Knowledge Centre : Trade : Trade Liberalisation and Poverty
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- 3D
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3D -> Trade - Human Rights - Equitable Economy promotes collaboration amongst trade, development and human rights professionals, to ensure that trade rules are developed and applied in ways that promote an equitable economy. 3D is a not-for-profit non-governmental organization. Its members are individuals actively engaged in favour of human rights, sustainable development and the promotion of an equitable economy.
(Added: Thu Dec 16 2004 Modified: Fri Jul 21 2006 Hits: 264)
- A Capabilities Approach to Trade and Sustainable Development: Using Sen's Conception of Development to Re-examine the Debates [PDF 437.4 kb]
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International Institute for Sustainable Development, by Aaron Cosbey, 2004. This paper takes the thinking of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and uses it to fashion a comprehensive new definition of sustainable development. It then asks how trade and trade liberalization might contribute to sustainable development so defined, surveying a complex web of potential impacts. It draws important lessons for civil society, developing countries and the WTO negotiations from the analysis.
http://www.iisd.org/publications/publication.asp?pno=661
(Added: Tue Apr 26 2005 Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005 Hits: 353)
- A Dev-Zone Onepager: Trade and Development [PDF]
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This Dev-Zone Onepager provides a concise description of trade's role in development. It covers debates on free trade, discusses trade deals and outlines the economics of fair trade products.
http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/TRADE%20onepager%20v2.pdf
(Added: Fri May 09 2008 Modified: Thu May 29 2008 Hits: 179)
- A recipe for disaster: Will the Doha Round fail to deliver for development?
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As yet another deadline approaches in the Doha Round of trade negotiations, the chances of a deal being done this year that helps developing countries are looking increasingly slim. Aggressive demands by rich countries mean that, far from being able to pursue reforms that will lift people out of poverty, poor countries are having to engage in damage limitation. Unless the substance of the offers on the table changes radically, this briefing paper finds that no deal should be signed in 2006. (Oxfam, April 2006)
http://www.oxfam.org.nz/imgs/pdf/a%20recipe%20for%20disaster.pdf
(Added: Tue May 02 2006 Hits: 99)
- Aid for Trade - Why and How? [PDF]
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This report by International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty argues that trade negotiations as represented by the Doha Round will promote development only if two conditions are met: first an ambitious and balanced market access package in key areas such as agriculture or services; second, actions to address developing countries insufficient infrastructural, institutional and human capacity. This second condition is best met through Aid. Hence the report's title Aid for Trade.
(Added: Fri Mar 10 2006 Modified: Tue Aug 22 2006 Hits: 379)
- Aid for Trade [pdf]
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In this paper Joseph E. Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton argue that trade may be necessary for sustained industrial development, but it is not sufficient. In the right circumstances, trade liberalisation creates opportunities for development, but other factors determine the extent to which those opportunities are realised. They argue that, to benefit from liberalisation developing countries will need to make public investments in infrastructure and institutions as well as private investment in productive capacity - a point realised by the aid for trade agenda. (Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, 2006)
http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ipd/pub/Aid_For_Trade_4_3_06.pdf
(Added: Tue May 16 2006 Modified: Mon Jun 26 2006 Hits: 162)
- Assessing the Impacts of Trade on Poverty and Inequality
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By Jorge Saba Arbache, Universidade de Brasília & Francisco Galroa Carneiro, Universidade Católica de Brasilia. Abstract: This paper uses a computable general equilibrium model to simulate different trade liberalization policy scenarios and counterfactual microsimulations to assess the impacts of greater trade openness on household income distribution and poverty ratios. Our conclusion is that trade liberalization alone may not be sufficient to significantly reduce poverty and inequality.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=447165
(Added: Thu Oct 16 2003 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 426)
- Assessing World Bank Support for Trade 1987-2004: An IEG Evaluation
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The evaluation was carried out by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG)to assess the effectiveness of the Bank's development efforts. It analyzes the Bank's contribution to freer trade in developing countries, finding that the World Bank's trade programmes may have helped open markets over the last two decades but they have not done enough to tackle poverty and boost growth in developing countries' exports, or expended enough effort to cushion poor countries and help them adapt to the effects of trade liberalization. The report makes concrete recommendations on how to boost trade opportunities to better alleviate poverty in the future. (World Bank, 2006)
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/trade/report.html
(Added: Fri Mar 31 2006 Hits: 143)
- Bound and Tied: The developmental impacts of industrial trade liberalisation at the World Trade Organisation [PDF]
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Non-agricultural market access (NAMA) has taken centre stage of global trade negotiations in the WTO Doha Round - alongside agriculture and services. ActionAid believes that there will be practically nothing in these negotiations that will benefit developing countries, including least developed countries. Not only is the WTO negotiation process fundamentally flawed but rich nations are pushing a highly ambitious, but developmentally devastating agenda to open up developing countries' manufacturing markets on behalf of their industrial exporters. (ActionAid, December 2005)
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/_content/documents/WTOreport4_1972005_03218.pdf
(Added: Thu Apr 06 2006 Hits: 275)
- Business as usual: The World Bank, the IMF and the liberalisation agenda [pdf] 627 KB
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Christian Aid's new report warns against a complacent acceptance of the G8's statement in July 2005 that developing countries should have the right to set their own economic policies. It shows that despite previous commitments from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to give poor countries more freedom to choose their own trade policies, little of substance has changed.
