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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

Free Trade and Low Prices

I get nervous when I, armed only with my undergraduate degree, question the economic analysis of real economists, but there are times I just can't resist. Hopefully I won't get myself into too much trouble here. This post by Dani Rodrik is getting a bit old

Obama's Reaction to the Proposed Budweiser Deal

From Reuters: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama weighed in Monday, saying it would be a "a shame" if the iconic American brewer was acquired by a foreign company. "I don't think we can pass a law to prevent Budweiser's shareholders -- Anheuser Busch'

Coming Soon: The China - Auto Parts Decision (Part II)

Last week, I did a short post summarizing the soon-to-be-circulated WTO panel report in China - Auto parts. I focused on the complainants' claims, based on a quick read of the EC/U.S. first submissions. Then an anonymous commenter pointed out that China raised an Article

Women in International Economic Law: organizational meeting

From the founders of Women in International Economic Law: Women in International Economic Law (WIEL), a new global organization in international law, will hold its organizational meeting from 1.30 to 3 pm on Tuesday 15 July, in conjunction with the inaugural meeting of the Society of International Economic Law

Trade in Everything: Fireworks (July 4th Edition)

From MSNBC: It was eerily quiet at Aaron Waugh’s fireworks stand in Princeton, W.Va. “Pretty slow, pretty slow,” he concluded. “More people need to come in.” The solitude at Rocket World, which opened last week, is being replicated at fireworks shops and seasonal stands across the country. Just

Trade, Inequality and Wal-Mart

Over at VoxEU, Christian Broda argues: Conventional wisdom says globalisation has increased US income inequality. This column says that is dead wrong, as China and Wal-Mart have increased the purchasing power of the poor more than the rich. He explains: Inflation differentials between the rich and poor dramatically change

60,000 Pages of WTO Jurisprudence

That's what the Economist says. Does that sound right? I've never tried to count, although people have suggested the idea to me before. I probably should, I just can't face the prospect of opening each report and checking page counts. And dealing with methodological

Investment Treaty Empiricism

Over at Opinio Juris, Susan Franck talks about empiricism and international law, with a focus on investment treaty decisions, noting the differences between the rhetoric and the reality of investment treaty decisions. David Zaring offers some comments.

New Paper: "Currency Manipulation" and World Trade

Robert Staiger and Alan Sykes have a new Working Paper on "'Currency Manipulation' and World Trade." Here's the abstract: Central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets may, under some conditions, stimulate exports and retard imports. In the past few years, this issue has moved

Strong Words from Bhagwati about Preferential Trade

From his new book: The Pandemic of PTAs There is yet another irony. The interwar proliferation of preferences was a result of an uncoordinated pursuit of protectionism, itself aided by the breakdown of financial stability and macroeconomic equilibrium in the world economy. But the current tide of preferences has been