Economic research and trade policy analysis
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend their thanks to David Cheong, Emmanuel Milet, Angélica Muñoz Marmolejo and Olga Striestka-Ilina for contributing to the research process. Thanks also go to the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments, and to colleagues who contributed substantial comments on the text, including Tatiana Prazeres, Johanna Silvander and Olga Striestka-Ilina.
Agradecimientos y Descargo de responsabilidad
El Informe sobre el comercio mundial 2018 ha sido elaborado bajo la responsabilidad general de Xiaozhun Yi, Director General Adjunto de la OMC, y Robert Koopman, Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística. El informe de este año ha sido coordinado por Cosimo Beverelli y Emmanuelle Ganne. Los autores del informe son Marc Bacchetta, Eddy Bekkers, Cosimo Beverelli, Emmanuelle Ganne, John Hancock, Mark Koulen, Andreas Maurer, José-Antonio Monteiro, Coleman Nee, Roberta Piermartini, Stela Rubinova, Viktor Stolzenburg, Robert Teh y Ankai Xu (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística).
La cooperación internacional en materia de políticas de innovación en la era digital
Las políticas nacionales de innovación, como otras políticas gubernamentales, atienden a objetivos de política interna. Como se ha analizado en la sección C, pueden generar efectos indirectos positivos y negativos a nivel internacional, y algunos de los mecanismos por cuyo intermedio generan estos efectos tienen que ver con el comercio. La presente sección se centra en la cooperación encaminada a abordar los efectos indirectos relacionados con el comercio que las políticas de innovación generan a nivel internacional. Una cooperación de este tipo podría contribuir a asegurar que los Gobiernos dispongan de margen de actuación para aplicar políticas de innovación, así como a aprovechar al máximo los efectos indirectos positivos de esas políticas a nivel internacional, al tiempo que reducen al mínimo sus efectos negativos en los interlocutores comerciales.
Can developing countries use SPS standards to gain access to markets? The case of Mercosur
The role of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards in agri-business has changed over the past decade, from being a technical instrument to avoid the use of food safety, animal and plant health measures for protectionist purposes to being a competitive instrument in differentiated product markets (Reardon et al., 2001). The change from mass markets to differentiated and niche markets for consumers with higher purchasing power triggered this shift towards SPS measures as a strategic tool for developing and differentiating markets, gaining market access, coordinating the quality and safety of the food system and defining market niches for those products. On the demand side, high-income consumers with varied and sophisticated tastes have buttressed this change and, on the supply side, so have production, processing and distribution technologies that allow for product differentiation and market extension and segmentation (Reardon et al., 2001).
Remerciements
Les femmes et le commerce: Le rôle du commerce dans la promotion de l’égalité hommes-femmes est un rapport conjoint de la Banque mondiale et de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). La publication a été coordonnée par Maria Liungman et Nadia Rocha de la Banque mondiale et José-Antonio Monteiro et Roberta Piermartini de l’OMC. L’équipe tient à remercier pour leurs conseils et leur soutien les collègues de la Banque mondiale Caroline Freund (Directrice principale, Commerce, investissement et compétitivité), William Maloney (Économiste en chef, Croissance équitable, finance et institutions), le Groupe Égalité hommes-femmes mené par Caren Grown (Directrice principale), et Antonio Nucifora (Responsable, Unité Commerce et intégration régionale), ainsi que les collègues de l’OMC Aegyoung Jung (Conseillère juridique principale du Directeur général) et Robert Koopman (Économiste en chef et Directeur, Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques).
Literature Review
Globalization is the integration of goods, services, financial and capital markets on a world scale. From the perspective of firms, this integration means having access to broader markets but also facing tougher competition. In order to remain competitive in global markets, firms have to adjust by engaging in innovation, developing new products and adopting new technologies. They must also adjust by adapting their workforce to the new competitive environment. Such adjustment is costly, however, and workers bear a large share of the cost of adjustment to globalization. In this context, what are the responses policy-makers can offer to mitigate those costs and make globalization more inclusive? This chapter reviews the literature on adjustment policies with a view to answering this question.
Supply chains and sustainability
The concepts of “supply chains” and “sustainability” are highly compatible in their shared recognition of a network-centric reality and the resulting interpretations of system dynamics. Furthermore, the aggregate flows across global supply chains are significant – and increasingly so – for considerations on social, environmental, and economic sustainability. A plethora of theories have developed in this overlap between supply chains and sustainability, including sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), green supply chain management (GrSCM), and close-loop supply chains. These theories and their basic definitions and history will be reviewed in this chapter. While theoretical development has been distinguished in its intensity and productivity over a short period of time, progress is still needed in translating theory into application for the business practitioner. To this end, empirical case studies are needed to showcase best practices and guide the development of prescriptive tools.
