The essays of this book are contributions to the empirical Literature in International Trade and Public Economics. They deal with the relationship between the structure and quality of the public sector and the process of economic integration. Two of the essays add to the empirical determinants of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) and to the numerous applications of the theory of government decentralization. Decentralization tends to discourage inward FDI and domestic trade and to increase imports and exports. A third essay focuses on the effect of governments' intangible assets - such as consumer perceptions about countries and products from these countries - on FDI. A country's nation brand is shown to have a significant and large positive effect on investment flows.

This volume examines the critical issues facing the global trading system today. As the title suggests, Trends in World Trade honors one of the world's great trade policy experts -- Sylvia Ostry. Sylvia is recognized as one of the quintessential trade and investment experts whose career spans public and academic service in Canada. The issues addressed represent central questions in the development of the international economy. This book covers, among other things, institutional concerns such as the adequacy of World Trade Organization governance and its growing judicialization. Trends in World Trade examines the consequences for the global economy of China's admittance to the WTO. It also examines the consequences of continuing system friction -- one of Sylvia Ostry's many contributions to our understanding of global trade relations. The contributors tackle global trade challenges from transparency to the matter of coherence, and from agricultural subsidies to the challenges of global investment. This volume also looks at the impact of international trade, finance and investment on states and their societies. Students of trade, trade experts, practitioners, and trade officials will find this volume a must-read for a better understanding of the trends in the global trade regime. This book is part of the Studies on Globalization and Society Series, edited by Raj Bhala, Rice Distinguished Professor, The University of Kansas School of Law.

A multi-disciplinary investigation of how economic globalization can help achieve the UN's 2030 Agenda, exploring trade-offs among the Goals.

Peter Bauer, a pioneer of development economics, is an incisive thinker whose work continues to influence fields from political science to history to anthropology. As Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen writes in the introduction to this book, "the originality, force, and extensive bearing of his writings have been quite astonishing." This collection of Bauer's essays reveals the full power and range of his thought as well as the central concern that underlies so much of his diverse work: the impact of people's conduct, their cultural institutions, and the policies of their governments on economic progress. The papers here cover pressing and controversial issues, including the process that transforms a subsistence economy into an exchange economy, the reputed correlation between poverty and population density, the alleged responsibility of the West for Third World poverty, the often counterproductive results of foreign aid, and the effects of egalitarian policies on individual freedoms. Bauer addresses these and other matters with clarity, verve, and wit, combining his deep understanding of economic theory and methodology with keen insights into human nature. The book is a penetrating account of how to develop a prosperous economy alongside a free and fair society and a stimulating introduction to the work of a man who has done so much to shape our modern understanding of developing economies and of the relationship of economics to the other social sciences. "This selection of essays will give readers a wonderful opportunity to learn about the rich world of cognizance and analysis erected by one of the great architects of political economy. I feel privileged to be able to offer this letter of invitation."--From the introduction by Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in economics