What is “Normal” East-West trade?

The reduction of grain shipments and the export ban for computers imposed by the US Administration in response to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was supplemented, late in February 1980, by prohibition of deliveries of phosphates to the Soviet Union. President Carter has not yet urged the western industrialized states to participate in economic sanctions against the USSR, but a comprehensive embargo is still under discussion. In this connection it is not only the expediency of an embargo against the Soviet Union which is at issue, but the question how the East-West trade is to be conducted and what is, in the long run, to be regarded as normal in this field.     

Bilateralism, multilateralism, and the quest for global free trade

We develop an equilibrium theory of trade agreements in which both the degree and the nature (bilateral or multilateral) of trade liberalization are endogenously determined. To determine whether and how bilateralism matters, we also analyze a scenario where countries pursue trade liberalization on only a multilateral basis. We find that when countries have asymmetric endowments or when governments value producer interests more than tariff revenue and consumer surplus, there exist circumstances where global free trade is a stable equilibrium only if countries are free to pursue bilateral trade agreements. By contrast, under symmetry, both bilateralism and multilateralism yield global free trade.     

New Bilateralism in the Asia–Pacific

This paper reviews recent changes in the geographic pattern of regional trading agreements (RTAs), focusing on examples from the Asia–Pacific area. The general pattern is one of new bilateral agreements combined with a trend towards continentalism. The new trend towards bilateralism can be explained largely by a fear of countries being excluded from their major markets as other countries secure preferential and superior access to these markets. This pattern is creating many intersections between RTAs with consequential multi–tiered preferences and multiple systems of trade rules. Viewed dynamically, however, this pattern may have positive effects on world trade. It mitigates the effects of large continental RTAs and may lead to coalescence or enlargement of RTAs. The paper reviews models which ask the important question as to whether this process will progress all the way to free trade for the world economy.     

East-West economic cooperation

Beyond the existing forms of East-West cooperation in Europe such as economic assistance, loans, joint ventures and association agreements, both sides are looking for suitable ways of establishing more institutionalized relations. Already existing institutions, membership of which could be offered to the new market economies, are EFTA, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the EU. This article discusses the effects of membership for both eastern and western countries in the light of their differing interests.     

East-West Trading Relationships:

The professional buyer in the USA may be influenced in his selection of products from a developing country by his perception of its state of political freedom. In addition to the standard economic issues such as price and quality, political freedom and other environmental conditions may play a minor but still significant part in buyer decision-making. This study examines the impact of political freedom in the exporting country on the willingness to buy of the professional buyer in the United States. By itself, political freedom is not a deciciding factor in whether or not to buy, but combined with other adverse environmental conditions it may very well be an important determinant in the professional buying decision.     

East-West Joint Ventures in the Soviet Union:

Last two decades of the East European experience prove the enclave model of East-West joint ventures not viable. The promising integrative model presupposes much better structural conditions in the economy. Until at least 1995, structural determinants of the Soviet-based joint ventures will largely reduce them to enclaves; therefore the joint venture expansion in the USSR will be constrained.     

亚太新双边主义兴起的原因研究——一个政治经济学的分析视角

亚太地区双边贸易协定的兴起与演进形成当代亚太区域经济合作发展的新阶段,其意义和影响日益受到国际社会的普遍关注。本文以政治经济学方法为分析工具,对亚太地区双边主义兴起的动因进行剖析和评价,指出亚太地区双边主义的形成是亚太地区各经济体在当前国际政治经济环境约束下,选择最大化自身利益的贸易政策的必然结果。中国应积极参与建立双边自由贸易区;发挥先发优势,谋求以我为主的区域经济一体化进程;协调国家战略与地区战略,平衡经济利益和政治利益。     

从联系的视角看东西方合资企业中的组织学习

合资企业通过组织学习来实现知识转移,提高组织效能与竞争力的问题已引起理论界越来越多的关注。在东西方合资企业中,合资双方在资源、技术能力方面的差异导致了合作伙伴权力的不对称性,给学习与合作关系带来了不利影响。本文提出,为了把握合资企业组织学习与伙伴关系的动态性,合资双方应超越“掌握知识和技能”的局限性,从联系的视角理解构成学习过程的关系和情绪问题。     

试论服务贸易在国际贸易中的发展趋势

随着产品生产、销售的进一步全球化,资本也更加国际化,服务也将进一步全球化。先进的信息技术的发展与应用也必将进一步对服务贸易的发展带来巨大的深刻的影响,国际服务贸易的发展与国际物资贸易的发展相辅相成,在技术和全球化力量的推动下,国际服务贸易出现了新的发展趋势。     

Free trade agreement and transport service trade

This study investigates the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on trade in transport services using OECD data from 2003 to 2006. Our analysis found that FTAs had a positive overall impact on transport services for multiple countries (i.e., 26 home and 56 partner countries). The resulting positive overall impact assures that, even with the challenges associated with different layers of services and the obstacles formed by generally low trade openness in the sector, the provisions in FTAs (e.g., national treatment and market access for goods and services) promote transport service trades. Our findings suggest that the provisions in FTAs encourage economic agents to increase engagement in transport services because of expanded openness of the physical movement of goods across international borders.     

浅谈技术性贸易壁垒与中国的国际贸易

在经济全球化，国际贸易日趋激烈化的趋势下，科技日新月异，同时也随之产生了国际贸易中的又一重要手段一技术性贸易壁垒(Technical Barriers to Trade—TBT)。所谓技术性贸易壁垒，是指一国以维护国家安全，或保护人类健康和安全，保护动植物的生命和健康，保护生念环境，或防止欺诈行为，保证产品质量为由，采取一些强制性或非强制性的技术性措施，这     

New measures of trade creation and trade diversion

This paper estimates the effects of regional agreements on trade flows controlling for country pair, importer-year, and exporter-year fixed effects. These fixed effects capture the determinants of trade flows normally included in gravity model specifications and control for yearly shocks to countries' trade. Controlling for the fixed effects generally reduces the estimated trade impacts of regional agreements. The estimates reveal that regional agreements have significant anticipatory effects on trade flows and continue to affect trade for up to 11 years after they begin. The paper also presents estimated effects on individual countries' trade flows in year five of the agreements.