WTO and world trade challenges in a new era ; with 47 figures and 23 tables

World trade is not only an economic but also a social, political, environmental, labor and legal matter. Economists and government planners aim at finding the efficient trade policy which enhances economic welfare and growth in a more harmonious and sustainable way. This book contains 12 articles from internationally renowned experts in the field of world trade. The contributions cover a variety of pressing topics related to trade theory, trade policy, WTO and their relationship. They provide in-depth analysis of some of the trade issues currently discussed by academics and politicians, such as resource allocation, income distribution, employment, growth, technology transfer, heterogeneous markets, intra-industry trade as well as environmental issues. World trade is not only an economic but also a social, political, environmental, labor and legal matter. Economists and government planners aim at finding the efficient trade policy which enhances economic welfare and growth in a more harmonious and sustainable way. This book contains 12 articles from internationally renowned experts in the field of world trade. The contributions cover a variety of pressing topics related to trade theory, trade policy, WTO and their relationship. They provide in-depth analysis of some of the trade issues currently discussed by academics and politicians, such as resource allocation, income distribution, employment, growth, technology transfer, heterogeneous markets, intra-industry trade as well as environmental issues. TOC:Introduction.- Part A: Trade Theory: Non-Drastic Technology Transfer in an International Oligopol; Income Redistribution, Trade Prices, and International Capital in Simulated Trade Models; On Two Elementary Propositions on Customs Unions; Trade with Labor Market Distortions and Heterogeneous Labor: Why Trade Can Hurt; The Impact of Intra-Industry Trade on the Environment; International Business Cycle Transmission in a Dynamic Multi-Sectoral Heckscher-Ohlin-Model.- Part B: Trade Policy:Political Support or Contributions: An Empirical Investigation of US Trade Policy; Minimum Quality Standard and International Rivalry in Quality and Price; Reforms of Quantitative Import Restrictions and Fair Wage Unemployment.- Part C: WTO: Trade Games: Modeling WTO's Role in Trade Disputes; Modelling the Impact of China's WTO Membership on Its Investment and Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach; WTO Dispute Settlement in Action: An Economic Analysis of Four EU-US Mini Trade Wars Introduction....Pages 1-5 Non-Drastic Technology Transfer in an International Oligopoly....Pages 7-30 Comment....Pages 31-32 Income Redistribution, Trade Prices, and International Capital in Simulated Trade Models....Pages 33-40 Comment....Pages 41-42 On Two Elementary Propositions on Customs Unions....Pages 43-60 Comment....Pages 61-63 Trade with Labor Market Distortions and Heterogeneous Labor: Why Trade Can Hurt....Pages 65-83 Comment....Pages 85-86 The Impact of Intra-Industry Trade on the Environment....Pages 87-123 Comment....Pages 125-126 International Business Cycle Transmission in a Dynamic Multi-Sectoral Heckscher-Ohlin Model....Pages 127-152 Comment....Pages 153-155 Political Support or Contributions: An Empirical Investigation of US Trade Policy....Pages 157-174 Comment....Pages 175-183 Minimum Quality Standard and International Rivalry in Quality and Price....Pages 185-212 Comment....Pages 213-214 Reforms of Quantitative Import Restrictions and Fair Wage Unemployment....Pages 215-231 Comment....Pages 233-234 Trade Games: Modelling WTO's Role in Trade Disputes....Pages 235-248 Comment....Pages 249-250 Modelling the Impact of China's WTO Membership on Its Investment and Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach....Pages 251-265 Appendix: Performance of the 2SHI Estimator Under the Generalised Pitman Nearness Criterion....Pages 267-274 Comment....Pages 275-280 WTO Dispute Settlement in Action: An Economic Analysis of Four EU-US Mini Trade Wars....Pages 281-317 Comment....Pages 319-321 Giinter S. Heiduk• and Kar-yiu Wong•• • Institute of International and Regional Economic Relations, University of Du- burg-Essen, Campus Duisburg, Germany •• Department of Economics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA The rapid growth of world trade has become one of the most phenomenal features of the international order after the World War. While different countries were - periencing various growth rates of their economies, most of them found out that foreign trade grew much faster than their economies. As a matter of fact, for most economies, foreign trade has been determined to be one of the biggest and the most consistent contributors to economic growth. Nowadays world trade is a very complicated phenomenon because it is not just an economic but also a social, political, environmental, labour, and legal matter. Economists care about world trade because economies are getting more and more open and world trade is related to the properties of open economies. Government planners care about world trade because it is related to many issues that the economies are facing: Resource allocation, income distribution, employment, p- duction, consumption, government revenue, economic growth, and economic w- fare. A right trade policy will enhance the economic welfare and growth of the economy in a more harmonious and equitable way. A wrong policy, however, could spell disaster. Technology transfer has often been cited as one of the major contributing factors to the spectacular growth rates of East Asian economies.