International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

The Impact of Labor Restrictions on Free Trade in Goods

I have been thinking a bit more about the Don Boudreaux post I quoted from recently. I take his point to be that free trade within nations (e.g., within the U.S.) is generally accepted as having economic benefits, so critics of free trade between nations (e.g., WTO

Trade versus the Environment: Shipping Pollution

The EPA is proposing regulations to control emissions from large ships: The United States took a critical step towards protecting Americans from harmful ship emissions by becoming the first country to ask the International Maritime Organization to create an emissions control area (ECA) around the nation’s coastline, the EPA

USTR's NTE Report is Out

Here's the full report. Here's a brief summary by USTR: Kirk said today that the report will help to inform an enforcement strategy for the trade policy of the United States, and that USTR is moving forward as follows: - USTR is beginning a review of the

Trade in Everything: Haircuts

More trade in everything, via Greg Mankiw: The financial crisis has hit Eastern Europe particularly hard, leading to strong depreciation pressure on exchange rates. As a result, traditional non-tradable goods have suddenly become tradable. The Polish village of Osinow Dolny at the Polish-German border has approx. 200 inhabitants,

Trade in Everything: Surrogacy

Seema Sapra's excellent "India in the WTO" blog points me to this Journal of World Trade article that makes for a good "trade in everything" post: Christina Stephenson, 'Reproductive Outsourcing to India: WTO Obligations in the Absence of US National Legislation' (2009)

More on the Crisis Round

Over at Vox, economists Aaditya Mattoo and Arvind Subramanian offer more details on their proposed "crisis round," as compared to the Doha agenda: Table 1. Commitments under the Doha Round and the proposed Crisis Round Sector / Area Doha Agenda's likely outcome Crisis round agenda Agricultural tariffs

"Free Trade is Ubiquitous"

Economist Don Boudreaux puts the burden on those who oppose free trade to explain why trade restrictions between nations will make people better off, given that free trade is the general rule within nations: Karol, Thomas, and I live in Burke, Virginia. We are free to trade not only with

Obama on Incentives to Buy, New Cleaner Cars

One aspect of President Obama's plan for the automakers, from his remarks today: ... several members of Congress have proposed an even more ambitious incentive program to increase car sales while modernizing our auto fleet. And such fleet modernization programs, which provide a generous credit to consumers who turn

The Economist on Rising Protectionism

Some nuggets from a recent Economist article, followed by my brief comments. The effectiveness of trade rules on non-tariff issues: Multilateral agreements provide little insurance against domestic subsidies, fiercer use of anti-dumping or the other forms of creeping protection. I'm not sure I agree with this

Advice for the G-20, from Brookings

The G-20 London Summit 2009: Recommendations for Global Policy Coordination, from Brookings: Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20), representing 85 percent of the global economy’s output, face a long list of agenda items when they gather on April 2 in London for their second summit. As