The fact that trade protection hurts the economy of the country that imposes it is one of the oldest but still most startling insights economics has to offer. The idea dates back to the origin of economic science itself. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which gave birth to economics, already contained the argument for free trade: by specializing in production instead of producing everything,...

This paper studies the effect of strengthening intellectual property rights (IPRs) after the signing of the TRIPS on agricultural trade, for the period 1995-2011. It uses data of agricultural exports and a new yearly index of intellectual property (IP) protection, for 60 developed and developing countries. Also, the paper studies bilateral trade links and the intensive and extensive margins of ...

The political and economic circumstances in the transition countries changed substantially after the turning point in the 1990s. To date the transformation process is far from being completed. This also applies to the trade unions. Their tasks and possibilities in relation to interest protection have changed fundamentally after the collapse of the socialist economic order. Trade unions today ha...

When the effective protection concept was first developed it was widely regarded as a key measure of the structure of protection and became widely deployed. It was however subject to a theoretical critique on the grounds that it was essentially a partial equilibrium measure, which could not be easily embedded in a general equilibrium framework. Notwithstanding this critique, the concept has con...

The stated purpose of intellectual property protection is to stimulate innovation. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires all Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to enact national laws conferring minimum standards of intellectual property protection by certain deadlines. Critics of the Agreement fear that such action is inconsistent wit...

Defenders concerned about protecting multiple targets can either protect them individually (through target hardening), or collectively (through overarching protections such as border security, public health, emergency response, or intelligence). Decision makers may find it relatively straightforward to choose which targets to harden, but are likely to find it more difficult to compare seemingly...

The Community trade mark has effectively been available since April 1, 1996, although recourse to this tool does not imply abandonment of protection at a national level something still of interest to SMEs. Market globalisation has led to increasingly more frequent horizontal and vertical integration being carried out between companies, with the effect being that of ‘anchoring’ the trade mark mo...

Policy incoherence at the interface between trade policy and health can take many forms, such as international trade commitments that strengthen protection of pharmaceutical patents, or promotion of health tourism that exacerbates the shortage of physicians in rural areas. Focusing on the national policy-making process, we make recommendations regarding five conditions that are necessary, but n...

WHAT CONSUMERS STAND TO GAIN AND LOSE A Public Conference on the Information Consumers Need to Evaluate Weight Loss Products and Programs October 16-17, 1997 Federal Trade Commission Building Sixth Street & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. Sponsored by: Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection The American Society of Clinical Nutrition The National Institute of Diabetes ...