This thesis analyses the consistency of WTO law with international environmental law and general international law in the field of trade and environment. GATT obligations require trade measures to comply with national treatment (Article III) and most –favoured nation treatment (Article I) and to prohibit import and export restrictions (Article XI). GATT exceptions permit measures to protect human, animal or plant life or health (Article XX(b)) and to conserve exhaustible natural resources (Article XX(g). This thesis analyses the consistency of unilateral and multilateral environmental measures with these GATT obligations and exceptions. It argues that the Article XX exceptions should be interpreted according to the proximity of interest between the country using trade restrictions and the environmental problem. It argues further that Article XX should be interpreted in accordance with customary international law regarding sovereign equality, non-intervention and the doctrine of necessity. Applying the principle of sovereign equality to WTO rights, this thesis proposes that WTO provisions be designed and interpreted to compensate for the economic inequality of WTO members in order to ensure equal access to WTO rights. Moreover, the principle of non-intervention should be applied in the WTO context to prohibit economic coercion. Unilateral environmental trade restrictions fail both tests. They use economic coercion to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign States and are available in practice only to countries with significant market power. However, the doctrine of necessity may be invoked to excuse the non-observance of WTO and other international obligations to permit the use of trade restrictions to address urgent environmental problems with which the enacting country has a jurisdictional nexus.

We develop a dynamic model that explicitly considers the trans-boundary pollution problem between two asymmetric countries. We found that the countries will enjoy higher long run growth rates and a higher environmental quality when they coordinate their environmental policies. Furthermore, the two countries suffer more heavily not cooperating with each other when their attitudes towards a cleaner environment differ greatly. The implication is that despite the inherent differences in their development level and in their environmental attitudes, developed and developing countries are strongly encouraged to cooperate environmentally. In the second part of the thesis, we turn the focus to the role of international trade in relation to economic growth and the environment. We found that the long run growth rates of the countries are lower when they engage in international trade, no matter whether the environmental externality is internalised or not. The impact of trade on welfare however is ambiguous. / Thesis (M.Ec.)--School of Economics, 2004.

The documentary letters of credit transaction is the most common method of payment for goods in international trade. Its use has been considered so important that it is referred to as the �lifeblood� of international commerce. The purpose of this thesis is, through analysing the present regime of documentary credit established under the The Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, 1993 Revision (�UCP�), to identify the rights and duties of all parties in such transactions and the reasons for the frequent occurrence of fraudulent activities associated with the documents required under the credits. It identifies that the present system fails to either encourage or implement substantial realisation of �reasonable care� or �good faith� on the part of the banks, or realisation of the requirement of �good faith� from beneficiaries. As a result, the independence principle has been left without substance, with resulting huge opportunities for fraudsters to cheat on the documents and obtain payment without the need to actually perform their duties to banks and buyers. Such issues have become more acute against the background of an underlying shift in the allocation of risk between the respective parties to letters of credit. There has been a depreciation in the value of the primary document of title and security held by the issue, the bill of lading, with the advent of container shipping. As the letter of credit system is wholly dependent on the integrity of the documents, it is being undermined by these developments. This has represented a shift in the traditional scheme of risk allocation from the seller to the bank. In practice, banks have taken countermeasures by insisting that applicants provide other types of collateral, and by subjecting applicants to rigorous credit checks. Thus, applicants ultimately have had to bear the brunt of costs associated with this reallocation of risk. It will be demonstrated that the UCP does not incorporate adequate or clear enough duties to be exercised on the part of issuers toward applicants, and severely restricts the applicant�s right to sue if the issuer has wrongfully honoured. Ultimately, a balance must be struck between the desirability of protecting the applicant from the beneficiary�s fraud against the benefits gained by maintaining the letter of credit as a commercial instrument and business device. Obviously, there is public interest in protecting both of these commercial values. This thesis advocates that a mechanism in addition to the fraud exception must be introduced to safeguard the system against the ramifications of these changes � increased fraud. The thesis is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 sets out to demonstrate the circumstances under which the respective risks are borne by each participant in the letter of credit transaction, and how developments in trade practice have caused the burden of certain of these risks among the parties to a letter of credit transaction to shift. Chapter 2, after briefly visiting the historical origins of the letter of credit and the birth of the UCP, explores the implications of the dominance of banking interests over the drafting and interpretation of the UCP, how the UCP has in practice excluded the intrusion of other sources of law and the general reluctance of courts to intervene by applying non-letter of credit principles, the implication of the UCP�s assumption of the law in practice, the resulting marginalisation of local laws, and the inequality in bargaining power between banks and applicants that precludes a choice of law other than the UCP. Chapter 3 explores the independence principle and question of documentary compliance, why the system is ridden with non-compliant documents and the lack of incentive and meaningful duty for the banks to check for �red flags� that may indicate fraud on the documents or in the transaction. It will be emphasised that documentary validity, rather than mere documentary compliance, should be the focus under the letter of credit. Chapter 4 examines the fraud exception to the independence principle, the typical high thresholds of proof that applicants had to overcome to estopp payment, and explores recent trends towards the gradual lowering of such thresholds. Finally, Chapter 5 considers practical measures and proposals for reform that would help to redress the imbalance in the allocation of risk identified in the thesis.

