The global economic edifice built after World War II is a source of unprecedented prosperity. It cannot function without open and predictable international trade, and the peaceful international relations that are its foundation. The rules that enable trade are under attack. Social divisions and great power rivalry have eroded the political support for open trade. The consequence is fragmentation of world trade, its separation into blocks that advance domestic producers or favored nations nearby. These blocs are themselves often pulled apart by competing agendas. The prospects are for vastly reduced economic efficiency and - most ominously - heightened geopolitical tensions. The questions about why this is happening, how economic fragmentation will evolve, and how to respond to it, are uppermost in the minds of policymakers and businesses across the world. These are the questions that Uri Dadush seeks to answer. Since the uncertainty cannot be dispelled, it must be better managed.

The risk of global trade fragmentation has increased significantly. Rising geopolitical tensions, a growing number of trade restrictions and a weakening of multilateral institutions have been important geopolitical drivers. These trends have been accompanied by a drastic rise in trade-inhibiting policy measures, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In this context, the EU's integration in the global economy via trade and value chains remains resilient thus far. Yet, a more fragmented world trade in the future would result of selected decoupling between countries, a general re-balancing towards resilience of value chains and efforts to secure access to key raw materials in lieu of efficiency. This would come at a significant cost. Global trade fragmentation in the form of an increase in trade barriers and higher trade policy uncertainty could lead to significant reduction in global output in the long-term, with low-income countries likely to be more negatively affected.

As the first exporter of cultural goods and services, the United States has long held that such products should be treated like any other merchandise and be liberalized. On the other hand, for countries such as France and Canada who are concerned about the impact of economic globalization and the digital revolution on their cultural identity, cultural products should be exempted from economic liberalization or subject to a cultural exception. conflicting views and interests between states as to the treatment of cultural products in international economic law lie at the hearth of the trade and culture debate. These differences have led to serious tensions over the liberalization of cultural services within the World Trade Organization, as well as to a Convention within UNESCO to recognize the economic and cultural character of cultural products and the states’ right to pursue cultural policies. With most states still not keen on liberalizing the cultural sector and the stalemate in the Doha Round, the United States has turned to preferential trade agreements to secure its policy preferences on the treatment of cultural products. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the US government has concluded eleven trade agreements grouping sixteen countries and has been involved in three sets of plurilateral negotiations, with major implications for the evolution of the trade and culture debate.

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are not new, but their complexity and importance in global economics and politics has grown exponentially in the past two decades. Tackling this daunting proliferation head on, this book provides a much-needed guide to RTAs. Setting current regional agreements in their economic, political, and historical context, David A. Lynch describes and compares every significant RTA, region by region. He clearly explains their intricate inner workings, their webs of collaboration and conflict, and their primary goals and effectiveness. Lynch's deeply knowledgeable study bridges the ideological divides in scholarly and public debate, including economists' emphases on markets and efficiency versus antiglobalization activists' concerns over inequality and social ills. By building a middle ground between micro and macro analysis and clarifying technical terminology, this concise and accessible book will be an invaluable reference for all readers.

An accessible overview of political, economic, and strategic dimensions of global supply chains in a changing global political economy.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Global value chains (GVCs) powered the surge of international trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shift enabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, however, the growth of trade has been sluggish and the expansion of GVCs has stalled. Meanwhile, serious threats have emerged to the model of trade-led growth. New technologies could draw production closer to the consumer and reduce the demand for labor. And trade conflicts among large countries could lead to a retrenchment or a segmentation of GVCs. World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains examines whether there is still a path to development through GVCs and trade. It concludes that technological change is, at this stage, more a boon than a curse. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries implement deeper reforms to promote GVC participation; industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies; and all countries revive multilateral cooperation.