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Sogo Shosha in Mass Procurement System of Resource Japan’S Develop-And-Import Scheme of Iron Ore in the 1960S*
Revised on: 16/01/2009 The Role of Sogo Shosha in Mass Procurement System of Resource Japan’s Develop-and-Import Scheme of Iron Ore in the 1960s* Akira Tanaka** Faculty of Economics Nagoya City University 1 Yamanohata, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8501 Japan Tel: (+81) 52-872-5731 Fax: (+81)52-871-9429 E-mail: [email protected] Keywords: sogo shosha, Japan’s rapid economic growth, mineral resource, transactional relationships Acknowledgement: This work was supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)’s Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) #16730182, 2004-05, Grant-in-Aid for Science (C) #18530265, 2006-08, and the presidential grant, Nagoya City University, D-7, 2004. * This article is a revised version of Oikonomika, 44(3&4), 171-194, 2008. I am grateful for all the comments on the old version, including from Dr. Yue Wang and Prof. Thomas W. Roehl. ** Akira Tanaka is with Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan (email: [email protected]; phone: +81-52-872-5731; fax: +81-52-871-9429). 1 Revised on: 16/01/2009 The Role of Sogo Shosha in Mass Procurement System of Resource: Japan’s Develop-and-Import of Iron Ore in the 1960s Abstract This paper analyzes the role of sogo shosha (Japanese general trading companies) in the develop-and-import scheme of iron ore during the days of post-war high economic growth, and seeks the reasons behind the establishment of sogo shosha’s oligopolistic structure during this period. In the 1960s, with rapid growth in the demand for iron ore, there was a high level of demand for large-scale develop-and-import projects of iron ore from distant locations such as Australia. -
Market Access in Services 99 C
S P E C I S T A U L D I MARKETACCESS: UNFINISHEDBUSINESS E POST-URUGUAYROUND S INVENTORYANDISSUES ThisstudywaspreparedbyWTO'sEconomicResearchandAnalysisDivisionwith importantcontributionsbytheAgricultureandCommoditiesDivision,theTradein ServicesDivisionandtheIntegratedDataBaseSectionoftheStatisticsDivision. TheprojectcoordinatorwasMarcBacchetta. 6 Table of Contents Page Section I: Introduction 1 Section II: Industrial Products 7 A. Post-Uruguay Round tariffs 7 B. Other trade policy measures 18 Technical Notes to Section II 24 Appendix to Section II 28 Section III: Agricultural Products A. The Agreement on Agriculture’s origins 45 B. Trade policies under the Agriculture Agreement 46 C. Trends in trade and continuation of the reform process 64 Appendix Tables 68 Section IV: Services 97 A. The international services economy 97 B. Market access in services 99 C. The Uruguay Round and subsequent negotiations 103 D. What can be expected in the new round? 114 E. Issues arising in negotiations 122 Appendix to Section IV 133 Bibliography 141 i Tables, Boxes and Figures Page Section II Table II.1. Bound tariffs on industrial products. Scope of bindings, simple averages, standard deviations and tariff peaks 8 Table II.2. Bound tariffs on industrial products. Simple averages by country and MTN category 11 Table II.3. Bound tariffs on industrial products. Simple average tariff and standard deviation by stage of processing 14 Table II.4. Bound and applied tariffs on industrial products. Simple averages 17 Table II.5. Applied tariffs on industrial products. Duty free lines, simple averages, standard deviations and tariff peaks. 19 Table II.6. Frequency of core non-tariff barriers of selected countries 20 Table II.7. Pervasiveness of core non-tariff barriers affecting the manufacturing sector 21 Table II.8. -
Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?
