THE ‘Doha Development Agenda’ of November 2001 puts poverty-reducing economic growth at the centre of the WTO’s considerations. If the development focus of the Doha Round is to be a meaningful operating principle, then the overriding task of the round must be to ensure that the liberalisation agreements promote development in poor countries. In practice this means prioritising reforms which yie...

While there is a large literature on the economic theory of international standards, and their presumed effects, we know much less about how international standards work in practice. This paper reviews the body of empirical work that has investigated the specific question: How international standards impact on international trade? Do they help or hinder trade? The work reviewed ranges from econ...

The creation of a region-wide economic agreement in Asia has become a hot topic among trade policymakers in the region. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2010 Summit Statement clearly states thatmembers should pursue a Free Trade Area of the AsiaPacific (FTAAP) by building on various ongoing regional cooperation frameworks including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+...

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. The right to health is...

In the fast globalizing world, the combined effect of small market size, weak institutions, low human development, worsening terms of trade, persistent conflict and poor investment climate, pan-African cooperation as enshrined in the African Economic Community and NEPAD has been designated by African governments as the best overall framework for accelerating African development in the 21 centur...

We analyze strategic social environments where coalitions can form through binding or nonbinding agreements and actions of a coalition may impose externalities upon the welfare of the rest of the players. We define a solution concept that (1) captures the perfect foresight of the players that has been overlooked in the literature (e.g., Harsanyi [10] and Chwe [6]) and (2) identifies the coaliti...

What actions can governments in developing countries take to make their economies more appealing to foreign investors? One increasingly prominent answer focuses on the effect of signing onto international economic agreements, showing that countries’ participation in investment and trade treaties is associated with greater inflow of FDI. Yet the nature of this empirical relationship remains uncl...

Firearm-related injuries are a major cause of premature deaths in the United States. Although state-based vital records systems monitor fatal injuries, few surveillance systems exist to monitor nonfatal firearm-related injuries. Wisconsin is one of seven states funded by CDC cooperative agreements to establish firearm-related injury surveillance systems. Wisconsin's system, which links hospital...