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/509condition/
(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 198)
- Chains of Fortune: Linking Women Producers and Workers with Global Markets
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According to the Ministers of the Commonwealth, globalization and specifically trade liberalization and privatization, presents new opportunities and challenges to policy-makers who should take steps to ensure that weak societies and weak groups of people are enabled to take advantage of the new economic opportunities. This reports looks at case studies of groups of women from developing countries around the world who are perceived as benefiting from globalisation. In terms of strategies, there are examples of fair trade (Ghana); traditional business development services/niche market (Samoa); small enterprise development/ social entrepreneurship (Mozambique); ethical trade/labour legislation (South Africa); female-led industrialization (Bangladesh); and technology driven globalization (India). The report then looks at the overall trade policy context within which the case studies are situated, and draws out the main lessons learned from them, highlighting some of the good ideas for policies and programmes to be considered for future action. (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2004)
(Added: Wed Apr 12 2006 Modified: Thu Feb 01 2007 Hits: 267)
- Challenging the IFIs: Practical information and strategies for trade union engagement with international financial institutions
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Trade imbalances between the North and the South continue to pauperize many developing countries, while austerity measures in the North coupled with the rigid application of market-driven policies have undermined social solidarity. All around the world, unions are facing difficult times, compounded by restrictive legislation introduced by governments to curtail the rights of workers' organizations, who see them as an obstacle to gaining a foothold in the global market. It is still not easy to challenge the IFIs that direct these changes, but it is essential. This 57 page report looks at the problems of economic globalisation and how trade unions can take action. (International Conference of Free Trace Unions (ICFTU, 2006)
http://www.icftu.org/www/PDF/IFIEN.pdf
(Added: Fri Jun 23 2006 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 339)
- Dani Rodrik's Blog
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Harvard economist, and prominent writer on development economics and globalisation, Dani Rodrik has a blog. On this site you can read his thoughts - which often run against conventional wisdom - on issues such as trade theory and development.
(Added: Mon Apr 30 2007 Hits: 297)
- Debt Relief: quest for transparent arbitration
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This report written by David Ugolor, examines stakeholder calls for a Fair and Transparent Arbitration (FTA) mechanism in resolving trade disputes between creditor and debtor nations; to promote global partnership and economic growth.
http://www.afrodad.org/downloads/FTA%20Nigeria%20Launch.pdf
(Added: Thu Jun 19 2008 Hits: 10)
- Developing Countries in International Trade:Trade and Development Index [pdf]
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To act as a genuine engine of development, trade must lead to steady improvements in human conditions by expanding the range of people's choices. This is the central concern of this new UN publication. The trade and development index (TDI), is an attempt by the UNCTAD secretariat to capture the complex interaction between trade and development and, in the process, to monitor the trade and development performance of countries. The results indicate that the top 20 are all developed countries, except Singapore. Only three developing countries are in the top 30. At the other extreme all the bottom 20, excepting Pakistan and Papua New Guinea, are either least developed countries (LDCs) or African countries, or both. The report highlights the severity of the trade and development problems facing LDCs and African countries.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/trade/2005/1210tradedev.pdf
(Added: Wed Jan 11 2006 Modified: Tue Aug 22 2006 Hits: 285)
- Environmental Health and International Trade: linkages and methodologies [PDF 236 KB]
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This paper examines how trade policy (broadly defined to cover investment, intellectual property rights, goods, services, etc.) impacts on environmental health. It gauges the feasibility and desirability of incorporating environmental health aspects in Canada's environmental assessments of trade liberalization agreements. It written by Aaron Cosbey, Luke Eric Peterson, László Pintér and published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development in March 2005.
http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2005/trade_environmental_health.pdf
(Added: Fri Oct 28 2005 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 185)
- Estimating GDP effects of trade liberalisation on developing countries [230KB]
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This Christian Aid report, written by Egor Kraev, examines export and import growth to provide estimates of the impact of trade liberalisation. The report highlights the foregone opportunities for aggregate demand stimulation or balance of trade improvement in the past decade and finds that the increase in import demand due to trade liberalisation outpaced the growth in exports. Trade liberalisation has likely resulted in additional balance of payments deficits and aggregate demand loss. The bulk of this loss is carried by the poor.
