The Custom-House

It doesn't look good for Doha

It doesn't look good for the Doha Round, say Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey Schott: The Doha Round after Hong Kong  (Institute for International Economics, February 2006).

Not much progress was made in Hong Kong, and not much more is likely in 2006 (remember, because of a time constraint on the U.S. President's negotiating authority, the deadline for a completed agreement is basically the end of 2006)

Where do we get our chocolate?

Just in time for Valentines Day, the Progressive Policy Institute's Trade Fact of the Week reports on the flow of chocolate and chocolate products in world trade: Seventy Percent of the World's Cocoa Comes from West Africa .

Lots on chocolate, but even a little something about vanilla:

Trade Policy Coordination Failure in Botswana

WTO trade negotiations are demanding.  The issues are complex.  Successful participation requires trade ministries with economic and legal expertise, analytical capability, the ability to coordinate the efforts and input of a range of government ministries and departments, and the ability to integrate the knowledge and interests of private sector actors.

Many developing and less developed countries lack the technical expertise to participate effectively.  For example, Botswana.

Something nice in the budget bill

The budget bill phased out the Byrd Amendment and some cotton subsidies.  Joel Trachtman posts over at the International Economic Law and Policy Blog: Phenomenal.

See the comment by Simon Lester on the European response to the (slow) Byrd Amendment repeal.

The Iraq War hurt French Wine Sales in the U.S.

French opposition to the Iraq war prompted many U.S. consumers to boycott French wines.

Larry Chavis and Phillip Leslie estimate the impact of the boycott in a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper: Consumer Boycotts: The Impact of the Iraq War on French Wine Sales in the U.S. (NBER Working Paper No. 11981, January 2006).

From the abstract:

New Transparency International "Global Corruption Report"

Pablo Halkyard reports that the new Transparency International Global Corruption Report is available: Global Corruption Report 2006 (Private Sector Development Blog, Feb 1, 2006).

This edition has a long discussion of corruption in health care systems.  From the executive summary:

North Korean Trade

This week's "Trade Fact of the Week" from the Progressive Policy Institute is about the North Korean economy: South Korea-North Korea Trade Topped $1 Billion Last Year .

The cost of export delays

Simeon Djankov, Caroline Freund, and Cong S. Pham find that administrative delays can impose large costs exporters in developing countries - in their new paper, "Trading on Time"  (World Bank, January 26, 2006).

Textile exports have small impact on poverty in Madagascar

An nuanced approach to the relationship between trade and poverty is appropriate.  Alessandro Nicita's new paper, Export led growth, pro-poor or not? Evidence from Madagascar's textile and apparel industry (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, February 2006), finds that textile exports from Madagascar had a modest impact on poverty.

From the abstract: