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Jagdish N Bhagwati: Termites in the Trading System – How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade

88 kr.

Forfatter: Jagdish N Bhagwati
Forlag: Oxford
Udgivelsesår: 2008
Stand: Pænt eksemplar

På lager: 1 på lager

Jagdish Bhagwati, an internationally renowned economist known for his insightful analyses and elegant writing, here shines a critical light on Preferential Trade Agreements, revealing how the rapid spread of PTAs endangers the world trading system.Preferential Trade Agreements, many taking the form of Free Trade Agreements, now number over 300 and are rapidly increasing. Bhagwati reveals how these agreements have recreated the unhappy situation of the protectionist 1930s, when world trade was undermined by discriminatory practices (today, ironically, as a result of a misdirected pursuit of free trade). The world trading system is definitely at risk again, the author argues, and the danger is palpable. Indeed, PTAs have created a chaoticsystem of preferences that has destroyed the principle of non-discrimination in trade. The trading system today is characterized by a blizzard of discriminatory barriers, each designed to favor some specific trading partner, so that we have what Bhagwati has called the “spaghetti bowl” problem. Andwhile the big firms in the big countries can cope with the chaos, though at a cost, the author shows that small countries and small exporters are seriously handicapped. He also examines how FTAs are typically tied to extraneous issues such as openness to capital flows and inappropriate labor standards, so that the weaker nations, negotiating one-on-one with stronger nations, are forced to accept harmful demands unrelated to trade.

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