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As a new window for opening up in the new era, the establishment of free trade zones is an important measure for China to pursue high-quality economic development. How to prevent and control pollution has to be seriously taken into consideration in this process. We viewed the establishment of free trade zones in China as a‘natural experiment’. Considering its policy radiation effect, we used the spatial difference-in-differences method to study the influence of China's free trade zones on air pollution and analyzed the heterogeneity and function mechanism of spatial dimension based on data of environmental protection cities in China from 2008 to 2017. The results showed that the free trade zones significantly reduced the concentration of air pollution in the Chinese cities. Considering the spatial difference-in-differences method based on the radiation effect of the policy, this study found that China’s free trade zone policy could effectively reduce the urban air pollution from 12% to 17%, while the result of traditional difference-in-differences was only 7%. The establishment of free trade zones had significant improvement effect on the air pollution of neighboring non-pilot cities. Considering the radiation effect in the centers of the free trade zones, we found that the average spatial spillover effect presented an inverted ‘U’curve with the increase of the radius. The optimal policy spillover effect radius was about 200 km. However, the policy spillover effect between pilot cities was poor. The establishment of free trade zones could not only improve local atmospheric conditions by promoting the optimization of industrial structure and green technology innovation in pilot cities, but also improve the atmospheric conditions of non-pilot cities by promoting the optimization of industrial structure and green technology innovation in neighboring non-pilot cities. The above conclusions were still valid after considering a series of robustness tests such as spatial parallel trend test and placebo test. The paper provides a direct answer to the key question of whether the free trade zone policy can actually support the high-quality economic development of the new era. Moreover, it also provides useful policy implications for further opening-up, winning the battle of pollution control, and boosting the high-quality economic development of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American merchants of the early republic shaped global sensibilities of trade, but from the margins. If to some foreign observers early American merchants seemed to be "free traders," the question arises of what enabled these constructions of "free." This article focuses on two debates: first, "free traders" in Parliamentary hearings on the British East India Company's monopoly in China, and, second, American involvement in the opium trade in China within a global context of smuggling practice. In the latter case, "free trade" came to connote trade in opposition not to the British Company, but in opposition to a closed China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an oligopoly model of trade with asymmetric costs, we study the individual and world welfare implications of a hub and spoke trade agreement where the hub country is more efficient than spoke countries. Under a hub and spoke trade regime, the hub country can benefit at the expense of the spokes relative to free trade. Furthermore, if the hub is sufficiently efficient compared to the spokes, such a regime can yield higher global welfare than free trade. Preferential treatment of the efficient hub country in its export markets improves world welfare because it helps allocate a larger share of the world’s output to a low cost location. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, founded in 1967, as the organism representative for Southeast Asia, encompassing all the territorially affixed countries, minus East Timor, has always seen China's loom of the region as mutually dependent on its politics. ASEAN is not simple, nor complicated in structure. Perhaps, this is the main reason why ASEAN and China decided to format an economic agreement, surmounting all inter-regional trade barriers. Thus, a simple structure was assigned the initial value of contemplation. Throughout this article, we will try to bring into light an unwrapping of the good and of the detrimental aspects and innuendoes of the China-ASEAN Free trade Area, by laying open personal streaming of the subject and by bringing down the obviousness of arguments of either side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his work, "Nation, State, and Economy" (1919), Ludwig von Mises claims that the idea of liberalism starts with the freedom of the individual and it rejects all rules of some persons over others. This paper aims to illustrate an opposite direction, deprecating the 18th century colonial practices which have gradually tainted the pacifistic principle of liberalism with the oppressive, imperialistic goals, of the most powerful states. We focus on the British East India Company, which dominated the East Indies. We find that, under the cover of free trading, the British Superpower has often used military intrusion to acquire territories, to rule resources and, through this, to exercise power over the native population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1980s, Iran has pursued a policy of attracting foreign investment and fostering regional trade by granting favored status to the so-called “Free Trade-Industrial Zones” (FTZs) and “Special Economic Zones” (SEZs). To date six FTZs and sixteen SEZs have been set up throughout Iran. The FTZs are strategically positioned for their potential international links and have their eyes on markets beyond Iran, and the SEZs for their value in serving main industries and for improving the country's distribution system and supply network. This paper examines the experience of these zones in Iran in the context of Iran's contradictory and ambivalent approach to international economic integration in general. It is shown that liberal policies pursued in the free zones have been in marked contrast to the approach in the mainland, which has been generally inward-looking in much of the post-revolutionary period. We examine first the rise of free zones as a global phenomenon followed by an overview of Iran's zones and their characteristics. It is argued that serving mainly as “back doors” to the international economy, Iran's free zones have stalled mainly because their promotion has been decoupled from, if not at odds with, official attitudes to the international economy at large. As a result, the zones' ability to attract investment has been limited by both adverse external perceptions of Iran as an investment destination and internal complexities discouraging such investment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The International Relations of Southeast Asia have been transformed drastically over the last few decades. The transformation can be attributed to the development of regionalism in the region, following the onset of ASEAN in 1967. Twenty-five years of political cooperation in ASEAN paved the formation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in 1992. The upcoming ASEAN trade bloc has ushered the integration of the region in various other sectors - with regional security turning out to be the major beneficiary. Considering the fact that Southeast Asia is essentially a maritime region and the maritime space and strategic sea-lanes straddling the region determine the continued existence of these nations, it is pertinent to examine the impact of the regionalisation process on maritime security. The paper aims to highlight the contribution of regionalism towards a secured and stable Southeast Asia. It will examine the maritime cooperation in the region under the ASEAN umbrella.3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issues of labor standards, which are significant in the debate over the U.S. trade policy. It analysed how the arguments at the Congress are established considering that the U.S. Trade Regulation (USTR) negotiators have made into a significant factor influencing the final texts of Free Trade Agreements (FTA). It notes that there is only one submission being received under the labor chapter of FTA. Furthermore, it suggests that any debate of FTA labor chapter should respond to problems in the country.

