International trade and environmental controls: Comment

On a busy day, the volume of trading in the foreign exchange market is $400 billion — and since there are 250 trading days in a year, the yearly volume is $ 100,000 billion — which is three or four times world GDP. The volume of daily transactions in foreign exchange is 20–40 times larger than the volume of international trade and investment, which leads to the question of why the transactions volume is so large.KeywordsExchange RateCentral BankForeign ExchangeExchange MarketForeign Exchange MarketThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

During the last decade, the volume of international trade has increased significantly as international economic integration has deepened, especially in emerging countries, and national industrial structures have become increasingly aligned with international trade in intermediate goods. The OECD STAN Bilateral Trade Database by Industry and End-use Category (BTDIxE) presents international trade in goods flows broken down both by industry sectors and by end-use categories, allowing insights into the patterns of trade in intermediate goods between countries to track global production networks and supply chains as well as helping to address other trade-related policy issues such as trade in value added and tasks.

Regional trade agreements have markedly increased over the past few decades. Almost every country participates in one or more regional trade agreements, and the depth and complexity of these signed agreements have also increased. Since the development of Viner's classic customs union theory in the 1950s, there has been considerable research on the effect of regional trade agreements on international trade volume. Still, the findings have been varied and mixed. This article analyses the partial effect of regional trade agreements on trade volume, tracing the advancements in gravity and economic integration literature from Tinbergen's initial research to the present day. In this context, by using international and intranational trade data, this article uses the gravity equation with the PPML estimation method to reveal the effect of regional trade agreements on trade flows for the 1966–2020 period. According to the results, besides international trade flows intranational trade flows and globalization are essential components when estimating the effects of regional trade agreements. Additionally, the findings show that the European Union, being one of the deepest and oldest economic integrations, considerably increases the bilateral trade compared to a standard regional trade agreement. Therefore, the policies implemented by the European Union in this context could serve as a guiding example for free trade agreements that other countries might sign.

Exchange rate volatility and international trading strategy

The global energy transition is characterized by a shift from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. It is emphasized that hydrogen energy has significant potential for the development of innovative business, international trade, and energy transition for a sustainable post-carbon future. Currently, most hydrogen is consumed locally, without significant volumes of interstate supplies. It is noted that the development of this market faces many technical challenges, including high costs of producing “green” hydrogen, technical difficulties with the infrastructure for its transportation and storage due to low density, and the need to create large-scale infrastructure. Demand for hydrogen is growing as it plays a key role in decarbonization and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, especially in heavy industry, transportation, and energy systems. In the short term, hydrogen trade will likely occur mainly between neighboring countries through pipelines, limiting the scope of international trade until cost-reducing technologies are developed. In the long term, as demand for green hydrogen grows, especially in Europe and Asia, the trend toward active trade in this resource will gradually change. According to the most optimistic forecasts, the global hydrogen market will gradually grow until 2030, and the volume of international hydrogen trade may reach 120 million tons per year. It has been theorized that hydrogen is becoming increasingly important in the global energy system, and the geopolitics of energy trade will inevitably change. Energy geopolitics has traditionally been dominated by fossil fuel exporters such as the Middle East and Russia. However, the transition to hydrogen has the potential to decentralize energy production, making countries with rich renewable energy resources, such as the Persian Gulf, North Africa, and parts of Europe, key players in the new hydrogen market. This underscores the importance of developing international hydrogen supply chains, particularly from regions rich in renewable energy sources, such as North Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. Institutional support for the energy transition for a sustainable post-carbon future is implemented at the global and macro levels. At the global level, through a system of rules and regulations for the international market, international trade agreements and customs regulation, and international coordination on the implementation of hydrogen quality and safety standards. At the macro level, through government institutions, regulatory frameworks, and hydrogen economy development strategies, which have already become an integral part of the energy plans of many countries seeking to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve energy security. It is substantiated that the hydrogen market will face a difficult path related to solving technical and economic issues. However, thanks to the development of innovative business and technological innovations, support from governments, private investors, and various stakeholder groups, this sector has a great chance to become a key player in the future energy landscape, playing an important role in the decarbonization of the global economy. Keywords: innovative business, institutional support, energy transition, hydrogen, global hydrogen economy, energy geopolitics, decarbonization, sustainable development, sustainable post-carbon future, green transition, green investments, technological innovation, international trade, emissions trading system, regulation, strategic interests, economic interests, strategy of hydrogen use for energy, energy strategy, strategizing the hydrogen economy, country strategies, global development triggers, trade policy, environmental policy, international trade agreements, customs regulation, international trade.

International trade and tourism flows: An extension of the gravity model

The application of risk analysis to the spread of disease with international trade in animals and their products, that is, import risk analysis (IRA), has been largely driven by the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The degree to which the IRA standard established by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and associated guidance, meets the needs of the SPS agreement is discussed. The use of scenario trees is the core modelling approach used to represent the steps necessary for the hazard to occur. There is scope to elaborate scenario trees for commodity IRA so that the quantity of hazard at each step is assessed, which is crucial to the likelihood of establishment. The dependence between exposure and establishment suggests that they should fall within the same subcomponent. IRA undertaken for trade reasons must include an assessment of consequences to meet SPS criteria, but guidance is sparse. The integration of epidemiological and economic modelling may open a path for better methods. Matrices have been used in qualitative IRA to combine estimates of entry and exposure, and consequences with likelihood, but this approach has flaws and better methods are needed. OIE IRA standards and guidance indicate that the volume of trade should be taken into account, but offer no detail. Some published qualitative IRAs have assumed current levels and patterns of trade without specifying the volume of trade, which constrains the use of IRA to determine mitigation measures (to reduce risk to an acceptable level) and whether the principle of equivalence, fundamental to the SPS agreement, has been observed. It is questionable whether qualitative IRA can meet all the criteria set out in the SPS agreement. Nevertheless, scope exists to elaborate the current standards and guidance, so they better serve the principle of science-based decision-making.

