Trade liberalisation and CAP reform in the EU

Europe has underperformed relative to its peers and to its own previous performance over the last two decades. That underperformance reflects a range of factors, from structural rigidities in labour and capital markets, to inappropriate macroeconomic policy. But one set of policy measures that could contribute to improved economic performance in the future is trade liberalisation and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This article examines the benefits that could accrue to the UK, EU and global economies from the liberalisation of trade in goods and from the replacement of the current CAP with other, more productive forms of spending. It finds that the current barriers to trade in the EU, and the resources dedicated to the maintenance of the CAP, are set to cost the EU some 2% of GDP by 2015 if they remain in place. Moreover, this cost falls disproportionately on the poorer members of society.     

Problems in Quantifying the Social Costs and Benefits of Gambling

A bstract .   As casinos and other forms of gambling spread across the United States, voters and policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in the potential costs and benefits from expansion in gambling industries. Since the mid-1990s, a variety of cost-benefit research has been published, much of it using flawed methodologies. This paper examines some of the most important areas of debate and disagreement among gambling researchers, and explains why the quantification of the costs and benefits of gambling is problematic.     

The Impact of Multilateral Trade Liberalisation on Economic Development: Some Empirical Evidence

This article examines the impact of multilateral trade policy liberalisation on countries' levels of economic development, proxied by their real per capita income. The study is particularly relevant in the current context of growing rhetoric against international trade, which could fuel domestic protectionism and would likely undermine multilateral trade liberalisation. The analysis has been conducted on a panel data set of 155 countries, over non‐overlapping four‐yearly sub‐periods during 1995–2014. The empirical results suggest strong support for the view that multilateral trade liberalisation promotes economic development. Hence, the rise in unilateral protectionist trade measures around the world would likely endanger the prospects of further multilateral trade liberalisation and ultimately undermine countries' prospects of economic development.     

European Air Transport — Uncabin the Consumer

The deregulation of air routes between London and Dublin has brought travellers the benefits of competition; and, hardly surprisingly, as prices have fallen the numbers making the journey have increased. Sean Barrett, Lecturer in Economics, and Mark Purdy of Trinity College, Dublin, compare the effects of liberalisation with those of the restricted entry to the European air transport market. How long, they ask, will the European consumer be denied similar benefits?     

THE ROOTS OF MODERN ‘SOCIAL COST OF GAMBLING’ ESTIMATES

We discuss some critical issues in social cost of gambling methodologies which suggest that many social cost estimates are arbitrary. Rather than using monetary estimates of costs and benefits, we argue policy‐makers should focus on fundamental issues: consumer sovereignty, property rights and the role of government in free societies.     

PROMETHEUS BOUND: RELEASING THE CHAINS ON PARI‐MUTUEL GAMBLING

This paper argues that although there is some evidence that pari‐mutuel gambling may have efficiency, transparency and other significant benefits over and above bookmaking, the fact that most pari‐mutuel systems exist as protected national monopolies has restricted consumer choice in many of the world's gambling markets. It has also artificially restricted the size of these markets to the disadvantage of both consumers and tax authorities.     

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND GLOBAL STABILITY1

Trade liberalisation has played a critical role in advancing peace and prosperity. Differences on agriculture have been the major impediment to a future multilateral trade round. The recent agreement on agriculture at the WTO meetings in Geneva may signal a breakthrough in that sector. This article analyses the benefits of recent trade agreements and examines the prospects for future ones. It also presents an alternative framework for advancing trade, the Global Free Trade Association.     

PUBLIC CHOICE THEORY, PROTECTIONISM AND THE CASE OF NAFTA

Public choice theory suggests that the political process has an in-built tendency to promote protectionist measures favoured by organised interest groups rather than trade liberalisation that would benefit society as a whole. But the example of the North American Free Trade Agreement shows that political campaigns in support of free trade can successfully mobilise public opinion to neutralise the power of special-interest groups. Therefore, it is imperative that politicians and others who believe in free trade remind the public of its benefits.     

Making unilateral trade liberalisation beneficial to the poor

In this paper, we investigate the impacts of unilateral import liberalisation by a representative South Asian developing economy, Nepal, and demonstrate those conditions required to make the impacts ‘pro-poor.’ Applying the Computable General Equilibrium model to Social Accounting Matrix data, we conclude that import liberalisation is growth-enhancing but that, unfortunately, the rich benefit more than do the poor. We envisage a restructured but plausible model economy that requires a transformational period of ten years, and simulate unilateral trade liberalisation but, in the context of a dynamic model. We conclude that improvement in efficiency parameters, reorganisation of investment patterns, along with reallocation of factors of production by both household group and activity type are required to make growth accrued by import liberalisation ‘pro-poor’ in developing economies such as that of Nepal.     

Multilateral Trade Liberalisation and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows

This paper investigates two questions: how does multilateral trade liberalisation affect inward foreign direct investment, and does this impact (if any) depend on the domestic trade policy? The analysis uses a panel data set comprising 171 countries spanning the period 1995–2012. Results indicate that multilateral trade policy liberalisation is conducive to higher FDI inflows in host countries. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that domestic trade policy almost always positively drives inward FDI in a context of multilateral trade policy liberalisation. Countries which initially have the most restrictive trade policy regimes appear to be the greatest beneficiaries of FDI inflows when they liberalise their trade policy in the context of multilateral trade liberalisation.     

