International trade

Protectionism’s quiet return: The GTA’s pre-G8 summit report

Simon J Evenett, 13 June 2013

Commentators increasingly talk about the steady rise of protectionism. This column presents evidence from the newest Global Trade Alert report to suggest that they’re right: the past twelve months have seen a quiet, artful, wide-ranging assault on free trade. Little of this has showed up in traditional monitoring. Protectionism in Q4 2012 and Q1 2013 far exceeds anything seen since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Future of the world trading system: Asian perspectives

Richard Baldwin, Masahiro Kawai, Ganeshan Wignaraja, 12 June 2013

The WTO risks losing its centricity in the world trading system due to its focus on 20th century trade issues and lack of progress in the Doha Round. This column introduces a new eBook that looks at how Asia meanwhile built a deep network of supply chains and is experimenting with new forms of regional trade governance. Asia’s experience of open trade-led development offers lessons for other regions. Better coherence is also vital between Asia’s regional trade rules and global trade governance.

Complex bilateral trade agreements

Peter Egger, Georg Wamser, 7 June 2013

Free trade agreements are often signed in conjunction with other bilateral economic agreements such as investment agreements, double taxation treaties, or even currency agreements. This column argues that this trend reflects the greater complexity of 21st century economic integration – especially the intertwining of FDI and trade in goods and services. Economists should analyse the effects of all such agreement conjointly. Failing to do so may result in attributing trade booms to the wrong policies.

China-EU solar panel trade dispute: Rhetoric versus reality

Simon J Evenett, 5 June 2013

This week, the European Commission will almost certainly impose substantial interim tariffs on solar panels that it believes Chinese firms are dumping in the EU. This column explores the recent history of this case, including public clashes not only between the Commission and China but also between EU member states and Brussels. What’s actually new in this case isn’t so obvious.

How big are productivity gains from FDI?

Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Christian Fons-Rosen, Bent E. Sørensen, Carolina Villegas-Sanchez, Vadym Volosovych, 4 June 2013

During the decades of globalisation, flows of foreign direct investment have surged in parallel with extensive policy momentum. This column examines whether the net aggregate gain from FDI is positive using a large panel of firms from 30 European countries. It turns out that even very large increases in FDI are not important for country-level productivity growth.