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2. NAFTA Termination: Legal Process in Canada and Mexico
- Author:
- Tetyana Payosova, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, and Euijin Jung
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The mechanics of US withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have been widely explored, with an emerging consensus among legal experts that President Donald Trump does have the authority to pull out of the accord. This Policy Brief examines the legal procedures in Canada and Mexico in the event that either country decides to withdraw or terminate NAFTA. Relative to the United States, Canada and Mexico have clearer legal procedures. To terminate NAFTA in Canada, the Department of International Trade would send the notice to withdrawal upon approval by the Cabinet and the Order in Council. In Mexico, the president can notify withdrawal from NAFTA under Article 2205, following Senate approval. To raise tariffs to the MFN level, Canada requires amendment of federal statutes that requires passage in both chambers of the Parliament through regular procedures. To raise its tariffs, Mexico requires a bill to amend federal legislation that has the approval of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Canada and Mexico
3. How to Solve the Greek Debt Problem
- Author:
- Jeromin Zettelmeyer et al
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Greece’s debt currently stands at close to €330 billion, over 180 percent of GDP, with almost 70 percent owed to European official creditors. The fact that Greece’s public debts must be restructured is by now widely accepted. What remains controversial, however, is the extent of debt relief needed to make Greece’s debt sustainable.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Greece
4. Five Reasons Why the Focus on Trade Deficits Is Misleading
- Author:
- Robert Z. Lawrence
- Publication Date:
- 03-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- President Trump has asserted that trade balances are a key measure of a nation’s commercial success and that large US trade deficits prove that past trade approaches have been flawed. But trade deficits are not in fact a good measure of how well a country is doing with respect to its trade policies. Many of the assumptions on which the administration’s beliefs rest are not supported by the evidence. This Policy Brief argues that trade deficits are not necessarily bad, do not necessarily cost jobs or reduce growth, and are not a measure of whether foreign trade policies or agreements with other countries are fair or unfair. Efforts to use trade policy and agreements to reduce either bilateral or overall trade deficits are also unlikely to produce the effects the administration claims they will and instead lead to friction with US trading partners, harming the people the policies claim to help
- Topic:
- International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
5. Why Has the Stock Market Risen So Much Since the US Presidential Election?
- Author:
- Olivier Blanchard, Christopher G. Collins, Mohammad R Jahan-Parvar, and Thomas Pellet
- Publication Date:
- 03-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Immediately following the US presidential election in November 2016, many economists were concerned that increased uncertainty over economic policy would lead to a decline in the US stock market. From the time of the election to the end of 2017, however, the stock market, as measured by the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 index, increased by about 25 percent. Price swings since then have led investors and economists to increasingly ask: Was the stock market rise justified by an increase in actual and expected future dividends, or did it reflect unhealthy price developments, which may reverse in the future?
- Topic:
- International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Global Markets
6. China Needs Better Credit Data to Help Consumers
- Author:
- Martin Chorzempa
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Formidable barriers stand between the modern financial system and the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens still using costly informal credit. For many, the financial data that could be used to give them a credit score that would lead to a fair priced loan exist but are not being used. This analysis finds that the most difficult barriers cutting these data off from their potential use for greater financial inclusion are the legal and political restrictions on data sharing and use, economic and competitive concerns from data holders, and the technical difficulty of integrating disparate systems. Policies that encourage coordination between public authorities and private actors in finance and technology can go a long way towards making these data available and driving access to credit in China. This shift would not only help borrowers: It would also encourage the needed economic rebalancing towards consumption, increase competition in the financial sector, raise efficiency through better credit allocation, and contribute to sustainable economic growth and social welfare.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
7. Earmarked Revenues: How the European Union Can Learn from US Budgeting Experience
- Author:
- Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Few challenges facing the European Union—immigration pressures, the need to decrease security dependence on an increasingly erratic United States, and the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union (Brexit)—are compelling EU leaders to consider overhauling the revenue side of the European Union’s existing budget. To deal with these challenges in the future, the European Union will need resources—at a time when Europeans are increasingly skeptical about the effectiveness of budget-making in Brussels. Longstanding US budgetary procedures of trust fund accounting and earmarking government revenue towards specific priorities can provide a template for European policymakers. Shifting the EU budget towards more earmarked resources would reduce distrust among taxpayers by limiting Brussels’ spending discretion while focusing expenditures on specific challenges facing the European project.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Europe
8. Further Statistical Debate on "Too Much Finance"
- Author:
- William R. Cline
- Publication Date:
- 10-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Cline critiques OECD findings on "too much finance," which seem to imply that the optimal amount of credit in an economy is zero, given the linear specification of the main tests. If these results were taken literally, there would be a radical policy implication: Growth would be maximized by completely eliminating credit finance. He then finds that the negative impact of additional finance on growth is reversed when the appropriate (purchasing-power-parity) per capita income is applied and country fixed effects are removed. Separate tests for countries with intermediated finance below and above 60 percent of GDP show a significant positive effect of finance on growth in the lower group but an insignificant effect in the higher group. He also responds to critics of his earlier study.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and GDP
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
9. The Influence of Foreign Direct Investment, Intrafirm Trading, and Currency Undervaluation on US Firm Trade Disputes
- Author:
- J. Bradford Jensen, Dennis P. Quinn, and Stephen Weymouth
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The authors investigate a puzzling decline in US firm antidumping (AD) filings in an era of persistent foreign currency undervaluations and increasing import competition. Firms exhibit heterogeneity both within and across industries regarding foreign direct investment (FDI). Firms making vertical, or resource-seeking, investments abroad are less likely to file AD petitions and firms are likely to undertake vertical FDI in the context of currency undervaluation. Hence, the increasing vertical FDI of US firms makes trade disputes far less likely. Data on US manufacturing firms reveals that AD filers generally conduct no intrafirm trade with filed-against countries. Persistent currency undervaluation is associated over time with increased vertical FDI and intrafirm trade by US multinational corporations (MNCs) in the undervaluing country. Among larger US MNCs, the likelihood of an AD filing is negatively associated with increases in intrafirm trade. The authors confirm that undervaluation is associated with more AD filings. However, high levels of intrafirm imports from countries with undervalued currencies significantly decrease the likelihood of AD filings. The study also highlights the centrality of firm heterogeneity in international trade and investment in understanding political mobilization over international economic policy.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- United States of America
10. The OECD's "Action Plan" to Raise Taxes on Multinational Corporations
- Author:
- Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Eujiin Jung, Tyler Moran, and Martin Vieiro
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Hufbauer and colleagues critically evaluate the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s ambitious multipart project titled Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), which contains 15 "Actions" to prevent multinational corporations (MNCs) from escaping their "fair share" of the tax burden. Spurred by G-20 finance ministers, the OECD recommends changes in national legislation, revision of existing bilateral tax treaties, and a new multilateral agreement for participating countries. The proposition that MNCs need to pay more tax enjoys considerable political resonance as government budgets are strained, the world economy is struggling, income inequality is rising, and the news media have publicized instances of corporations legally lowering their global tax burdens by reporting income in low-tax jurisdictions and expenses in high-tax jurisdictions. Given that the US system taxes MNCs more heavily than other advanced countries and provides fewer tax incentives for research and development (R&D), implementation of the BEPS Actions would drive many MNCs to relocate their headquarters to tax-friendly countries and others to offshore significant amounts of R&D activity.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
11. The Current Currency Situation
- Author:
- William R. Cline and John Williamson
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The currency markets have been extremely disturbed for the last three months. The period witnessed a major strengthening of the US dollar in September, then the European currency crisis, a recovery of the euro when the markets believed that the crisis was being controlled, and then a rebound of the dollar. In view of these developments, those who follow currency movements need a new guide as to how the current values of currencies compare to our estimates of fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs). That is the main object of this paper.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
12. Notes on Equilibrium Exchange Rates: January 2010
- Author:
- William R. Cline and John Williamson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- In June 2009 we issued our annual update of estimates of fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs) for 34 major economies (Cline and Williamson 2009). At that time the dollar had already begun correction from the substantial overvaluation that had arisen from the strong safe-haven effect associated with the global financial crisis of 2008–09. In this policy brief we report on changes in disequilibria in the exchange markets since the date those earlier calculations referred to, namely March 2009. We first present estimates of the extent of movement toward FEER-consistent bilateral dollar exchange rates from March to December 31, 2009, and then look at how effective exchange rates have altered in the same period. We also re-estimate the FEER-consistent dollar rate for one important currency, the Korean won.
- Topic:
- Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Political Economy, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- Korea
13. New PPP-Based Estimates of Renminbi Undervaluation and Policy Implications
- Author:
- Arvind Subramanian
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Is there reason to add to the proliferating set of estimates on the extent of renminbi undervaluation (see among others, Bergsten 2010; Cline and Williamson 2008 and 2010; Goldstein and Lardy 2008 and 2009; Frankel 2008; Reisen 2009; and Lee et al. 2008)? Yes, not least because these new estimates: (1) suggest that purchasing power parity (PPP)-based approaches to measuring renminbi undervaluation suggest that China's currency is undervalued by about 30 percent against the dollar and not the 12 percent recently reported (Bajaj 2010); and (2) are closer to and consistent with alternative approaches to estimating renminbi undervaluation.