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/506liberalisation/FinalPaper4.pdf
(Added: Mon Dec 19 2005 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 146)
- Fishing profits, farming disaster: the cost of liberalising Asia's fisheries
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The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean in December 2004 devastated coastal communities in 13 countries. The damage to lives, properties and livelihoods was staggering. Among the badly hit were Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka - countries where the liberalisation of the fishing sector has contributed to the intensification of more destructive and exploitative commercial fishing. Clearing natural coastal defences for industrial aquaculture production is a growing trend in these parts of Asia. Along with increased vulnerability of coastal and surrounding rural comunities, marine biodiversity is in serious decline, and there is an escalating dispossession of the small-scale and artisanal fishing sector. (GRAIN, July 2006)
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=431
(Added: Fri Aug 25 2006 Hits: 191)
- Free market: at what cost? International trade and sustainable development
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Trade liberalisation used to be uncontroversial. Today, it is blamed for many of the world's ills. What went wrong? This study assesses the evidence and suggests that we need an international trading system that contributes to sustainable development. It should be built from the bottom-up and all nations should take part in defining it. Until recently, trade liberalisation was uncontroversial. It appeared to stimulate economic growth and to consolidate co-operative relations among peoples. Yet in the seven years since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), trade policy has become increasingly vexed, and the number of people who hold a negative view of it is growing rapidly. This study by the International Institute For Environment and Development (IIED) examines the issues behind the new fears. It finds that trade liberalisation carries much of the blame in the public eye for the dislocation and negative impacts of globalisation. Globalisation itself is associated with the increasingly discredited macroeconomic paradigm known as the Washington consensus, which suggested that rapid opening of domestic markets to trade, and capital flows, would offer a sure road to prosperity.
http://www.id21.org/society/s7bnb2g1.html
(Added: Thu Mar 13 2003 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 235)
- Free Trade Is War, by Naomi Klein
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The Nation, Sept. 11, 2003. Naomi Klein weaves together themes like water privitisation in South Africa, and free market policies in Chile, to argue that free trade, free markets and the militaristic forces linked to it have violent outcomes for the majority of the world's population.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030929&s=klein
(Added: Tue Sep 16 2003 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 306)
- From Doha to Cancun: Development and the WTO: Can trade really benefit all?
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North-South Institute. 2003 The sixth edition of the Canadian Development Report (CDR) looks at multilateral trade arrangements from both the perspectives of the North and the South. It highlights relevant development issues such as those regarding market access and the WTO Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS) raised at the November 2001 WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar.
http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/publications/cdr/2003/default.asp
(Added: Fri Jun 25 2004 Modified: Wed Oct 18 2006 Hits: 155)
- Global Monitoring Report 2006: Strengthening Mutual Accountability - Aid, Trade & Governance
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The third report on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It highlights economic growth, better quality aid, and trade reforms, as well as governance as essential elements to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The elements of global monitoring examined in detail in the report include poverty and malnutrition; human development outcomes; meeting commitments on aid, trade, and debt relief; performance of international financial institutions; governance in developing countries; and global checks and balances to strengthen governance. (World Bank and International Monetary Fund, 20 April 2006)
(Added: Wed May 03 2006 Modified: Mon Jul 02 2007 Hits: 264)
- Global Trade Watch (GTW)
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Global Trade Watch (GTW) promotes democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor "free trade." Our work seeks to make the measurable outcomes of this model accessible to the public, press, and policy-makers, while emphasizing that if the results are not acceptable, then the model can and must be changed or replaced. GTW works on an array of globalization issues, including health and safety, environmental protection, economic justice, and democratic, accountable governance.
(Added: Thu Sep 11 2003 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 406)
- Global Week of Action: 10-16 April 2005
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In November 2003, over 100 trade activists from 50 countries took part in a historic gathering - the International Trade Campaign Conference, in Delhi, India - from which they issued the global call to a Week of Action. Following this there was discussion with international networks before the idea was presented to a seminar of 500 people at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, in January 2004. Thousands of key campaigners are already inspired by what the Week could achieve; and hundreds of groups, campaigns and networks all over the world have begun organising. We are mobilising well ahead of the major 'official' events of 2005, the G8 Summit in Scotland in July, the MDG Summit in New York in September, the Summit of the Americas in Argentina in November and the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December. Millions of people are getting ready to take action to say that 'free trade is not working' and to call on governments and the international financial institutions to 'stop forcing economic liberalisation on the world's poor'.
(Added: Fri Mar 18 2005 Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006 Hits: 225)
- How Much Will Trade Liberalization Help the Poor? Comparing Global Trade Models
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A report into the possibility of trade liberalization reducing poverty (Antoine Bouet, IFPRI, June 2006.)
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/rb05.asp#sum
(Added: Mon Nov 12 2007 Hits: 161)