IRLE IRLE WORKING PAPER #188-09 September 2009 Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone? James R. Lincoln, Masahiro Shimotani Cite as: James R. Lincoln, Masahiro Shimotani. (2009). “Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?” IRLE Working Paper No. 188-09. http://irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/188-09.pdf irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper Series (University of California, Berkeley) Year Paper iirwps-- Whither the Keiretsu, Japan’s Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone? James R. Lincoln Masahiro Shimotani University of California, Berkeley Fukui Prefectural University This paper is posted at the eScholarship Repository, University of California. http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-188-09 Copyright c 2009 by the authors. WHITHER THE KEIRETSU, JAPAN’S BUSINESS NETWORKS? How were they structured? What did they do? Why are they gone? James R. Lincoln Walter A. Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 USA ([email protected]) Masahiro Shimotani Faculty of Economics Fukui Prefectural University Fukui City, Japan ([email protected]) 1 INTRODUCTION The title of this volume and the papers that fill it concern business “groups,” a term suggesting an identifiable collection of actors (here, firms) within a clear-cut boundary. The Japanese keiretsu have been described in similar terms, yet compared to business groups in other countries the postwar keiretsu warrant the “group” label least. -
Trade Liberalization in China's Accession To
Trade Liberalization in China’s Accession to WTO Elena Ianchovichina and Will Martin World Bank Abstract China’s forthcoming accession to the WTO involves reforms across a wide range of sectors in China, both in directly trade-related sectors and behind the border. The implications of these reforms are greatly influenced by the starting point—a partially reformed economy with relatively high import duties, but in which export sectors benefit from liberal duty exemptions on their inputs. The paper takes account of this special feature in assessing the implications of reform. We find that China and its major trading partners gain from accession, while some competing countries suffer smaller losses. The adjustments required are greatly reduced by the dramatic liberalization that China undertook in the 1990s. JEL Classification: F02, F13, F14. ________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding address: Elena Ianchovichina, MC8-810, World Bank, 1818 H St NW, Washington DC 20433. Ph 1-202-458-8910. Fax 1-202-522-1557. Email: [email protected] I. Introduction Accession to the WTO will be a major milestone in China’s economic development, modernization and integration into the world economy. Completion of the accession formalities will not be the end, but rather the beginning, of a new process of reform and adaptation that builds on the sweeping economic changes begun in 1978. The reform era in China, and other East Asian transition economies (Martin, 2001), has been a period of extraordinary growth in trade and output. Part of the growth in trade has been a consequence of economic reforms that have stimulated opening to the outside world, and part has been a consequence of the economic growth that opening to the world has done so much to facilitate. -
Direct Foreign Investment in Canada by Sogo Shosha Since 1954
Geographical Review of Japan Vol. 66 (Ser. B), No. 1, 52-69, 1993 Direct Foreign Investment in Canada by Sogo Shosha Since 1954 Tamiko KURIHARA* Abstract The purposes of this paper are to clarify the roles and characteristics of sogo shosha investment and to explore the locations of their economic activities in Canada. Japanese direct foreign investment (DFI) in Canada has been relatively moderate in size while still significant in its impact. Since mature Japanese manufacturers, financial institutions and real estate companies made large investments during the 1980's, the proportion of sogo shosha investment in the total Japanese investment in Canada declined relatively. The expansion and diversifica tion of Japanese DFI in Canada in the last decade stemmed from the changes in investment climate of the host country and the appreciation of yen . Sogo shosha, or the nine largest Japanese general trading companies, have been the chief promoters of Japanese trade and major vehicles for carrying out Japanese overseas investment during the postwar period. Sogo shosha's investment in Canada has focused on the three major sectors; commerce, natural resource development and manufacturing. Investment in commerce resulted in es tablishing their wholly-owned trading subsidiaries and marketing companies. Sogo shosha participate in natural resource development projects and manufacturing joint ventures with minority equity shares and long-term purchasing contracts. Thus, the primary purpose of sogo shosha investment is to enhance their trading activities, and the leverage is enormous despite their relatively small amount of investment. Sogo shosha investment is considered a unique prototype of Japanese DFI. Sogo shosha first emerged in the Canadian economic arena in 1954 after World War II. -
Conflicts Between U.S. Law and the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Reports: Should the Court of International