CREATING A CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER OF FREEDOM IN EMERGING MARKET ECONOMIES1

Economic liberalisation offers the greatest hope for bringing the developing world out of poverty, but to be successful economic liberalisation also requires political and constitutional reform to safeguard private property rights and secure the rule of law. This article examines the process of constitutional reform in a number of developing nations that have recently undergone economic liberalisation, with particular reference to the experience of reform in China.     

Dead cert or long shot: the utility of social marketing in tackling problem gambling in the UK?

• Social marketing has grown from a fledgling discipline to one recognised as an established means of eliciting behaviour change. Concomitant with the maturation of social marketing has been an increasing focus on expansion into new and untapped areas for behaviour change. This paper examines the utility of applying social marketing to problem gambling in the UK by briefly detailing the development of social marketing and evidence of its effectiveness with traditional public health issues, and its applicability with emerging areas; outlining the situation in the UK regards problem gambling, and why this represents such a fertile testing ground for social marketers and proposing a broad agenda highlighting the potential applications of social marketing in relation to problem gambling, whilst considering the challenges that could encumber the effectiveness of such interventions.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE SPANISH EXTERNAL SECTOR: A POLICY OF TRADE OPENNESS

This paper describes the process of trade liberalisation experienced by the Spanish economy between 1960 and 2000. The path towards liberalisation involved progressive reductions of quantitative restrictions, which were replaced by border taxes. Over the period external openness grew, although along an irregular path.     

PRICE EFFECTS OF SHOPPING HOURS REGULATION: EVIDENCE FROM GERMANY

This article investigates the price effects of shopping hours legislation in order to evaluate empirically the theoretical argument that such regulations protect consumers from price increases. The paper first provides a review of the literature; it then analyses the data prior to and following the liberalisation of German shopping hours regulations in 2006 and 2007 in order to estimate the effects of these changes. The article finds that liberalisation resulted in a fall in prices. This conclusion adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that shopping hours regulations entail significant economic costs.     

Therapy for Capital Shock

The threat and imposition of sanctions has driven capital, including human capital in the shape of valued skills, out of South Africa. Professor Brian Kantor, of the University of Cape Town, assesses measures theSouth African Government has taken, and may take in the future, to cope with the disturbances sanctions willimpose. Internal liberalisation, he argues, could offset any net loss.     

Financial Liberalisation and Economic Development: An Assessment

Abstract.  The financial sector has always played a central role in economic development, but analysis of its precise role has been hampered by the emphasis on 'real' factors in the main stream of economic thought and the static nature of financial theory. Empirical studies confirm the importance of finance to economic development, but are indecisive on the efficaciousness of the widely advocated policies associated with financial liberalisation. To be successful, strategies for financial liberalisation must deal with problems generated by asymmetric information and have policies to promote competition, the disclosure of information and the maintenance of governmental integrity.     

THE POLITICS OF CASINO GAMBLING

This paper examines the politics that has permeated the development and implementation of public policy in Britain around casino gambling during the last 15 years. Casino gambling is said to be always controversial, with many claims and counter‐claims about its impact on individuals and communities. The author reviews the evolution of the Gambling Act 2005 to highlight the nature of the politics of casino gambling in liberal democracies and draws some lessons from the British experience that may assist policy‐making with regard to casino gambling in the future.     

共同知识视角下公允价值应用范围扩展

本文从共同知识角度入手,将关于公允价值计量的争论视为是一种博弈,假设博弈的参与各方缺乏关于公允价值的共同知识,在此基础上分析了公允价值争论的相关焦点,得出公允价值应该在更为广大的范围内应用的结论,并最终提出推广公允价值的相关政策建议。     

Competition and Innovation in Retail Electricity Markets: Evidence from Italy

Italy's 2015 Annual Competition Law, if finally approved, provides for phasing out retail electricity price regulation, as well as the implementation of full retail liberalisation, from 1 July 2018. This is a significant reform, not just because it is consistent with the broader market design for electricity. Indeed, retail liberalisation is a qualifying element of the full integration of the European Union's electricity market. The full opening of retail markets provides a great opportunity for innovation, both on the demand side and on the supply side. This article investigates the theoretical background, and presents some empirical evidence, on the competition–innovation nexus in retail electricity markets.     

The Incidence of Taxes on Casino Gambling: Exploiting the Tired and Poor

A bstract . The equity of taxes on casino gambling in Las Vegas and Atlantic City using recent survey data is examined. Daniel B. Suits (1977) study of the tax on casino gambling concluded that the tax was progressive when he used a national sample to estimate tax incidence. This result is challenged. Tax incidence is estimated using survey data obtained from people who either live in or have traveled to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. On the basis of the sample of people who have given themselves access to casino gambling , the tax is regressive; in fact, it is extremely regressive in Las Vegas. Therefore, in this time of easier access to casino gambling, policy-makers should be aware that the taxes on casino gambling place a proportionately heavier burden on low income groups.