The implications of using value-added trade data for applied trade policy analysis
Recent efforts to examine trade data from a value-added perspective, and linking that work to global value and supply chains, has largely been driven by the recognition that traditional data on imports and exports may be masking the increasingly crossborder nature of global production networks. In this paper we examine how using new data sets on value-added trade in two traditional empirical models, a trade-based computable general equilibrium model and an econometric estimation of exchange rate pass through, generate new and useful insights. Our results suggest that the new data sets could improve empirical information used to support policy making.
Introducción
su diseño, su tamaño, su peso, su inocuidad, su comportamiento energético y ambiental, su interoperabilidad, el material de que está fabricado e incluso su proceso de producción. Pueden establecerse normas, por ejemplo, sobre las dimensiones de los contenedores de carga y de los filetes de rosca; el comportamiento, desde el punto de vista de la seguridad, de los cinturones para asientos, los cojines de aire y el instrumental médico; la pasteurización de la leche; y los protocolos que permiten a los ordenadores de diferentes proveedores conectarse entre sí.
Conclusion
Dans le présent rapport, on a montré qu’il était important de distinguer les normes selon leur fonction. Le cadre théorique qui a été adopté fait la distinction entre les normes relatives aux externalités de réseau, à l’information imparfaite et aux externalités négatives liées à la production ou à la consommation.
Avant-propos du Directeur général de l’OMC
Le commerce et la technologie sont étroitement liés. De l’invention de la roue au chemin de fer et à l’avènement de la conteneurisation, la technologie a toujours joué un rôle clé en façonnant notre manière de faire du commerce et ce phénomène s’accélère comme jamais auparavant. Nous vivons une période de changement technologique sans précédent, et les diverses innovations basées sur Internet pourraient avoir un impact majeur. Par exemple, l’Internet des objets, l’intelligence artificielle, l’impression 3D et la chaîne de blocs pourraient transformer profondément ce qui est échangé, par qui et comment.
Can SMEs participate in global production networks?
This paper examines factors influencing the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies in global production networks. SMEs – which are seen as the backbone of employment and poverty reduction in ASEAN economies – have returned to the spotlight with expanding global production networks in East Asia. Greater SME participation in global production networks through closer linkages with multinational corporations (MNCs) and direct exports can be a potent means of accelerating technology transfer, spillovers and economic development (Hobday, 2001; Lim and Kimura, 2010). Facing a fragile world growth outlook, the ASEAN and East Asia Summits in 2011 have emphasized SMEs as a vehicle for increasing intra-regional trade, rebalancing towards domestic and regional demand and inclusive growth in Asia.
The role of trade and trade policy in the development process
Different aspects of the development process have been emphasized by the many scholars and observers who have ventured into this field. The seminal work of Sen (1999) identifies freedom as both the primary end and principal means of development. The Brundtland Commission stressed that development must involve the care and nurturing of the environment for future generations. Others have focused particularly on poverty reduction and the empowerment of poor people. All these approaches consider economic growth a vital component of the development process, while emphasizing that development is about more than growth.
Quantitative economics in WTO dispute settlement
WTO dispute settlement continues to be the subject of extensive scrutiny by both trade practitioners and academics. Not surprisingly, most of this analysis is legal in nature, touching upon the various arguments that have been put forward by parties to disputes and the legal foundations upon which these disputes are adjudicated. While legal and procedural issues remain the domain of trade lawyers, economists are being called upon with increased frequency on matters that call for economic interpretation or quantification. This should hardly be surprising given that multilateral trade rules reflect key economic principles such as comparative advantage, and that many of the terms in WTO Agreements, which are important in the resolution of disputes, have an economic basis. It may also have to do with the fact that increasing numbers of disputes are reaching the implementation phase, in which arbitrators need to quantify the allowable level of retaliation, as will be further explained below.
WTO rule-making: WTO Accession Protocols and jurisprudence
This chapter examines rule-making in the WTO. It explains the legal provisions governing how rules are made in the WTO, and describes WTO rule-making in practice, including through the adoption of decisions by the Ministerial Conference and the General Council and by way of dispute settlement. The role of consensus and voting in WTO rulemaking are discussed. The chapter also refers to different types of rules and decisions – such as ministerial declarations, authoritative interpretations, amendments and waivers – and considers their legal value and effect, as well as how different types of rules or decisions have been interpreted or applied. Finally, it also includes a look at rule-making in the context of accessions, and considers Accession Protocols and working party reports through the lens of WTO dispute settlement.
Resumen
El crecimiento económico sin precedentes registrado durante el último cuarto de siglo ha venido acompañado de una transformación económica sin precedentes.