- Topic:
- Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Political Economy, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- China
14. The Substitution Account as a First Step Toward Reform of the International Monetary System
- Author:
- Peter B. Kenen
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Today, the international monetary system is based largely on the US dollar, but reserve currency diversification has begun, thanks to the advent of the euro, and it is apt to continue. Eventually, the renminbi could acquire reserve currency status, and the resulting reserve currency diversification could be more disruptive than it has been to date. To forestall that possibility the quasi-currency issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), could be made to play a larger role in the international monetary system, precluding potentially disruptive diversification and achieving more orderly growth in the stock of international reserves.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States
15. Reform of the Global Financial Architecture
- Author:
- Edwin M. Truman and Garry J. Schinasi
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the implications of the global financial crisis of 2007–10 for reform of the global financial architecture, in particular the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board and their interaction. These two institutions are not fully comparable, but they must work more closely in the future to help prevent global financial crises. To this end, the paper identifies institutional and substantive reforms separately and in their joint work that would be desirable and appropriate.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, International Political Economy, Global Recession, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
16. Money for the Auto Industry: Consistent with WTO Rules?
- Author:
- Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Claire Brunel
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- As the financial crisis threatens to lead to a depression, the woes of the automobile industry are second only to the distress of the financial sector. Employment in the US auto industry dropped 9 percent between 2007 and 2008, with much more to follow in 2009. Overall, US auto sales dropped 18 percent between 2007 and 2008, and sales of SUVs plunged 44 percent on a year-over-year basis. Since some sort of financing is required for 90 percent of US car sales, the global credit freeze hit the auto industry with a second blow.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Poverty, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States
17. A Green Recovery? Assessing US Economic Stimulus and the Prospects for International Coordination
- Author:
- Trevor Houser, Shashank Mohan, and Robert Heilmayr
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- As the 111th Congress begins and a new president takes office, the economic crisis dominates the US policy agenda. The financial system remains in a tenuous state despite massive bank recapitalization, and the economy, more than a year into the current recession, shows no signs of recovery. Given the scale of the challenge Washington faces and the amount of money required to combat it, there will likely be little room for other legislative priorities. As a result, policymakers are hoping to direct government spending over the next two years in a way that not only generates short-term economic growth and employment but also addresses long-term policy goals sidelined by the current crisis.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Climate Change, Economics, Environment, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States
18. Buy American: Bad for Jobs, Worse for Reputation
- Author:
- Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- On January 28, 2009, the US House of Representatives passed its economic stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Out of the bill's 700 text pages, a small half-page section attracted enormous media attention: the section requiring that all public projects funded by the stimulus plan must use only iron and steel produced in the United States (box 1). Another provision, which drew less attention, extends the so-called Berry Amendment (an old Buy American provision) to uniforms purchased by the Department of Homeland Security.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, Government, Industrial Policy, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- United States
19. Policy Liberalization and US Merchandise Trade Growth, 1980-2006
- Author:
- Matthew Adler and Gary Clyde Hufbauer
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This working paper draws on historical and contemporary data on tariffs, nontariff barriers, and transportation costs (for the United States and its major trading partners) to estimate the role of policy liberalization in US merchandise trade growth over the period 1980 to 2006. Both partial equilibrium analysis and computable general equilibrium analysis are used to make the estimates. Both methods indicate that roughly 25 percent of US trade growth since 1980 can be attributed to policy liberalization. Policy liberalization plays a larger role in US export growth (35 to 40 percent) than US import growth (25 percent). According to these estimates, policy liberalization accounts for almost all US merchandise growth in excess of growth that can be explained by expanding GDP in the United States and abroad.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States
20. Understanding Special Drawing Rights
- Author:
- John Williamson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- A once-familiar but long-neglected acronym has reappeared in newspapers in recent weeks. We have read that the G-20 meeting in London endorsed a proposal that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should create $250 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). We have been told that one problem with this proposal is that most of the SDR allocation would accrue to countries that are unlikely to use them, and some readers may have seen proposed ways around this difficulty. We have read that the governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, has proposed that the SDR should gradually displace the dollar at the center of the international monetary system and that surplus countries should be able to convert their dollar holdings into SDR-denominated assets. No one can doubt that the SDR is back.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
21. American Multinationals and American Economic Interests: New Dimensions to an Old Debate
- Author:
- Theodore H. Moran
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The 2008 election rekindled debate about whether US multinationals shift technology across borders and relocate production in ways that might harm workers and communities at home. President Obama now pledges to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. The preoccupation about the behavior of American multinationals takes three forms: (1) that US-based multinational corporations may follow a strategy that leads them to abandon the home economy, leaving the workers and communities to cope on their own with few appealing alternatives after the multinationals have left; (2) worse, that US-based multinational corporations may not just abandon home sites but drain off capital, substitute production abroad for exports, and “hollow out” the domestic economy in a zero-sum process that damages those left behind; and (3) worst, that US-based multinational corporations may deploy a rent-gathering apparatus that switches from sharing supranormal profits and externalities with US workers and communities to extracting rents from the United States. Each of these concerns contains a hypothetical outcome that can be compared with contemporary evidence from the United States and other home countries.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
