UNSD // United Nations Statistics Division

Books

Trade and Development Report 1981-2011

UNCTAD

This review traces the key issues relating to the global economy and development strategies that have been addressed in UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Reports (TDRs) over the past three decades. It also intends to show how ideas, opinions and proposals expressed in the TDR, and the analytical approaches used, differed from those of proponents of “the mainstream” and how they evolved in response to new challenges arising from developments in the world economy..... (more)

White Paper on International Economy and Trade 2011

METI - Japan

The world economy has been gradually recovering since the spring of 2010, driven by emerging economies. However, with advanced economies failing to narrow the gap of growth rate with emerging economies in 2011, the emerging economies have further increased their presence. Global imbalances were temporarily improved through the world financial crisis, but were increasing again in 2010…(more)

Partner: METI - Japan

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012

UN DESA

The world economy is teetering on the brink of another major downturn. Output growth
has already slowed considerably during 2011 and anaemic growth is expected during 2012 and 2013. The problems stalking the global economy are multiple and interconnected. The most pressing challenges lie in addressing the continued jobs crisis and declining prospects for economic growth, especially in the developed countries. As unemployment remains high, at nearly 9 per cent, and incomes stagnate, the recovery is stalling in the short run owing to the lack of aggregate demand...(more)

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011

UN DESA

The road to recovery from the Great Recession is proving to be long, winding and rocky. After a year of fragile and uneven recovery, growth of the world economy is now decelerating on a broad front, presaging weaker global growth in the outlook. Weaknesses in major developed economies continue to drag the global recovery and pose risks for world economic stability in the coming years. There will be no quick fix for the problems these economies are still facing in the aftermath of the financial crisis…(more)

World Economic and Social Survey 2010

UN DESA

The global financial crisis has exposed serious weaknesses not only in the world economy but also in global economic governance. Fortunately, a remarkable spirit of multilateralism has prevailed in the responses to this upheaval. Countries have refrained, by and large, from resorting to protectionist measures. Governments have enacted stimulus packages, kept interest rates low and provided additional finance to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that is aimed at helping countries in need…(more)

Canada State of Trade 2010

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

2009 was a landmark year. The global economy suffered the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, enduring dramatic shifts in global economic and financial markets in an extraordinarily challenging environment The banking system teetered on the abyss, tested by weak credit markets, a collapse in equity markets, and heightened requirements for liquidity and capital. FromAugust 2008 through mid-2009 output contracted...(more)

Italy in the World Economy

Italy

The crisis of confidence that was triggered by the bursting of the real-estate bubble in the United States in 2007 and reached its height with the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 spread rapidly from the financial system to the real economy, leading to a broadly based fall in output and a collapse of world trade. In 2009 world GDP declined by 0.6 per cent,1 with a larger contraction in the first six months and a slight recovery in the third and fourth quarters...(more)

International Trade

OECD

Trade, like every other aspect of the economy, has been deeply affected by the global recession that started to emerge in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. As this book goes to press, we are projecting a decline in world trade for the first time since 1982. Trade is not at the origin of the crisis, but since it binds economies closely together, it helps to spread developments from one country to another – the negative developments as well as the positive…(more)

Trade and Economic Effects of Responses to the Economic Crisis

OECD

This study was undertaken by the OECD’s Trade Committee in response to the financial and economic crisis that started in 2008. The 12.5% fall in global trade in 2009 is explained by several factors: the collapse in demand, the drying up of trade finance, a larger fall in demand for highly traded goods (such as machinery and transport equipment) relative to less traded goods and services, and the vertically integrated nature of global supply chains…(more)

Trade Development Report 2011

UNCTAD

Economic integration and interdependence in the world today have reached an unprecedented level. As a result, the globalized economy cannot function for the benefit of all without international solidarity and cooperation. This was highlighted by the global financial and economic crisis that followed the collapse of big financial institutions, and it has underlined the need for developing approaches to new forms of global collaboration ... (more)

Trade and Development Report 2010

UNCTAD

The global upturn from what is considered the worst economic and financial crisis since the 1930s remains fragile, and a premature exit from demand-stimulating macroeconomic policies aimed at fiscal consolidation could stall the recovery. A continuation of the expansionary fiscal stance is necessary to prevent a deflationary spiral and a further worsening of the employment situation…(more)

Global Perspectives on the Seoul G20 meeting

UN DESA

In November 2010, G-20 leaders meet in Seoul with Korea as the host—the first time that an emerging or newly industrialized country chairs the meeting. Opinion on what the G-20 has achieved since it started to meet at leaders’ level two years ago is divided. Many focus on the actual summit meetings and on the fact that it has been hard to achieve concrete agreement on key policy issues. No doubt the G-20 is also threatened by the syndrome of grand declarations with weak follow up that we already observed during G7 meetings in the past…(more)

MDG Gap Report 2010

UN DESA

The world economy is recovering from its most severe downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The recovery is still very fragile and uneven, however. The global jobs crisis has not subsided, as can be seen from persistent high unemployment rates in the major developed countries and increased rates of underemployment and vulnerable employment in many developing countries. The lack of recovery in employment presents a risk for output recovery as it suppresses consumption and investment demand...(more)

The Day After Tomorrow

The World Bank

The global financial crisis of 2008–09 changed not only the global economic order, but also the way we think about that order. Principles and practices that were once accepted wisdom are now in doubt or discredited. New and fundamental questions have opened. And the search for answers has barely begun. For the countries of the developing world, this conceptual uncertainty is particularly uncomfortable—through a combination of good policies and good luck, they had begun to achieve real progress. Will all that now be derailed? What does the new horizon hold for them?... (more)