<p>Not long ago, Brazil was a country with an unstable economic system; inflation and interest rates were high and the political system was corrupt and complex. Still Brazil has for a long time been a successful market for Swedish companies. In São Paulo, the financial center of Brazil, a “little Sweden” has emerged which is considered to be the largest center for Swedish industry outside of Sweden.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine why a ‘little Sweden’ has emerged in Brazil as well as examining what importance different economical factors have had for Swedish foreign direct investments in Brazil. Theories regarding foreign direct investments as well as other business theories have been used in the research. To get a deep understanding of the subject, four interviews have been made with organizations involved in helping Swedish companies in Brazil.</p><p>The research has shown that the most important factors in the creation of the ‘little Sweden’ has been; access to production factors such as natural resources, the competitiveness of the home market together with the size of Brazil’s market, the financial capacity of the Swedish companies, the fact that Swedish companies could offer products and services that suited the demands of Brazil, as well as the fact that the Swedish entrepreneurs had a long term thinking and a great optimistic visions for the future.</p>

This dissertation addresses three topics on the implications of firm behaviors in creating and adopting knowledge of production, choosing international location for production and market access, and using informative advertising in a market competition with multidimensional product characteristics. The first study investigates the empirical evidence of local knowledge spillovers in Indonesian medium and large manufacturing industry. The second study looks at the link between the patterns of trade revealed comparative advantage and net inward foreign direct investment in five developed countries: France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The third study seeks to determine the effects of informative advertising in a market with two-dimensional, vertically differentiated products. The results of the first study show that the extent of knowledge spillovers depends on both geographical and technological proximities. In addition, the extent of knowledge spillovers seems to depend on sector-specific characteristics and the presence of foreign investment. The results of the second study reveal a significant role of comparative advantage in determining inflows of foreign direct investment in developed countries, especially in the services industry. Finally, the results of the third study show that with informative advertising, the firm with the 'better' product will charge a higher market, have a larger market share, and advertise more. In addition, even when advertising leads to higher market prices, the full-prices that the consumers must pay are still lower than in the case of no advertising. / Graduation date: 2004

The politics of trade after the Cold War has transformed United States foreign policy. In fact, given the surge of interest in free trade agreements (FTAs) and the far-reaching political and economic repercussions of globalization, this thesis argues that the post-Cold War period, reinforced by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, constitute a critical juncture in the history of U.S. international economic policy and trade diplomacy. The U.S. began to seek FTAs after 1989 as a way to maintain its strategic influence in international relations and counterbalance the formation of trading blocs such as the European Union (EU). Yet, despite its hegemony, the U.S. has succeeded in negotiating and implementing relatively few FTAs. Addressing this paradox, this dissertation seeks to answer two basic questions: First, why does the U.S. have relatively few FTAs compared to other economically powerful countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD)? Second, why has the U.S. taken longer to negotiate and conclude certain FTAs over others? These questions will be examined by analyzing the evolution of interest group coalitions and the persistent conflict surrounding FTAs and international trade in general since the end of the Cold War. To further this analysis, the dissertation will study the influence of interest groups, bureaucratic politics, and the role of institutions, as well as the interaction among state and civil society actors, on the politics of trade. The dissertation will focus on the immediate aftermath of the Cold War period, which set the tone for current U.S. trade policy, and will examine the negotiations leading to the agreements signed with Jordan, Singapore, and Chile.

