World Bank Discussion Paper No. 323. Presents a framework for evaluating the level and composition of public expenditures. The paper applies the framework to the analysis of intrasectoral allocations within key sectors, intersectoral allocations across sectors, and allocations for major cross-sectoral expenditure categories. It identifies the elements that should be an integral part of an ongoing exercise in analyzing the level and composition of public spending and highlights the importance of the institutional policy environment that determines these allocations and their outcomes.

The author has virtually incomparable experience in both providing trade policy advice to more than 25 countries on behalf of the World Bank and also publishing quality journal articles in most of those cases. In this volume, he focuses on his work on: (i) trade policies for countries making the transition from planned to market economies; (ii) his trade policy guideline papers for the World Bank on trade policies for poverty alleviation, uniform tariff policy, adjustment costs of trade liberalization, exchange rate overvaluation, globalization and technology transfer and rules of thumb on regional trade policies; (iii) multilateral, dynamic and environmental issues in trade policy using computable general equilibrium models; (iv) trade policy of the United States in the auto and steel industries; and (v) mathematical methods for modeling. The papers show an unusual combination of policy relevance, advice and impact, with rigor and international trade theory insights. The papers in this volume have appeared in many of the economics profession's more prestigious journals, including Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economic Journal, the Journal of International Economics, International Economic Review, European Economic Review, Canadian Journal of Economics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Comparative Economic, Review of International Economics, World Economy, the Southern Economic Journal, the World Bank Economic Review, the Japanese Economic Review and the Latin American Journal of Economics. In this book, the author elaborates on the articles by discussing some of the policy contexts for the requests for the work from developing and transition countries to the World Bank, the key trade theory or policy insights, policy recommendations and conclusions and the policy impacts.

In the era of globalization, foreign trade has an immense impact upon modern economies. To succeed in the global marketplace, sustainable development in trade practices is an imperative goal for countries to reach. Global Perspectives on Trade Integration and Economies in Transition is an authoritative reference source for the latest research on the dynamics of transitional economies and how certain obstacles can disrupt the effectiveness of the transition process. Highlighting the value of trade incorporation at the national and international levels, this book is ideally designed for researchers, professionals, government officials, policy makers, and upper-level students interested in the intersection of globalization, trade, and international economics.

Trade flows and trade policies need to be properly quantified to describe, compare, or follow the evolution of policies between sectors or countries or over time. This is essential to ensure that policy choices are made with an appropriate knowledge of the real conditions. This practical guide introduces the main techniques of trade and trade policy data analysis. It shows how to develop the main indexes used to analyze trade flows, tariff structures, and non-tariff measures. It presents the databases needed to construct these indexes as well as the challenges faced in collecting and processing these data, such as measurement errors or aggregation bias. Written by experts with practical experience in the field, A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis has been developed to contribute to enhance developing countries' capacity to analyze and implement trade policy. It offers a hands-on introduction on how to estimate the distributional effects of trade policies on welfare, in particular on inequality and poverty. The guide is aimed at government experts engaged in trade negotiations, as well as students and researchers involved in trade-related study or research. An accompanying DVD contains data sets and program command files required for the exercises. Copublished by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

January 2001 There has been no single magic formula for the success of the East Asian transition economies (Cambodia, China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam), whose performance in export and income growth has been strikingly better than that of transition economies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Most of the trade policy problems that remain in these East Asian economies appear to be problems more of development than of transition. The performance of the East Asian transition economies in export and income growth has been strikingly better than that of countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The East Asian economies have achieved remarkably high growth rates in outputs and exports without the often large declines in output and exports observed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. East Asian reformers have successfully made many of the parallel changes needed in both domestic and trade policies to secure export and income growth. (It makes no sense, for example, to introduce the trade policy instruments of a market economy when the domestic economy is still based on central planning.) But there has been no single magic formula for their success. Martin discusses what each of the economies (Cambodia, China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam) has done. China experienced an extended transition process; the transition was much shorter in other East Asian transition economies--especially Cambodia. Several of the East Asian transition economies used accession to a regional arrangement as part of their reform strategy. China focused mainly on unilateral reforms and, more recently, reforms associated with its accession to the World Trade Organization. Most have made extensive use of policies to attract foreign investment and to mitigate the burden of protection on manufacturing exporters. Most of the remaining trade policy problems, although difficult, appear to be problems more of development than of transition. This paper--a product of Trade, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the role of trade reform in successful development and poverty alleviation. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

The onslaught of globalization has brought with it sweeping changes to the foreign economic policy of the last 50 years. As the international political economy of nations and regions continues to be drawn and redrawn, this book traces the goals and instruments of foreign economic policy during this period, providing insight into the long-run trends and developing new theoretical generalizations. The book charts the journey from the point when foreign economic policy was solely concerned with foreign trade - pursued to promote the interests of individual countries - to the current globalization of the world economy that creates a uniform market in goods, services and factors of production that embrace all countries and regions.