The Competitiveness of the Beef Sector in Argentina and Canada

Food markets are becoming global and competition in all markets is intense, countries are working to improve market access through the current round of World Trade Organization negotiations and through regional agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Trade is critical to Canada's agri-food sector. Canada is a major agricultural producer with a relatively small population. As a result, we export almost half of our farm products. Because of the magnitude of our exports, the success of the agri-food sector depends, in large part, on international markets.food markets, market access, World Trade Organization, trade agri-food sector, international markets, Value Chain Roundtable Process, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

Wildlife Trade and Human Health in Lao PDR: An Assessment of the Zoonotic Disease Risk in Markets.

Although the majority of emerging infectious diseases can be linked to wildlife sources, most pathogen spillover events to people could likely be avoided if transmission was better understood and practices adjusted to mitigate risk. Wildlife trade can facilitate zoonotic disease transmission and represents a threat to human health and economies in Asia, highlighted by the 2003 SARS coronavirus outbreak, where a Chinese wildlife market facilitated pathogen transmission. Additionally, wildlife trade poses a serious threat to biodiversity. Therefore, the combined impacts of Asian wildlife trade, sometimes termed bush meat trade, on public health and biodiversity need assessing. From 2010 to 2013, observational data were collected in Lao PDR from markets selling wildlife, including information on volume, form, species and price of wildlife; market biosafety and visitor origin. The potential for traded wildlife to host zoonotic diseases that pose a serious threat to human health was then evaluated at seven markets identified as having high volumes of trade. At the seven markets, during 21 observational surveys, 1,937 alive or fresh dead mammals (approximately 1,009 kg) were observed for sale, including mammals from 12 taxonomic families previously documented to be capable of hosting 36 zoonotic pathogens. In these seven markets, the combination of high wildlife volumes, high risk taxa for zoonoses and poor biosafety increases the potential for pathogen presence and transmission. To examine the potential conservation impact of trade in markets, we assessed the status of 33,752 animals observed during 375 visits to 93 markets, under the Lao PDR Wildlife and Aquatic Law. We observed 6,452 animals listed by Lao PDR as near extinct or threatened with extinction. The combined risks of wildlife trade in Lao PDR to human health and biodiversity highlight the need for a multi-sector approach to effectively protect public health, economic interests and biodiversity

Market run-ups, market freezes, and leverage

The authors study trade between a buyer and a seller when both may have existing inventories of assets similar to those being traded. They analyze how these inventories affect trade, information dissemination, and price formation. The authors show that when the buyer's and seller's initial leverage is moderate, inventories increase price and trade volume, but when leverage is high, trade may become impossible (a "market freeze"). Their analysis predicts a pattern of trade in which prices and trade volume first increase, and then markets break down. The authors use their model to discuss implications for regulatory intervention in illiquid markets. ; Superseded by Working Paper 12-8Inventories ; Trade ; Markets

Integration of markets vs. integration by agreements

This paper provides an analysis of the two channels of regional integration: integration via markets and integration via agreements. Given that East Asia and Latin America are two fertile regions where both forms of integrations have taken place, the authors examine the experiences of these two areas. There are four related results. First, East Asia had been integrating via markets long before formal agreements were in vogue in the region. Latin America, by contrast, has primarily used formal regional trade treaties as the main channel of integration. Second, despite the relative lack of formal regional trade treaties until recently, East Asia is more integrated among itself than Latin America. Third, from a purely economic and trade standpoint, the proper sequence of integrations seems to be first integrating via markets and subsequently via formal regional trade agreements. Fourth, regional trade agreements often serve multiple constituents. The reason why integrating via markets first can be helpful is because this can give stronger political bargaining power to the outward-looking economic-oriented forces within the country.Trade Law,Free Trade,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy,Emerging Markets

Trade liberalization, factor market flexibility, and growth : the case of Morocco and Tunisia

In recent years there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of complementary policies in enhancing the benefits of a more open trade regime. This study focuses on the importance of factor market flexibility to trade reforms. Using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database, the results show that the welfare impact of trade reform is contingent on the flexibility of factor markets, with higher welfare gains occurring where factor markets are more flexible, and vice-versa. Defining two extreme factor market scenarios over Morocco and Tunisia, the author finds that the welfare gains of trade reforms under conditions of flexible factor markets can be as much as six times the gains compared with a rigid factor market scenario. This is so because whereas trade reforms may improve the incentive structure for resource reallocation, the extent to which resources move from less efficient to more efficient sectors of an economy is dependent on the degree of flexibility of factor markets.Free Trade,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Law

Credit Market Quality, Innovation and Trade

Using a general equilibrium model with private R&D financing, this article investigates the impact of trade openness to trade on growth and on welfare for two countries equal in all aspects, except for the quality of credit markets. We show that opening to trade increases growth in the country with better credit markets (North) and decreases it in the other country (South). With respect to trade pattern, South imports high tech goods and exports traditional goods. In terms of welfare, opening to trade may lower the welfare of individuals in the short run, but in the long run all of them are better o¤ under free trade than if they were under autarky.credit markets; growth; trade pattern

Aquaculture and markets: a research agenda

This issues brief proposes an agenda for markets and trade research that supports pro-poor development of aquaculture. It summarises key trends and issues relating to global aquaculture development and identifies critical markets and trade dimensions. Coinciding with renewed interest and change in global agricultural research, this brief is targeted to aquaculture development practitioners and researchers. It aims to provoke discussion on the key areas of markets-related analysis needed to ensure that aquaculture research delivers the strongest poverty reduction and food security outcomes. This focus means that the paper inevitably covers both markets and trade related research and identifies some critical gaps in the foundational poverty analysis.Aquaculture, Trade, Research, Market Research

Impact of liberalisation on wages and employment in Indian manufacturing industries

FDI and labour markets; Trade and labour markets; Technology and Labour markets; Indian labour markets; Wages and Employment; GMM

Empirical investigation on labour market interactions in an enlarged Europe

This paper proposes an empirical assessment of economic interactions between the labour markets of the integrating EU over the period of time 1995–2005. Drawing on recently made available industry statistics, we provide a sector level study (13 tradable sectors, including manufacturing and services), analysing the contemporary evolution of domestic and trade partners’ employment levels. Given the intensification of trade relations as a result of ongoing integration process, we build a sector-specific measure of economic interdependency, based on information on labour markets’ performance and weighted by the magnitude of intra-EU trade flows (imports). The estimates of a dynamic empirical model confirm the interactions between employment levels in different Member States. Domestic employment in NMS-5 is rather positively affected by the expansion of labour markets in other EU’s trade partners (domestic employment levels in NMS-5 countries improve in parallel to the increase in foreign tradable sectors’ employment). The opposite holds true for EU-15 domestic labour markets that are rather challenged by the expansion of tradable sectors in their EU trade partners.EU integration, labour markets, trade

Why do markets freeze?

In normal times, investors buy and sell financial assets because there are gains from trade. However, markets do not always function properly — they sometimes “freeze.” An example is the collapse of trading in mortgage-backed securities during the recent financial crisis. Why does trade break down despite the potential gains from trade? Can the government intervene to restore the normal functioning of markets? In “Why Do Markets Freeze?,” Yaron Leitner explains what a market freeze is and some of the theories as to why these freezes occur.Financial markets