The Global Forum website tries to keep track of the ever changing landscape of trade analysis, measurement of trade and trade statistics. The site keeps a database of links to over 150 relevant publications, reports, articles and speeches.
The paper focuses on systemically important jurisdictions in the global trade network, complementing recent IMF work on systemically important financial sectors. Using the IMF’s Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) database and network analysis, the paper develops a framework for ranking jurisdictions based on trade size and trade nterconnectedness indicators using data for 2000 and 2010. The results show a near perfect overlap between the top 25 systemically important trade and financial jurisdictions, suggesting that these ought to be the focus of risk-based surveillance on cross-border spillovers and contagion. In addition, a number of extensions to the approach are developed that can provide a better understanding of trade dynamics at the bilateral, regional, and global levels.
more »
This note provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical literature in the implications of greater trade and financial integration for the volatility and sychronization of business cycles.
more »
New Opportunities and Strategies for Structural Transformation in developing countries
Justin Li
2011
When the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) was established in 1984 as the first research and training center of the United Nations University under the visionary leadership of then Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, its mandate was set out quite clearly: ―To undertake multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on structural changes affecting the living conditions of the world's poorest people; To provide a forum for professional interaction and the advocacy of policies leading to robust, equitable and environmentally sustainable growth; and To promote capacity strengthening and training for scholars and government officials in the field of economic and social policy making.‖ Since then, WIDER has contributed enormously to the strengthening of the development knowledge.
more »
Vietnam has been among the most successful East Asian economies, especially in weathering the external shocks of recent globalization crises—the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and the 2008-09 great recession, financial crisis and collapse of global trade. Its success contradicts its characterization as an example of export-led growth and highlights the role of the state, particularly in maintaining and influencing investment…
more »
This paper evaluates some of the potential effects of EU-US TTIP economic integration on the trade in goods of 43 low-income countries (LIC) listed in Table 1. It first assesses the impact of removing the most-favoured nation (MFN) tariffs that apply to trade between the EU and the US. It then examines the impact of regulatory integration on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT) on LIC. These tariff and non-tariff barrier (NTB) assessments reached similar conclusions.
more »
The UNWTO has always made it a point to study each form of tourism taking into consideration the characteristics of each type of destination--urban, cultural, rural, nature, coastal, or island destinations, among others--in order to provide international institutions, national and local tourism administrations, and the private sector with useful criteria for appropriate planning, management and follow-up action to ensure the sustainability of tourism activities in each specific socio-geographical context. On the occasion of the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, 2006, this new UNWTO handbook addresses the development of tourism in deserts and areas that are experiencing desertification. It is aimed at the international community, and in particular the governments of countries with desert areas within their territories, as well as the international, national and local private-sector actors that operate in them, with a view to helping them implement policies and actions, and to provide them with an resource they can rely upon in carrying out their initiatives. It presents a vision of sustainable tourism specific to these areas characterized by an extreme climate, taking into account both their fragility as well as their richness in natural, human and cultural assets. Last but not least, this manual can also serve as a valuable reference for local desert communities, who are the main stakeholders in this process.
more »
Structural reforms have gained momentum in the aftermath of the recent recession.
This has been driven in part by market pressures in the context of the euro area crisis and by discussions and co-ordinated efforts in multilateral settings such as the G20.1 There is increasing awareness of the necessity to accompany macroeconomic stabilisation policies with structural reforms. Yet, given the weakness of near-term demand prospects, the limited scope for macro policies to further stimulate demand and the still less than fully functioning financial sector in many countries, there is a risk that the benefits from reform may take more time to materialise than in a normal conjuncture...
more »