Conflicts Between U.S. Law and the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Reports: Should the Court of International Trade and the Federal Circuit Seek to Reconcile Their Decisions with the WTO’s Reports in the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Area? By Neal J. Reynolds1 I. Introduction In April 1994, the Uruguay Round Agreements, which were designed to establish a more comprehensive regime governing international trade among member states, were adopted by the United States and more than one hundred other nations.2 As the text of the Agreements indicated, they were “reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements {that were} directed to the substantial reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade and the elimination of discriminatory treatment in international trade relations.”3 Among its other important achievements, the Uruguay Round established the World Trade Organization (“WTO”), which was designed to be a “permanent forum for member governments to address issues affecting their multilateral trade relations as well as to supervise implementation of the trade agreements negotiated in the Uruguay Round.”4 One important component of the Uruguay Round negotiations was the adoption of two 1 Mr. Reynolds is the Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. The paper was not prepared by the Commission or on its behalf, and does not represent the official views of the Commission or any individual commissioner. 2 See generally Final Act Embodying the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, April 15, 1994. 3 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, Chapeau, April 15, 1994. -
Peru's Trade in Services: Multilateral and Preferential Liberalization
MILE 11 Thesis | September 2011 Peru’s Trade in Services: Multilateral and Preferential Liberalization Cristina Sanchez Rocha Supervisor: Pierre Sauvé MILE 11 World Trade Institute Cristina Sánchez Rocha TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................. 4 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 6 2. Peru’s Services Trade Profile........................................................................................................ 8 2.1. Peru’s services economy and foreign trade........................................................................... 8 2.2. Peru’s Inward and Outward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).............................................. 10 2.3. Peru’s statistics on Mode 3.................................................................................................. 11 2.3.1. FDI received by Peru................................................................................................. 11 2.3.1. Peru’s FDI abroad ..................................................................................................... 12 3. Revealed Comparative Advantage Index.................................................................................... 14 3.1. Services Exports................................................................................................................. -
The Bali Agreemtn, at Last: an Assessment from the Perspective Of
THE BALI AGREEMENT, AT LAST AN ASSESSMENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WORKING PAPER | December 2014 EUGENIO DÍAZ-BONILLA AND DAVID LABORDE Name Introduction and On December 7, 2013, after several days of work and the usual posturing and drama, Members of the WTO closed the Ninth Ministerial Conference with an agreement on the organization’s first comprehensive multilateral trade package. Until that point, the trade agreements completed since the WTO’s creation in 1995 had been mainly regional and plurilateral ones, including some but not all WTO members. In many cases, these agreements were negotiated outside of the WTO altogether. The implementation of the Bali agreement should have taken place during 2014 but reached an impasse by the end of June; the reasons why will be discussed in detail below, but it was basically due to differences in opinion about the WTO’s treatment of public food stocks in developing countries.1 Only on November 27, 2014, almost a year after the original Bali Ministerial, did WTO members managed to patch up their differences. 2 This recent agreement allows the implementation of the assorted policy decisions that were supposed to have been settled at Bali but were held up by the dispute on public food stocks to finally proceed, and puts back on track the post-Bali work program that should now be defined by mid-2015. This paper discusses the results of the Bali Ministerial Conference of December 2013 (sometimes called the “Bali Pack- age”), the problems encountered during 2014, and how were they solved in November 2014, as well as the potential implications for the post-Bali work program which remains critical to unlocking the Doha Round. -
Policy and Progress in Moroccan Agriculture: a Retrospective and Perspective
Topics in Middle Eastern and African Economies Vol. 3, September 2001 POLICY AND PROGRESS IN MOROCCAN AGRICULTURE: A RETROSPECTIVE AND PERSPECTIVE Channing Arndt, Purdue University and Wallace E. Tyner, Purdue University Email: [email protected] JEL Codes: Q1, Q2 The policy reforms in Moroccan agriculture brought about through the process of structural and sectoral adjustment and the engagements undertaken by Morocco in the context of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) represent important milestones in Moroccan agricultural history (1). Since 1985, reforms have been undertaken, especially with respect to domestic agricultural markets. Both authors have been closely involved in the reform process (Arndt since 1990 and Tyner since 1985). The process has been drawn out, halting, and highly complex. Throughout this article, we have tried to strike a balance between the need to generalize, in order to make the discussion accessible to readers unfamiliar with the evolution of Moroccan agricultural policy, and the need to present enough detail to be true to the facts. In this paper, we draw from available sources and our experience to argue three related points. 1) The impacts of reforms undertaken to date have, by and large, been positive. This reflects much more the dismal state of agricultural policy in 1985 rather than a positive rating of the reform process or the current policy environment. 2) Accordingly, further reforms, especially with respect to trade policy, are desirable. 3) Future reforms require important policy trade-offs, especially with respect to price stability for strategic agricultural commodities (bread wheat, sugar and oilseeds). Structural and Sectoral Adjustment At the dawn of agricultural sector adjustment in 1985, the Moroccan agricultural sector was marked by one of the highest levels of state intervention in the world. -
