Trade, Infrastructure, and Development

Developing an Information Infrastructure for International Trade

Regulators in international trade are facing a difficult challenge of increasing control and security while lowering the administrative burden for traders. The European Commission has introduced the concept of “trusted traders”: certified traders that are in control of their business. Trusted traders are entitled to trade facilitations, faster border crossing, and fewer physical inspections. To...

Institutions, Trade and Development

I In 1961 Burenstam Linder (1961) rocked the boat of the prevailing Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory by noting that much of international trade, particularly in manufactures, was among similar countries, not between countries with disparate factor endowments (as between rich and poor countries). His explanation was in terms of demand, more trade taking place among relatively rich countries with sim...

Trade and Development

This view of trade is widely shared by the overwhelming majority of economists with a neoclassical training. In a recent survey of graduate students at the six top economics departments in the U.S., only 7% of respondents disagreed with the statement “tariffs and quotas reduce general economic welfare.” (Colander, 2005, p. 189) Of all the policy statements presented in the survey, trade policy ...

Trade and Financial Development ∗

The differences in financial development between advanced and developing countries are pronounced. It has been observed, both theoretically and empirically, that these differences in countries’ financial systems are a source of comparative advantage and trade. This paper points out that to the extent a country’s financial development is endogenous, it will in turn be influenced by trade. We bui...

Trade unions and development