Research Reports – Developmental Issues

Research reports are outputs of externally funded as well as internally resourced projects. They provide readers with the overview and background, comprehensive information on and detailed analysis of various components of research in a reader-friendly format.

2010

Reassessing Scope and Mandate of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)
EIF is the instrument for enabling mainstreaming of trade into the national development plans of LDCs. This study, undertaken by Atul Kaushik, Director, CUTS Geneva Resource Centre with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) assesses the legal, technical, structural, institutional and political options and opportunities to make the EIF a facility which can respond better to specific needs in the context of the wider AfT agenda, the promotion of regional integration and facilitating a smooth transition of LDCs to non-LDC status. Learning from the experience of IF and EIF to-date, it makes some useful recommendations on making EIF the overarching facility for Aid for Trade for LDCs and the modalities for implementation of regional projects under the EIF.

2008

A Critical Look at Economic Governance in India: The Case of National Foreign Trade Policy
The thrust of National Foreign Trade Policy (NFTP) is on export promotion through efforts to increase competitiveness of Indian products in the global market. This research report endeavours to understand the policymaking process of NFTP, and to ascertain its impact especially at the grassroots. It discusses in detail the numerous issues related to institutional and implementation problems that exists on the ground. It traced the process of trade policymaking in a federal polity, the problems inherent in it and hurdles being faced. Lastly, it synthesised in detail the various grassroots demands and policy recommendations.
pp 48, #0822, Rs 200/US$20, ISBN: 978-81-8257-115-0

Exploring the Post-1990s Trade-Labour Linkage in India – A Set of Case Studies from West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat
This study is based on field surveys from a number of disparate industries and locations in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat that finds striking and significant evidence on the impact of international trade on production organisation and occupational patterns at the industry level. Small scale industries and their employees have gained not only from greater trade openness, but also from substantial trickling down of information relevant for appropriate expansion and pricing mechanisms within the firms and for suitable strategic decisions by individuals including skill acquisition, inter-sectoral and inter-regional mobility.
pp 32, #0819, Rs 200/US$20, ISBN: 978-81-8257-113-9

Trade and Poverty Linkages: A Case Study of the Poultry Industry in Bangladesh
Poultry rearing can play a vital role in a country like Bangladesh where most of the people are landless, disadvantaged and devoid of formal education or skill to participate in income generating activities. The broad objective of this paper is to analyse the trade poverty linkages in the poultry industry in Bangladesh. This paper covers the importance of poultry sector in economic growth and international trade; reviews the implications of the poultry sector in poverty reduction in Bangladesh’; focuses on the findings from a sample survey and deals with the recommendation for the development of poultry sector in Bangladesh.
pp 28, #0820, Rs 100/US$15, ISBN: 978-81-8257-112-9

Trade Liberalisation, Growth and Poverty in Bangladesh
The impact of trade liberalisation on growth and poverty is a much debated and controversial issue. In theory, trade liberalisation results in productivity gains through increased competition, efficiency, innovation and acquisition of new technology. In the context of Bangladesh, there are disagreements among economists and policymakers on the issue. The sceptics have raised questions about the design, pace, extent and method of trade liberalisation in the country. Trade liberalisation has been one of the major policy reforms in Bangladesh. Against this backdrop, this study conducts an assessment of trade liberalisation in Bangladesh and examines its impact on growth and poverty in the country.
pp 72, #0811, Rs 200/US$20, ISBN: 978-81-8257-106-8

Is the Stage set for Mainstreaming Trade into National Development Strategy of India? Results of Field Survey in Two States
The primary objective of the study was to go beyond an exploration of the likely impact of globalisation and trade liberalisation on the stakeholders of the agriculture sector, especially the most vulnerable amongst them; and enquire about the prevailing conditions for mainstreaming trade into national development strategy. This endeavour was deemed necessary as many of the available literature had already invested great effort on the impact analysis. The study also enquired the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to understand its effectiveness as a support measure. The study finds that the scheme has made considerable impact at the ground level, despite its limited scale.
pp 56, #0809, Rs 200/US$20, ISBN: 978-81-8257-104-4

