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This article scrutinises the significance of the most-favoured-nation (MFN) treaty in promoting the development of commercial activity and its results in transnational trade. As cardinal agents of trade policy, governments act as ‘umpires’ in formulating and guarding the rules of international trade, while the ‘players’ are private corporations which conduct commercial operations in the playing field of international trade. Within the framework of Finno-Japanese trade relations, the players established and developed their trade networks (corporate interconnections) regardless of the umpires and their official rules, meaning the commercial treaties. Through a close examination of the early trade policy relations between Finland and Japan along with the formation and development of the Finnish forest industry’s sales networks into the Japanese market in the early twentieth century, this study demonstrates that there was no explicit causal connection between MFN treaties and the evolution of the Finnish forest industry’s export efforts – and their results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This work investigates the relationship between trade and technological specialisation in Italy, during the long time span ranging from Unification to the eve of the Second World War. To do this, new series of Italy’s indices of specialisation in trade and technology are calculated based on official data. Empirical analysis, based on Spearman rank correlation coefficients and fixed-effects regression, shows the emergence of a positive relationship between specialisation in technology and specialisation in trade after the start of the country’s modern economic growth, around the turn of the twentieth century. This, however, was uniquely driven by a negative relationship between technological specialisation and import shares, while no significant relationship between the former and export shares emerges. Furthermore, this finding excludes the most important sector, leading Italian industrialisation, that is, textiles, the outstanding performance of which can be seen as largely determined by its being particularly suited to the country’s factor endowment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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The article discusses the Estonian trade policy in the 1930s on the example of application of non-tariff measures (NTMs). In order to position the trade policy, the article compares the measures implemented in Estonia with the ones implemented in the Nordic countries and in other Baltic countries. Export in these countries mainly depended on the UK and Germany and consisted in a large part of agricultural products. Historiography does contain references to the fact that the implementation of NTMs intensified in the 1930s, but so far no studies with that kind of emphasis and historic perspective have been conducted. The article also provides an overview of the dynamics of Estonian trade volumes and the most significant foreign trade articles. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark applied exchange control and were considered as more protectionist than Norway, Sweden and Finland, which belonged to the sterling bloc. At first, the objective of the implementation of the exchange control and licenses in Estonia was to protect the national currency. Later, trade-related justifications became more and more important in NTM application. Estonian trade had similarities to Danish trade. Both countries were clearly orientated on the export of agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the Swedish ball bearings industry during the Second World War, including subsidiary operations in Germany and the United Kingdom. It determines that these ball bearings were very important to the war effort in both countries, comprising in total about 58% of German supplies and 31% of British. Despite favouring Germany with more exports, the Swedish government allowed the British access to Swedish territory to ensure the delivery of the bearings through the German blockade. In relation to price increases for other exports, prices for ball bearings were time-dependent on the position of the acquiring country. From an overall perspective, the United Kingdom received a discount which Germany did not share. However, with the exception of direct exports, representing respectively about 10% and 15% of total German and British supplies, it would have been difficult for the Swedish industry to successfully withhold all supplies of ball bearings to either belligerent. Ultimately, any shortage of Swedish ball bearings in either belligerent could have been overcome only by long-term industrial changes and import substitution programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]