Fair Trade and Harmonization: Economic analysis

'These two volumes, edited by Jagdish Bhagwati and Robert Hudec, are extremely well-written. They provide valuable insights into the `trade and' agenda, whether the environment, labor, or competition policy. Everyone interested in trade will benefit from the comprehensive treatment presented here.' -- Carla A. Hills, Chairman & CEO, Hills & Company, International Consultants; former U.S. Trade Representative, 1989-1993 'The subject of these volumes is of enormous importance to the world economy, and perhaps even more broadly than that. Harmonization has crept up on the academic community as an applied area of great appeal and policy significance. These volumes will help to educate the policy and research communities to both our collective intellectual progress on these highly important issues, and our need for more research on the shoulders of the work collected here.' -- Robert Willig, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affiars, Princeton University The original contributions in Fair Trade and Harmonization investigate the growing conflict between free trade policies and the domestic environmental, labor, and antitrust policies of individual nations. They clarify the issues and offer a critical economic and legal analysis of the contending positions along with a series of proposals for resolving or reconciling them. Taken together, the two volumes present a comprehensive catalog of the government actions that are causing conflict in these areas and a critique of the existing scholarly literature on the subject. In each area, the contributors extensively discuss and analyze forms of policy harmonization and the arguments for and against it, with a goal of better understanding as a constant throughout. A more particular goal, however is to take a sober second look at, and impose some restraint upon, the growing chorus of demands to push aside the existing trade institution (the World Trade Organization) in the name of social policies, especially those regarding environmental and labor rights. Contributors: Volume 1. Jagdish Bhagwati. Christopher Bliss. Drusilla K. Brown. Alessandra Casella. Richard H. Clarida. Alan V. Deardorff. Alvin K. Klevorick. David W. Leebron. James Levinsohn. Arik Levinson. John McMillan. Andre Sapir. Gary R. Saxonhouse. Joel Slemrod. T. N. Srinivasan. Robert M. Stern. John Douglas Wilson.