Political Economy of Trade Liberalisation in Bangladesh: Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Bangladesh Agriculture

This study tries to contribute to the process of advocating for mainstreaming trade policy in the national development strategy of Bangladesh. While there are two different but interlinked aspects of trade liberalisation – economics and political economy – this paper focuses on the political economy of trade liberalisation in Bangladesh. Although trade liberalisation is expected to have significant impact on all sectors of the economy, the focus of this paper has been kept limited to agriculture.
pp 46, #0808, Rs 200/US$20, ISBN: 978-81-8257-103-7

Trade-Development-Poverty Linkages: Reflections from Selected Asian and Sub-Saharan African Countries Volume 1 Country Case Studies
This book is the outcome of the research findings based on multi-country approach aims at contributing to the policy debate for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It also examines the individual country experiences in addressing the issues related to development and poverty reduction through trade in pre and post-liberalisation periods. This volume covers the research work carried out in the least developed countries (LDCs) where the project is being implemented. It contents 14 chapters in all – a case study for each project country and a review chapter.
pp 278, #0801, Rs 500/US$50, ISBN: 978-81-8257-097-9

Modules on Trade and Regulatory Issues

Module-5: Foreign Direct Investment and Related Issues in South Asia and Sub- Saharan Africa
Sanjib Pohit

This module attempts to illustrate various facets of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) with examples drawn from country experiences in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It articulates different types of FDI flows. It presents that most governments think of FDI in terms of the number of jobs created. However, FDI can have several other important impacts that are both direct and indirect and these impacts vary with the type of FDI coming into a country. It looks at the trend in FDI inflows and outflows in SA and SSA economies. It concludes by providing a guideline on investment promotion strategy from the perspective of a developing country.

Module-4: Trade Liberalisation and Competition Policy
S. Chakravarthy

This module addresses issues related to trade and competition policy. It asserts that by and large the interface between competition policy and other macroeconomic policies is positive. However, in areas such as trade, investment and regional development policy conflicts may arise. The extent of consistency or its lack in different governmental policy measures can support or thwart the objectives of competition policy. While explaining various tenets under competition policy, it focuses on the necessity of competition policy and also conducts a comparative study of trade liberalisation and competition policy.

Module-3: Trade Policy and Related Concepts
Selim Raihan

This module begins with a summary description on evolution of trade policy in South Asian countries and selected Sub-Saharan African countries like Ghana and Uganda. It illustrates by use of country datasets and graphical trend analysis various trade liberalisation measures in selected countries in South Asia and SSA. It briefly introduces competing theories on issues of trade and economic growth, which is further substantiated by providing summaries of some empirical studies on trade and growth. Finally, it introduces some concepts of the theory of international trade such as anti-export bias, nominal vs. effective rate of protection.

Module-2: The Role of Trade in South Asian and Sub-Saharan African Development
N C Pahariya

This module describes the role of trade in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries. While it details the significance of and trends in merchandise and services trade in SSA and South Asia, it also tries to establish a theoretical link between trade, economic growth and overall development with empirical data from these regions and comparing with other regions of the world. A part of this module studies relationship between trade and poverty and attempts to evaluate the export-led growth hypothesis with empirical evidence drawn from these two regions.

Module-1: Basic Features of South Asian and Sub-Saharan Economies
Pranav Kumar

This module narrates the basic features of the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It presents growth and poverty situation in the two regions while also making analyses of trends in economic growth, presenting a comparative picture of the two regions in terms of various economic indicators vis-à-vis other regions of developing countries. It also evaluates the current state of regional cooperation on trade and investment in the two regions. Identifying the opportunities in the context of regional integration, it suggests that economic cooperation can lead to better political relations thereby reducing conflicts and associated social and economic costs.

2007

A Changing Global Order Eastern African Perspectives
Regional and global trends and developments are increasingly impacting on nation states, and different forms of cross-border interaction (flows of goods, services, finance, people, and ideas) are becoming increasingly intertwined. Systems to govern these trends and global challenges are under pressure: Both the traditional institutions of global governance and the ideologies and paradigms they are based on are increasingly being challenged. New powers are emerging and traditional and new alliances of formerly marginalized developing countries demand their share in global governance.