22. Policy Liberalization and FDI Growth, 1982 to 2006
- Author:
- Matthew Adler and Gary Clyde Hufbauer
- Publication Date:
- 08-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Over the last three decades the global economy has expanded in a remarkable fashion. While nominal world GDP has increased four times, world bilateral trade flows have grown more than six-fold, and the stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown by roughly 20 times since 1980. The sources of global trade and investment growth are well known—general economic expansion, policy liberalization, and better communications and technology—but the impact of each source is unclear. In this paper we attempt to uncover the contribution of policy liberalization to the rising ratios of US inward and outward FDI stocks to GDP over the last three decades.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
23. A Blueprint for Sovereign Wealth Fund Best Practices
- Author:
- Edwin M. Truman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Over the past year, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have leapt from the back pages in business sections of financial newspapers to lead stories on the Internet. Defenders of SWFs argue that they are benign, long-term investors that provide needed capital transfusions to hard-pressed private financial institutions. At the same time, political controversy surrounds SWFs in many countries including their own. Moderate voices have called for agreement on a set of best practices for SWFs.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, International Political Economy, Markets, and Sovereignty
24. Korean Institutional Reform in Comparative Perspective
- Author:
- Marcus Noland and Erik Weeks
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- In recent years, academic economists have come to appreciate the centrality of public institutions in contributing to economic performance. Yet Korea, arguably the premier success story of the last half-century, has sometimes been described as a First World economy with Third World institutions. Although Korea modestly underachieves on most of the 52 institutional indicators examined in this paper, it is not an outlier, and on most indicators it is converging on global norms from below.
- Topic:
- International Organization and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Asia, and South Korea
25. On What Terms Is the IMF Worth Funding?
- Author:
- Edwin M. Truman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- In the first decade of the 21st century the International Monetary Fund (IMF) faced crises of legitimacy, relevance, and budgetary finance. It now confronts what likely will be the worst global recession since World War II, potentially huge demands for its financial assistance with limited resources, and calls for it to play a more central role in the international financial and regulatory systems. At the same time, the incoming Barack Obama administration must decide what to do about the modest package of IMF reforms that was completed in the spring of 2008. The package requires US congressional approval to go into effect. This paper reviews the recent, slow progress on IMF reform and makes recommendations to the Obama administration against the background of that record, the emerging global recession, and continuing financial turmoil. I recommend that the IMF package be reopened to include a doubling of IMF quotas and an amendment that will permit the Fund to swap special drawing rights (SDR) with major central banks to finance its short-term lending facility. I also recommend a special allocation of 50 billion SDR. If these proposals are turned down by the G-20 at its meeting in April 2009, I reluctantly recommend that the Obama administration seek congressional approval of the IMF package as it now stands because a failure to do so would seriously undermine the Fund as a central multilateral institution.
- Topic:
- Development, International Organization, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Global Recession
- Political Geography:
- United States
26. Reform of the International Monetary Fund
- Author:
- C. Fred Bergsten
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- It is a pleasure to testify before the Committee again concerning your ongoing oversight of the International Monetary Fund. The topic remains of great importance, and our Institute for International Economics will in fact be holding a major conference on IMF reform on September 23 to address a number of specific proposals for strengthening and enforcing the rules of the monetary system, improving the governance of the Fund itself, reforming its lending programs, and reassessing the ways in which it might be financed in the future. All members of the Subcommittee and staff are cordially invited to participate in our event.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Debt, Economics, and International Political Economy
27. This Far and No Further? Nudging Agricultral Reform Forward
- Author:
- Tim Josling and Dale Hathaway
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- As countries attempt to restart the stalled Doha Round and continue the negotiations on further agricultural trade reform and liberalization, it is useful to take stock of the progress made so far in the light of both the objectives of countries and the needs of the trading system. This policy brief reviews the main objectives of the agricultural talks in the World Trade Organization (WTO), examines the major proposals that emerged in the run-up to Cancún and at the ministerial itself, describes the emerging framework for further reform, and suggests ways in which the negotiations can build on this progress to achieve a worthwhile outcome.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- South America
28. Labor Standards, Development, and CAFTA
- Author:
- Kimberly Ann Elliott
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The Miami Summit launching the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process recognized that free markets and free societies work best when they work together. The core labor standards — freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively, freedom from forced labor, the abolition of child labor, and freedom from discrimination — are part of the summit - FTAA process because they strengthen both markets and democracy. These core standards are broadly recognized as fundamental rights to which all workers are entitled, regardless of the level of development of the country or the sector where they work. And, in an environment that promotes democracy and market - oriented economies, as the FTAA is intended to do, there is no trade - off between these principles and development; indeed, they become mutually reinforcing.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance