Free trade zone

About: Free trade zone is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1482 publications have been published within this topic receiving 18866 citations.

Trading on Time

Abstract: The authors determine how time delays affect international trade using newly collected World Bank data on the days it takes to move standard cargo from the factory gate to the ship in 126 countries. They estimate a modified gravity equation, controlling for endogeneity and remoteness. On average, each additional day that a product is delayed prior to being shipped reduces trade by at least 1 percent. Put differently, each day is equivalent to a country distancing itself from its trade partners by 70 kilometers on average. Delays have an even greater impact on developing country exports and exports of time-sensitive goods, such as perishable agricultural products. In particular, a day's delay reduces a country's relative exports of time-sensitive to time-insensitive agricultural goods by 6 percent.

The move toward free trade zones

Abstract: From World War I1 until about 1980, regional free trade agreements and global trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) could reasonably be seen as complements rather than substitutes-as two aspects of a broad march toward increasingly open international markets. Since then, however, the two have moved in opposite directions. The 1980s were marked by stunning and unexpected success for regional trading blocs. In Europe, the European Community (EC) not only enlarged itself to include the new democracies of Southern Europe, but made a lunge for an even higher degree of economic unity with the cluster of market-integrating measures referred to as "1992." In North America, Canada ended a century of ambivalence about regional integration by signing a free trade agreement (which is also to an important extent an investment agreement) with the United States; even more startlingly, the reformist Salinas government in Mexico has sought, and appears likely to get, the same thing. And in East Asia, 'while formal moves toward regional free trade are absent, there was after 1985 a noticeable increase in Japanese investment in and imports from the region's new manufacturing exporters.

From natural resources to the knowledge economy : trade and job quality

Abstract: Addresses concerns about the impact of trade in Latin American and Caribbean economies on natural resources, jobs, and economic development. Cites the experience of Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the U.S., as well as Latin American countries, to show how successful economies have been built on the basis of primary commodity exports.

The Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment in China

Abstract: Foreign direct investment (FDI) has played a major role in China's push toward a market-oriented economy. Recent inflows account for 40 percent of combined flows of FDI to all developing countries, making China the biggest developing country FDI recipient. This record is impressive, but certain problems must be overcome if FDI is to continue to help sustain the country's record growth rate and further its economic development. For one thing, FDI in China is highly concentrated geographically, and its sector distribution is highly uneven. The authors empirically analyze the geographic determinants of FDI in China. They find that FDI's geographical distribution in China is determined mostly by GNP, infrastructure development, level of general education, and coastal location. Although the sectoral distribution of FDI is coming into line with the rest of the world, in the past, FDI has been biased toward speculative types of investment, especially in the real estate sector.

Global Value Chains in a Postcrisis World: A Development Perspective

Abstract: The world is in the midst of a sporadic and painful recovery from the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s’ Great Depression. The unprecedented scale of the crisis and the speed of its transmission have revealed the interdependence of the global economy and the increasing reliance by businesses on global value chains (GVCs). These chains represent the process of ever-finer specialization and geographic fragmentation of production, with the more labor-intensive portions transferred to developing countries. As the recovery unfolds, it is time to take stock of the aftereffects and to draw lessons for the future. Have we experienced the first global crisis of the 21st century or a more structural crisis of globalization? Will global trade, demand, and production look the same as before, or have fundamental changes occurred? How have lead firms responded to the crisis? Have they changed their supply chain strategies? Who are the winners and losers of the crisis? Where are the engines of recovery? After reviewing the mechanisms underpinning the transmission of economic shocks in a world economy where trade and GVCs play increasing roles, the book assesses the impact of the crisis on global trade, production, and demand in a variety of sectors, including apparel, automobiles, electronics, commodities, and off-shore services. The book offers insights on the challenges and opportunities for developing countries, with a particular focus on entry and upgrading possibilities in GVCs postcrisis. Business strategies and related changes in GVCs are also examined, and the book offers concrete policy recommendations and suggests a number of interventions that would allow developing countries to better harness the benefits of the recovery.