relating to the subject of the obligation and the normative force of the obligation. It is argued that due to the ideology and, inter-relatedly, the structure of international law, these obstacles cannot be readily overcome without radical reform.

Po-yan Chiu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Monopolistic Competition and Policy Intervention --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Policy Interventions in Monetary Economies --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- The Model --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1 --- Commodities --- p.19 / Chapter 3.2 --- Demands --- p.20 / Chapter 3.3 --- Equilibrium --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4 --- Open Economy --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Optimal Production Taxation --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Welfare Effect of Trade and the Optimal Tariff --- p.34 / Chapter 5.1 --- Welfare Effect of Trade --- p.34 / Chapter 5.2 --- Optimal Import Tariff --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- Consumption Tax --- p.52 / Chapter 6.1 --- Closed Economy --- p.53 / Chapter 6.2 --- Open Economy --- p.55 / Chapter 6.3 --- Welfare Effects of Trade under Different Policies --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter 7. --- Concluding Remarks --- p.62 / Appendix --- p.65 / References --- p.83