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Trade Liberalization, Displacement, and Unemployment in a PE Framework
Publication Number
2021-11-B
Topic
Labor
Policy
Author(s)
Brian Daigle , Mihir Torsekar
Abstract
The United States has long had the world’s most successful medical device (or medtech) industry, with the European Union (EU) serving as its largest export market. The trading bloc’s reputation for relatively timely market approvals has long benefited these U.S. manufacturers. However, the EU’s soon-to-be-implemented Medical Device Regulation (MDR)—an overhaul of the previous medtech regulatory regime—may present a number of obstacles for U.S. and other medtech firms that could limit their access to a critical market.
Author(s)
Brian Daigle, Mahnaz Khan
Abstract
The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enacted in May 2016 with a two-year implementation period that concluded in May 2018. Since then, EU member states and regional-level data protection authorities (DPAs) have issued over $500 million in fines. Although EU DPAs issued few fines for noncompliance in the first year of implementation, DPAs have subsequently acted much more aggressively against noncompliant firms. This paper will explore the broad trends in investigation and enforcement across the EU in the 21 months following GDPR implementation. These trends include a preliminary analysis of differences in GDPR enforcement in specific EU member states, the GDPR provisions that are most emphasized in enforcement, and the nature of the fines imposed on U.S. and EU-based firms. As of March 2020, the largest fines and enforcement actions under GDPR had occurred principally in Western European countries, with a split between enforcement against both U.S. and EU firms.
Author(s)
Katherine Baldwin, Joanna Bonarriva
Abstract
China and India have posted impressive growth rates over the past decade, but face a number of challenges to sustained growth, including bureaucratic hurdles, large swaths of populations in poverty, and policy regimes that are sometimes at odds with global trade norms. These issues factor heavily in the evolving agricultural sectors of each country. Both China’s and India’s agricultural policies are developed out of a concern for domestic food security, and both nations use that objective as a justification for their policy regimes. But aside from this overarching goal, what do these countries have in common when it comes to agricultural trade? In this paper, we undertake a systematic analysis of the agricultural sectors of China and India, comparing and contrasting both domestic policies and trade regimes, and exploring how these regimes affect agricultural trade levels in both countries.
Author(s)
John B. Benedetto
Abstract
Some popular and academic economic explanations of the U.S. trade deficit since 1998 emphasize U.S. private borrowing or foreign private interest in investing in the United States. This paper shows basic U.S. government data that demonstrate that foreign governments have been major financers of the U.S. trade deficit in the 2000s. In this light, it considers several explanations of recent U.S. trade deficits to see if they match these basic data.
Author(s)
Alexi Maxwell, David Riker
Abstract
We survey the recent literature on the economic implications of strengthening intellectual property rights in developing countries. First, we identify the theoretical concepts and empirical methods that are frequently applied to this topic. Then we discuss ten specific economic studies that have addressed this topic in the last ten years. Finally, we identify the most common findings in the literature.
Author(s)
Craig Thomsen
Abstract
This article examines trends in antidumping and countervailing duty investigation petition filings in the United States during the most recent 21-year period. Petitions were filed on a wide variety of goods, but most frequently on intermediate goods; the steel and chemical industries were the industries which sought antidumping and/or countervailing duty relief most often. Petitions are increasingly being filed as joint antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and the countries from which U.S. industries have most frequently sought duty relief were China, the Republic of Korea, India, and Japan. A number of trends were driven by petitions that included China, although that influence has been declining recently. Several patterns were visible with respect to the timing of petitions; most were filed in the middle of the week, late in the month, and late in the quarter, but not necessarily late in the year. Two rule changes during this time period affected some of these petition filing patterns.
Author(s)
Wen Jin "Jean" Yuan, Yasnanhia Cabral, Anton C. Yang
Abstract
The U.S. International Trade Commission moderated a trade facilitation roundtable on October 15, 2015, focusing on the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) that was signed in Bali in December 2013. Participants included representatives from government, industry, trade associations, think tanks, and academia. The discussion centered around five areas: (1) individual country/regional experiences in trade facilitation reform; (2) international organizations' trade facilitation programs; (3) the benefits and challenges of implementing the TFA; (4) public-private partnership in trade facilitation reforms; and (5) the TFA Single Window provision. This article summarizes discussions held during the roundtable’s two sessions. The first session concerned country and regional experiences in trade facilitation reform and the effectiveness of public-private partnership in implementing such reforms, while the second focused on international organizations' trade facilitation programs and on the United States’ progress on implementing the Single Window provision.
Author(s)
Saad Ahmad, Christopher Montgomery, Samantha Schreiber
Abstract
The Armington elasticity is one of the key parameters in quantitative trade models, as it determines the level of substitutability between domestic and imported varieties of a good in a country. Estimates of this key parameter have been provided by several empirical studies using different methods and data sources. Our goal in this paper is to summarize and compare Armington elasticity estimates that are available at the sector level. We first discuss some of the most commonly used methods for estimating Armington elasticities, as well as the main advantages and challenges associated with each approach. We then compare these Armington elasticity estimates at the sector level and assess if different levels of aggregation are driving the observed differences across studies. We find that the different estimation strategies, in combination with different levels of sectoral aggregation, have contributed to the wide range of elasticity estimates in the literature.
Author(s)
Joann Peterson, Alan Treat
Abstract
This paper reviews changes in global cargo security policies following September 11, 2001. The events of 9/11 led to the establishment of new protocols for tracking and screening cargo both in the United States and in foreign countries. These protocols have been incorporated into international frameworks such as those under the World Customs Organization (WCO), and in country-specific programs such as the Container Security Intiative (CSI) and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) administered by the United States. In addition, a host of foreign countries, including Australia, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand have introduced new cargo security programs following 9/11 or have strengthened previously existing programs. Many of these countries aim to harmonize their cargo security standards with those of the United States. Although substantial progress has been made in the development of post-9/11 cargo security programs, some have expressed concern regarding the programs’ efficacy, their costs to business, and their effects on cross-border trade. At present, post-9/11 cargo security programs continue to be refined, which may ultimately lead to changes in the direction and implementation of these programs.