<p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2000</p>

Not long ago, Brazil was a country with an unstable economic system; inflation and interest rates were high and the political system was corrupt and complex. Still Brazil has for a long time been a successful market for Swedish companies. In São Paulo, the financial center of Brazil, a “little Sweden” has emerged which is considered to be the largest center for Swedish industry outside of Sweden. The purpose of this thesis is to examine why a ‘little Sweden’ has emerged in Brazil as well as examining what importance different economical factors have had for Swedish foreign direct investments in Brazil. Theories regarding foreign direct investments as well as other business theories have been used in the research. To get a deep understanding of the subject, four interviews have been made with organizations involved in helping Swedish companies in Brazil. The research has shown that the most important factors in the creation of the ‘little Sweden’ has been; access to production factors such as natural resources, the competitiveness of the home market together with the size of Brazil’s market, the financial capacity of the Swedish companies, the fact that Swedish companies could offer products and services that suited the demands of Brazil, as well as the fact that the Swedish entrepreneurs had a long term thinking and a great optimistic visions for the future.

For more than thirty years, studies about the effect of the exchange rate on exports have been conducted. However, few have considered the combined effect of the exchange rate on imported inputs into the agricultural system and the exports of final agricultural products those inputs produce. This work contributes to the agricultural economics literature by combining those effects. A current concern is for the net effect as the total value and quantity of inputs imported has increased. This research examines the effect of the exchange rate on imported inputs into the corn, wheat, and beef cattle production systems, breaking it down to a producer's budget, examining how the exchange rate affects profitability. Vector Autoregression (VAR) and Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE) models were estimated to evaluate the effects. Daily and weekly price data were used for corn, wheat, feeder steers, ethanol, diesel, ammonia, urea, di-ammonium phosphate, and the exchange rate. A VAR model was estimated to model the relationship between the variables. After having incongruous test results in determining the lag length structure it was decided that a BACE model would be approximated. After estimating the BACE model, the price responses of the commodities to the exchange rates were estimated. The price responses were used in demonstrating the effect of the exchange rate on a producer's profitability. It was determined that, generally, a strengthening exchange rate has a negative impact on prices. It was also found that the exchange rate has a greater impact on prices now than it did 14 years ago, implying that the exchange rate now has a greater affect on profitability. A one percent increase in the value of the dollar led to a decline in profitability ranging from $0.02/bu in wheat to $0.56/cwt in feeder steers. However, agricultural producers should not be overly concerned about a lower valued dollar from the perspective of their agricultural business.

According to OECD statistics, products categorised as electronic machinery equipment (EME) has experienced the highest export growth in China from 1992-2003. Thus, the sec-tor encounters not only a great importance for Chinese export in absolute figures, its high growth during recent years may also imply a great importance for the future. The purpose of this thesis was to compose an export demand equation for Chinese Elec-trical machinery equipment, examining how Relative prises, GDP in importing country, distance to importing country, and the importing countries FDI in China affects foreign demand in this sector. The empirical test indicates that the variables included in this analy-sis can be used to explain foreign demand for Chinese produced EME. As in accordance to theory importers GDP and FDI was found to have a significant posi-tive affect on EME export, likewise distance was found to influence the EME export nega-tively. Unexpectedly, Relative price (Pc/Pw) seemed to have a positive effect on EME ex-port. This implausible finding may be caused by quality heterogeneity of products included in the EME sector and the large proportion of intermediate products incorporated in Chi-nese EME export. / Enligt statistik från OECD så har produkter klassificerade inom området ”utrustning för elektroniska maskiner” redovisat den högsta exporttillväxten i Kina under 1992-2003. Denna sektor är därför inte bara viktig för den kinesiska ekonomin i absolut tal utan den starka tillväxten under de senaste åren är även viktig för den framtida kinesiska exporten. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att formulera en efterfrågefunktion för produkter inom sektorn ”utrustning för elektroniska maskiner”. Uppsatsen undersöker hur relativa priser, importlandets BNP, geografiskt avstånd till importlandet samt hur importlandets direktin-vesteringar i Kina påverkar efterfrågan av produkter inom den valda sektorn. De utförda empiriska testerna bevisar att dessa variabler kan användas för att förklara efterfrågan av kinesiska produkter inom den valda sektorn. Denna uppsats visar att en ökning av exportlandets BNP eller direkt investeringar i Kina påverkar exporten inom den valda sektor positivt. Det geografiska avståndet mellan Kina och importlandet redovisade en negativ påverkan av exporten av produkter inom den valda sektorn. Relativa priser (Pc/Pw) redovisade tydliga positiva effekter på exporten inom sek-torn. Detta något oväntade resultat orsakades sannolikt av heterogeniteten inom den valda sektorn samt den höga andel av intermediära produkter som inkluderas inom sektorn.