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Statements, Notes and Press Releases

Export Radar Explanatory Notes

Netherlands

What is the Exports Radar? The Exports Radar is an instrument developed by Statistics Netherlands to analyse developments in exports of goods and place them in some sort of context. On the basis of six indicators – selected on the basis of an econometric study - the radar monitors whether circumstances have developed favourably or unfavourably for Dutch exports…(more)

G20 Seoul Summit Declaration

G20 Seoul Summit

1. We, the Leaders of the G20, are united in our conviction that by working together we can secure a more prosperous future for the citizens of all countries...(more)

G20 Trade Finance Experts Group April Report 2010

UN DESA

The day-to-day international trade in goods and services is a vital part of a well functioning global economy. Given the large share of trade transactions involving some sort of credit, either insurance or guarantee, it is clear that trade finance provides the necessary liquidity and security to complete transactions between buyers and sellers around the globe. The financial crisis of 2008-2009 brought a worldwide shrinkage of available financing and a somewhat smaller decline…(more)

Facts and Fictions in International Trade Economics

WTO

Economists have long analysed and helped us understand trade, why nations needed it to prosper, and what governments had to do to reap the gains while managing the costs. The many theories you and your predecessors have developed leave no doubt about the importance of trade to growth and economic development...(more)

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Articles, Chapters, Presentations and Working Papers

Trade in Tasks

Grossman

The nature of international trade is changing. For centuries, trade mostly entailed an exchange of goods. Now it increasingly involves bits of value being added in many different locations, or what might be called trade in tasks. ..(more)

The Doha Round 2010

Messerlin

Firstly, what is the “value” of a Round? The long negotiating process has fueledthe wide perception that the Doha Round is not worth it. Section I shows that this perception is wrong by looking at the three alternative dimensions capturing the value of a Round…(more)

External Economy 2010

India

As renewed concerns about the strength of the global recovery started to dampen the external demand conditions, the impact of robust domestic growth was visible in the form of a higher current account deficit in the first quarter of...(more)

World Trade in 2010

WTO

Global World trade recorded its largest ever annual increase in 2010 as merchandise exports surged 14.5 per cent, buoyed by a 3.6 per cent recovery in global output as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) Both trade and output grew faster in developing economies than in developed ones. Exports in volume terms (i.e. in real terms, accounting for changes in prices and exchange rates) were up 13 per cent in developed economies while the increase for developing economies was nearly 17 per cent..(more)

Globalisation and Official Statistics

UK

Globalisation is the shrinking of distance and the reduction of trade boundaries in the world economy. Companies operate across national boundaries and consumers purchase from suppliers half-way across the world. Sometimes the purchaser will have no clear idea of the supplying country if the product is supplied via the internet…(more)

Development in an interdependent world: old issues, new directions

UN DESA

Why does development matter? It matters because we aspire to a more equal world, in which the possibilities of living well are available to all, and not just to a minority of the world’s population. That aspiration requires the convergence of living standards across the globe. Convergence in turn requires the economic development of countries with low standards of living and, in view of the threat of climate change caused by carbon emissions, paths of convergence that are consistent with a low-carbon future for our planet…(more)

Economic integration, inequality and growth

UN DESA

In every respect, the world economy is far more integrated today than in 1980, the conventional year used to mark the beginning of the current globalization. Such growing economic, social, political and cultural integration is to a large extent the result of endogenous changes in the field of transport, information, and telecommunication technologies and in demographic trends…(more)

New State Practices at a time of System Disturbance and the Nasty Business of Protectionism

UN DESA

This paper examines the new state practices of demand management and rescue policies. States have become innovative in the current crisis developing highly divergent responses to re-insert government in the management of the economy (Rodrik, 2008). The paper will argue that protectionism of the classical variety is a peanut-sized problem today and that states learned from the mistakes of the Great Depression when Everest-sized trade walls brought global trade to…(more)

Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia: Current situation and future prospects

UN DESA

The current global crisis has exposed the risk of overdependence of the region on trade and investments with developed markets. Developed markets still absorb around half of the region’s exports, notwithstanding the gains achieved in fostering intra-regional trade over the years. Thus, in a post-crisis scenario, the region is continuing with its strategy of diversifying markets, while recognizing that a full “decoupling” from developed countries is neither feasible over the short term, nor would it be desirable...(more)

Labour Markets Trends, Financial Globalization and the Current Crisis in Developing Countries

UN DESA

The current wave of globalization starting around 1999-2000 (with the fall of the Berlin wall, with changes in the concepts of development and with the ensuing capital market liberalization following earlier undertaken trade liberalization) has profound effects on the labour market and on the employment situation of workers all over the world. These effects are in many cases accentuated by the current financial and economic crisis. The purpose of this paper is first to review some general labour market trends in this period of globalization and secondly to highlight especially the labour market trend of financial globalization...(more)

Trade and Economic Growth

The World Bank

This paper examines the effects of trade on growth among Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement countries. To accomplish this task, the authors collected a panel data set of 136 countries over 1960– 2010, and estimated cross-country growth regressions using an econometric methodology that accounts for unobserved effects and the likely endogeneity of the growth determinants…(more)

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Measuring global trade

Publications

UNCTAD

METI - Japan

Partner: METI - Japan

UN DESA

UN DESA

UN DESA

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

Italy

OECD

OECD

UNCTAD

UNCTAD

UN DESA

UN DESA

The World Bank

Netherlands

G20 Seoul Summit

UN DESA

WTO

Grossman

Messerlin

India

WTO

UK

UN DESA

UN DESA

UN DESA

UN DESA

UN DESA

The World Bank

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