Chapter 17 the Seattle Ministerial Conference
CHAPTER 17 THE SEATTLE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE The third WTO Ministerial Conference was held last year from November 30 to December 3 in Seattle, United States. The focus of the Conference was to be a decision on launching of the so-called “New Rounds,” which would be the next round of negotiations to follow the Uruguay Round, and corresponding decision on the scope and modalities of the new round. Article IV:1 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (hereinafter, “WTO Agreement”) stipulates that “there shall be a Ministerial Conference composed of representatives of all the Members, which shall meet at least once every two years.” The first Ministerial Conference was held in Singapore in December 1996; the second, in Geneva, Switzerland in May 1998. The 1999 Conference was the third one. The four-day meeting did not reach a conclusion. At the same time, the launching of the new round was frozen and the Ministerial Declaration was not issued. It was decided that the discussion was suspended and will resume. This chapter contains an outline of the major developments regarding the new round of negotiations since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, and brief comments on the preparation process for the Ministerial Conference and the discussions in Seattle. 1. Developments since the Conclusion on the Uruguay Round (1) First Ministerial Conference in Singapore (December 9-13, 1996) This was the first Ministerial Conference following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round in Marrakesh on April 15, 1994 and the transition from the GATT to the WTO in January 1995. -
Moftic WTO Monitor
This issue of The WTO Monitor focuses on issues of specific interest to small 1 The developing countries such as those in CARICOM. Would There Be War After Nine Years of Peace The ‘Due Restraint’ proviso, more commonly referred to as the ‘Peace Clause’, W contained in Article 13 of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), shields countries granting subsidies which conform with the conditions specified in the T Agreement from being challenged under other WTO agreements, particularly Articles 6.3(a)-(c) and 6.4 of the Subsidies and Countervailing Measure (SCM) Agreement and O related provisions. This Clause expired at the end of 2003, however there appears to be disagreement with regard to the exact expiration date. According to Article 13, this moratorium is supposed to last for the duration of the implementation period of the AoA. Implementation period in this context, according to Article 1 of the AoA which M deals with definitions, means “the six-year period commencing in the year 1995, except that, for the purpose of Article 13, it means the nine-year period commencing in 1995.” For the majority of WTO Member States, as well as senior officials of the O Secretariat (Dr Supachai), the nine-year period expired at the end of 2003. Of late, however, another interpretation as regards the actual expiration date of the Peace N Clause was advanced by the US and the EU, which sees expiration at sometime in 2004. I Although the deadline has elapsed, Members are still expected to decide whether or not to support an extension of the Peace Clause. -
Sogo Shosha's Reform of Business Model and Functions, and Handling
Kagawa University Economic Review Vol.91,No.1, June2018, 1-22 Sogo Shosha’s reform of business model and functions, and handling of AI and IoT Kazunari Sotta Abstract ⑴ After World War II, Sogo Shosha(general trading company)have flexibly changed and expanded their role and services to be provided while assessing market needs in the drastic changes of the external environment. In the past, the future and raison d’etre of Sogo Shosha were discussed but they reformed their business model and functions, and developed each time. In some researches, the greatest strengths of Sogo Shosha are considered to be the “comprehensive power” and the “adaptability”, such as the development of business markets in many fields, the development and management of new business, and the abundant funds, etc. It is expected that AI and IoT revolution will accelerate more and more from now on, therefore it is important to discuss Sogo Shosha’s handing of AI and IoT. Sogo Shosha have turned many changes of business environment into opportunities by making good use of their strengths. I believe that this time Sogo Shosha will again improve their functions and achieve great development by powerful tools, AI and IoT. Keyword : Sogo Shosha’s reform of business model and functions, AI and IoT, traditional trade of merchandises, business investment/management -2- Kagawa University Economic Review 2 1. Introduction After World War II, the raison d’etre of Sogo Shosha has been denied many times due to rapid economic growth, the collapse of the bubble economy, the appreciation of the yen, the problem of bad loans and the end of the resource boom, but Sogo Shosha overcame all the crises by providing services that matched market needs and working integrally with manufacturers.