Trading Activity and Exchange Rates in High-Frequency EBS Data

Untill recently, the modern literature on geography and trade paid relatively little attention to the relationship between agglomerating and spreading forces on the one hand and the structure and volume of (international) trade on the other. International trade flows are undoubtedly largely determined by the spatial distribution of economic activity. Taking the core (symmetric) two-country model of chapters 3 and 4 as a point of departure, the predictions on the structure and size of trade flows are simple. If economic activity is evenly spread, food is not traded internationally, so there is only intra-industry trade of manufactures between the two countries. If there is complete agglomeration of manufacturing activity, the only other possible long-run outcome, there is exclusively inter-industry trade (food for manufactures) between the two countries. Although these basic predictions are in line with empirical observations, that is trade is large between similar countries and dominated by intra-industry trade (see Box 9.1), the basic structure is too extreme in its predictions and too rigid in structure to allow for different types of international trade flow. The objective of this chapter is to demonstrate how international trade models may be combined with the geographical economics structure to allow for a diversified and rich explanation of international interactions. In doing so it partially fills the gap in the literature observed by Bertil Ohlin in 1933, namely the need to develop a theory of location which may serve as a background for a theory of international trade; see chapter 1.

The impact of e-commerce on international trade and employment

Given the significance of the topic and the undeniable role of the environment in human life, this study seeks to examine the threshold effects of government governance on the relationship between globalization, government effectiveness, and the quality of environmental pollutants in selected developing countries during the period 2005 to 2023, using the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model. The research sample includes selected MENA and Middle Eastern countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Kuwait, Iran, Egypt, Oman, Morocco, Libya, Yemen, and Sudan. The findings reveal that by employing a PSTR model in which the transition variable is trade volume (EG) in the first model and government governance (INST) in the second model, the functional relationship between economic globalization and environmental quality can be modeled. The estimated results for the linear part of the first and second models (Regime 1) indicate that trade volume (EG) and gross domestic product (GDP) have a positive relationship with nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions. Specifically, a one-unit increase in trade volume and GDP leads to an increase of 0.21 and 0.22 units in greenhouse gas emissions, respectively, in the first model. Furthermore, the variable of governance quality (INST) in the second model results in a reduction of 0.12 units in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions, and the interaction term of government governance with trade volume (INST × EG) reduces NO₂ emissions by 0.11 units. Additionally, the estimated results for the nonlinear part of the first and second models (Regime 2) confirm the presence of a positive relationship between trade volume (EG) and gross domestic product (GDP) with nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions.

The water footprints of Morocco and the Netherlands: Global water use as a result of domestic consumption of agricultural commodities

The transition between the Late Bronze and Iron Age, often described as a collapse, is most often characterized by comparing the changes between these two periods. As trade and connectivity is one of the hallmarks of the Late Bronze Age, the lack of evidence for international trade during the early Iron Age is seen of evidence of the profound changes that occurred during this transition. In this paper, I will reassess the evidence for international trade during the early Iron Age in Philistia and neighboring regions, demonstrating that while there was a substantial degrading in the volume of international trade during this period, it did not cease completely. And based on this, what does this tell us about the processes and mechanisms occurring during the Late Bronze Age/Iron Age transition in the eastern Mediterranean.

This paper aims to estimate the value added and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions embodied in trade between Brazil and the original BRICS countries – China, India, Russia, and South Africa – for the year 2022. Based on data from Exiobase, the emissions indicator reveals that China is the main source of emissions embedded in Brazilian imports, while Russia records the highest emissions indicator among Brazilian export destinations – showing a greater emissions intensity relative to trade volume. The results show that China was the primary destination for Brazilian exports, absorbing approximately 23.1 million tons of CO2, and also accounted for the largest share of emissions embedded in Brazil’s imports, with around 52.8 million of TCO2 – an outcome aligned with the trade volume between the two countries. Emissions associated with Brazilian exports were mainly concentrated in sectors such as food production and animal farming, whereas imports were dominated by intermediate and capital goods with

Summary form only given. The growth in the volume and value of international trade has had a dramatic impact on high technology industries. This paper proposes that there is a previously unexplored relationship between the international transfer of technology, the product life cycle, and international trade. The model proposed suggests that, for products in very early stages of development, developing firms will seek joint ventures with complementary firms in order to add clarification to product dimensions through the R&D process. During the early product life cycle stage, the primary focus of the developing firm will be to establish the new product in the host country. Consequently, little international technology transfer activity would be expected. With the start of the growth stage of the product life cycle, the developing firm will be focused on development of distribution channels and increasing manufacturing capability to service market growth in the host country. Such activity would consume much of the developing firm's attention and focus, leaving little energy for pursuing international opportunities. Late in the growth stage, however, the firm would begin to focus on market expansion in other countries through licensing opportunities. Finally, the host firm would resort to foreign direct investments during the later stage in attempts to gain competitive advantages and extend the product life cycle.