After clarifying the widespread terminological confusion regarding 'import-substitution', 'export-promotion' and 'free trade', this article focuses on an interesting debate about their complementarities. Particular attention will be paid to whether the simultaneous implementation of import-substitution and export-promotion neutralises each other and leads to free trade results. It will be argued that although this debate is stimulating, it has a number of important limitations and has very little bearing to actual trade policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no denying the close linkage between ecosystem services and human well-being. Human well-being is dependent on the sustainable management of ecosystem services. With economic globalization and free trade, there is an increasing demand for these services. Yet, poverty, inefficient management of common resources, and inadequate legal and governance frameworks have a negative impact on human well-being. This article examines the impact of globalization as well as the legal mechanisms for the management of ecosystem services arguing that the need for a concerted and synergistic legal approach to manage ecosystem services in a sustainable manner that includes human rights principles alongside market-based instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Export tax and export quota are traditional policies used by developing countries to restrict exports. However, a new breed of export control policy, namely domestic sale requirement, is pursued by some developing countries. According to this policy, a certain percentage of the output is required to be sold in the domestic market and only the remaining production can be exported. Indonesia has undertaken this policy in addition to subsidizing domestic sales of crude oil to benefit the consumers. This study analyzes the effects of these two policies on prices, quantities, and welfare, and compares these effects to those of export quota. The results show that the domestic sale requirement-cum-subsidy policies are clearly inferior to free trade but superior to export quota, because under these policies, unlike under the export quota, supply is allowed to respond to world market prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the performance of special economic zones (SEZs) in China on the 30th anniversary of their institution. It provides the historical context and comprehensive principle of the launching of the SEZ concept particularly in the divergent development courses of the five SEZs established in China in the 1980s. It examines the specific roles assigned to the SEZs based on their location and internal characteristics relative to intense commercial activity under the Chinese authority. The implication of the current global financial crises to the future economy of China is also explored.

The article offers information on developments and issues surrounding New Zealand's relations with the Republic of Korea. The article also provides a brief history of the relations between the two countries as well as the major political changes that occurred in the late 1980s and 1990s. The article also notes that the current relationshio between the two countries is strong, with the desire to start preparatory talks on a free trade agreement between the two countries and to promote co-operation in various sectors.

The Progressive Era, from the late 1890s to the entry of the United States into World War One, was marked by a professional commitment to global trade expansion on the part of the State Department and the McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson administrations. Philosophically, the United States embraced the belief that a liberal, democratic, free-enterprise political and economic system would advance human progress on every continent, and that global free trade would remove many causes of war and conflict. Such a policy position attracted young and talented foreign service officers to serve in the American diplomatic corps. One young man was Lloyd C. Griscom, heir to one of the great American shipping fortunes. Griscom's career as a diplomat in Turkey, Persia, Japan, Brazil, and Italy between 1899 and 1909 revealed much about American political and economic interests during a period when the United States emerged as a major power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been a prodigious amount of literature on trade policy written in the past two decades, very little of that literature has dealt with countries in economic transition or nondemocratic regimes. There has also been a lack of work dealing with state interests in trade policy beyond realpolitik discussions of national security. This article seeks to fill some of these gaps through a study of two samples: one of liberalization in 25 post-Communist countries between the years 1991 and 1999 and the other of 124 countries from around the world in 1997. The study concludes that a key element in the choice between free trade and protectionism is the level of “fragmentation of economic accountability.” Such fragmentation consists of two major components: (1) the existence of a strong capitalist class that is independent of the government; and (2) the dispersion of political power among actors both inside and outside the government. Where the government is more accountable to a wide range of interests, policies are more likely to be aligned with market mechanisms, encouraging the adoption of reforms, including the liberalization of trade policy. This article builds on the conclusions of Frye and Mansfield in several ways: (1) it embeds political fragmentation into a larger theoretical framework of economic accountability of government institutions; (2) it introduces the importance of state ownership in shaping government interests; (3) it introduces an idea of social, not just institutional, accountability; and (4) it proposes a statist view of trade policy that is lacking in the present literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the nature of the emerging regional economic regime in the Americas and argues that the dominant approach to economic governance is one defined by the assertion of U.S. power in the region and oriented toward distinctively U.S. interests and preferences. This has been clearly evident in the evolution of the Free Trade Area of the Americas but also, with the deceleration and fragmentation of that process during 2002 and 2003, in the growing prioritization of bilateralism. The leverage afforded by the bilateral negotiation of trade agreements acts to situate primary influence in shaping the rules that constitute the regional economic regime, and the primary functions associated with governing in this context, firmly within the agencies of the U.S. state. This essay therefore explores how the hegemonic power of the United States manifests itself in the substance of the hemispheric project and the shape of the economic regime associated with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the postwar era, the United States typically has taken an approach to dealing with illegal drugs different from Europe. Americans have favored prohibitionist measures to combat drug use, while Europeans have gradually relaxed many of their illicit substance laws. Recently, however, there has been a growing movement within the United States to decriminalize and legalize marijuana. Numerous states have already reformed their laws to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients. Moreover, many states are dramatically decriminalizing personal use of cannabis. A review of postwar Europe's experience with drugs provides a useful paradigm to explain the U.S.'s shifting attitude. It also suggests that free trade may play a role in drug legalization. Following World War II, European nations began removing barriers to trade and ultimately joined to form a supranational organization, the European Union, largely erasing national borders. As free trade spread across Europe, so too did drug legalization, beginning in the Netherlands and eventually following on most of the continent. More recently, the United States formed a free trade zone with Canada, which has recently decriminalized marijuana, and with Mexico, which has been the main conduit for illegal drugs. As the model presented in this Note predicts, the United States has gradually loosened its drug laws as illicit substances stream across its open borders. Free trade makes it easier to move goods of any kind, legal or illegal, across borders, which increases the prevalence of drugs while reducing their cost. Once one member of a free trade association legalizes drugs, it may only be a matter of time before all others adopt similar policies as cheap drugs flow across borders. As drugs become more prevalent in society, a nation's ability to incarcerate users is strained, and drugs become quasi-normalized--leading to decriminalization and legalization. Thus, the European experience with drugs suggests free trade... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this analysis is to compare the impacts of dollarization with those of partially fixed exchange rates under optimum coordination policies for small countries facing international financial and trade liberalization under agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This paper extends the literature with the development of a model that considers an optimally managed intervention strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area constitutes a big opportunity for Mediterranean third countries to integrate in the international economy. The big Euro-Mediterranean market that will unfold will not only intensify trade and investment flows into the Southern countries of the Mediterranean, but will also, as in all regional economic integration processes, signify a restructuring of the investments already made. This article studies the strategies of Spanish companies with industrial investments in Morocco in the light of the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean area, and the repercussions these strategies may have on employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presentan las resoluciones adoptadas en la Conferencia de las Partes Contratantes de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Libre Comercio, celebrada en 1963. Las resoluciones tratan de países de mercado insuficiente, del programa de coordinación de políticas económicas y comerciales y del tratamiento al capital procedente de fuera de la zona. Se presentan los textos oficiales de los acuerdos.

El artículo discute el proyecto de acuerdo de una zona de libre comercio en América del Sur y varios artículos acerca de su establecimiento. El acuerdo requiere que los países miembros de la zona eliminen las restricciones que impedirán la importación de productos. Este acuerdo tendrá que ser perfeccionado dentro de doce años.

Se presentan noticias que tratan de la economía internacional. La capacidad de carga de la marina mercante mundial aumentó en 1958. Se reunieron en Ginebra, Suiza las Partes Contratantes del General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Tuvieron lugar discusiones con el Banco Internacional de Reconstrucción y Fomento para mejoras al Canal de Suez. Siete países europeos estudiaban una proyectada zona de libre comercio, rival del Mercado Común Europea.

Guo, H.; Wu, D., and Du, Q., 2020. Study on strategic policy adjustment of international trade in maritime transport. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 57–60. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. At present, the core of China's international trade strategic policy can be summarized as follows. International trade policy with administrative orders, laws, and regulations as the core is forming the backbone of domestic and foreign trade regulation system. In the external economic regulation system, based on Bandung spirit, public products have become the core link of the current tariff policy, such as the "one belt and one road" initiative, free trade zone, and AIIB. This paper studies the adjustment strategy of China's international trade strategy and proposes some suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]