Openness to trade is a key element of economic policy; continuing extreme poverty in developing countries is a disgrace. This Handbook examines how concerns about the world's poor should affect our attitude towards trade liberalization. Part I draws on economic analysis and practical experience to construct a framework to analyse the links between trade liberalization and poverty. It shows policy-makers how to identify the critical features in their economies so they can ensure that the poor benefit from liberalization. Part II explores the reform of particular sectors -- agriculture, services, etc., and particular instruments of trade policy -- export subsidies, anti-dumping measures, etc. It presents an economic analysis of each type of reform, shows the likely outcome for the poor, and discusses the issue's status on the World Trade Organization's agenda. Book jacket.

Agricultural trade liberalization has been resisted by many developing-country policymakers, including those in the Middle East and North Africa, for fear it could hurt domestic farmers and exacerbate poverty. The authors of Trade Liberalization and Poverty in the Middle East and North Africa argue, however, that this concern about liberalization might be misplaced. Drawing on case studies from Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia, the study uses household survey data and computable general equilibrium models to simulate the effects of various liberalization scenarios on different types of households in these countries, especially poor households. The results indicate that agricultural trade barriers are not an effective means of protecting the poor and that the benefits from many forms of agricultural trade liberalization to the region's consumers outweigh the costs to producers. If complemented with other domestic programs-including agricultural research and extension, information services, disease control, and social safety nets-the reforms have the potential to reduce poverty in these nations. The study findings are a valuable resource for policymakers and development specialists evaluating the role trade liberalization can play in economic development and poverty reduction.

Non-Tariff Barriers, Regionalism and Poverty is a collection of key articles in three important areas of applied international trade research: measuring non-tariff barriers and their effects, the consequences of regional trading arrangements, especially on the countries excluded from them, and the connection between international trade and poverty. Drawing from 30 years of research and experience, L Alan Winters illustrates the development of techniques of this field and his continued commitment to answering real policy questions at the times at which they are debated. The collection shows the ways in which economic and econometric analysis can be used to answer real-world problems rigorously in the area of international trade and trade policy. Readers will find that some of the research included is of current methodological relevance and some of more historical significance. This volume is invaluable to anyone who is keen on developing their knowledge on trade policy, regionalism or poverty — three pressing issues in today's globalized world.

Since the late 1980s, almost all Latin American countries have undergone a series of far-reaching economic reforms, particularly in the areas of financial and capital account liberalization and trade. This book provides a comparative and analytical framew

The term OC economic globalizationOCO has been discussed extensively in the popular press, by business executives and by policy-makers all over the world. While academic economists have made some excellent contributions to specific, technical aspects of economic globalization, there appears to be a need for economists to discuss the broader aspects of the issue in a more accessible manner. Failing this, the general debate will be informed only by the writings of non-economists. That is the motivation for this book, which is a collection of essays on various aspects of economic globalization in general, but with specific reference to Asia. Contents: Economic Globalization: Finance, Trade and Taxation: Economic Globalization and Small and Open Economies: Finance, Trade and Taxation; International Monetary and Financial Issues in East Asia: International Capital Flows and Regional Contagion: Boom and Bust in East Asia in the 1990s; Liquidity-Enhancing Measures and Monetary Cooperation in East Asia: Rationale and Progress; Choosing the Right Exchange Rate Regime for Small and Open Economies in East Asia; International Trade Issues in Asia: The Nexus Between Trade Liberalization and Poverty in Asia; India''s Decade-Long Trade Reforms: How Does It Compare with Its East Asian Neighbours? (with Rahul Sen); Singapore''s Drive to Form Cross-Regional Trade Pacts: Rationale and Implications (with Rahul Sen); International Trade in Infrastructural Services in East Asia: Telecommunications and Finance; International Tax Issues in Asia: Economic Globalization and Taxation: With Particular Reference to Southeast Asia (with Mukul Asher). Readership: Policy-makers, businessmen, professionals and others with an interest in international economic affairs and international economic policy."

Developing countries as a group stand to gain very substantially from trade reform in agricultural commodities. Agricultural Trade Liberalization and the Least Developed Countries is the first book to address important questions relating to this subject. The authors are world renowned experts on international trade and development and they address a very important and timely issue.

Asia is widely regarded as having benefited most from the dynamic growth effect of the recent wave of globalization. By examining mechanisms at work in the globalization–poverty nexus through specific case studies reflecting different settings, the book seeks to find ways to rediscover and resume a pattern of shared growth in Asia.

By looking at the link between trade liberalization and pro-poor growth in Nepal, this book explores how a developing and transition economy can attain higher and pro-poor growth along with the ongoing trend of globalization. The author develops a social accounting database for Nepal and applies it to quantify computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to investigate the trade-offs between growth and distribution that are associated with opening up the economy and deregulating it. The book presents a number of pragmatic scenarios that bring about the desired pro-poor growth effects in order to demonstrate possible outcomes for policy making. The research findings apply to other economies with similar macroeconomic structure to Nepal; those small economies with a dominant, traditional, and stagnant agriculture; fragile industrial base, weak and volatile external sector, and almost half of the population living below the poverty line. This book will be of considerable interest to students and scholars in the areas of development economics, political economy of policy reforms, and trade and poverty with special emphasis on South Asia.