An Assessment of Potential Costs and Benefits of SEZs in India
This study on the SEZ policy in India examines the current debate surrounding the economic aspects of the policy. The main conclusions are that there is a broad consensus amongst all stakeholders, including political parties that the SEZ Policy is to stay.

Barriers to Movement of Healthcare Professionals – A Case Study of India
Globalisation and resulting trade liberalisation in health services have caused an upsurge in international migration of health care professionals in recent years. Countries like the US and the UK even resorted to targeted recruitment of health care workers, particularly nurses from developing countries like Philippines and India. This large source for labour movement has been despite the highly regulated structure of international health care services market. Since this report is a case study of India, the objective is to identify barriers faced by Indian health professionals in select developed countries’ markets.

Commodity Revenue Management – India’s rapeseed/mustard oil sector
Commodity price volatility is not a new problem in India, but has grown in the wake of recent liberalisation and globalisation programs and the opening of the domestic sector. The government and private sector have tried to stabilise prices through a variety of means, including compensatory funds and price hedging on futures markets, but few, if any, of these mechanisms have been successful.

India’s rapeseed/mustard seed and oil prices have experienced a significant amount of volatility, which has been problematic for both the government and the farm sector as they fight to stabilize commodity revenues. When revenues are high, they tend to distort fiscal responsibility. When revenues fall, they reduce government revenues, drive mass unemployment, increase national debt and undermine health and education spending.

This study aims to highlight the tools available to the Indian government and to the country’s farm sector for managing the volatile revenues related to their rapeseed/mustard crops.

Why Was India’s Ecomark Unsuccessful?
Ecolabels are believed to be an important market-based instrument to influence the behaviour of consumers and industries in favour of environmentally-friendly products and thus contribute to environment conservation. The efficacy of ecolabelling, in inducing a market-based incentive for environment-friendly production, was recognised when ecolabelled products were first launched in Germany in the late 1990s.

The objective of this Research Report is to highlight the reasons why the Indian Ecomark Scheme has not succeeded, as desired. Taking the various reasons into consideration, the report makes some vital recommendations as to how the Scheme could be revived, re-invigorated and implemented to benefit consumers, producers and the society at large
pp 68, #0703, Rs100/US$25, ISBN: 978-81-8257-084-9

2005

Ecolabelling – Is it a visible instrument for trade promotion?
Ecolabels are regarded as important market-based instruments to influence the behaviour of consumers and industry in favour of environment-friendly products. Ecolabels can contribute to the improvement of environmental performance in two important ways. Firstly, they can increase consumer awareness of environmental issues and influence their choice in favour of less polluting products. Secondly, they can push industry to produce and market environment-friendly products.

This study is focused on the impact of ecolabels on India’s leather industry. This is for two main reasons: the production of leather is a highly polluting process, which impacts very negatively on the environment; and leather and its products account for a large proportion of India’s export. The use of ecolabelling by importing countries might affect these exports significantly.
Pp 88, #0505, Rs.100/US$15, ISBN: 81-8257-053-0

Eco-labelling: Does (Should) One Size Fit All?
The practice of supplying information on the environmental characteristics of a commodity to the consumers is called eco-labelling. It is one of the important tools available for environment protection. The research report provides a developing country’s perspective on the problem of harmonisation of eco-labels at the international level and applying it to trade.

The study provides analysis of conceptual issues; comparative costs of application for eco-labels and trade barrier issues arising out of the harmonisation demands. A comparative analysis of differing criteria requirements for three products across eco-labels from eight countries are presented to substantiate the case that across countries the environmental valuation differs and so do the standards. The study found that differences in standards across countries are an outcome of the country-specific needs and choices; and harmonisation of standards is untenable.
Pp 72, #0501, Rs.100/US$25, ISBN: 81-8257-049-2

2004

Trade Facilitation and South Asia – The need for Some Serious Scenario Planning
This paper tries to bring to the fore some practical political, economic and operational issues from the point of view of South Asian countries, in particular, and which may arise as a result of future multilateral agreement on trade facilitation. It throws light on some of the major policy issues and recommends approaches that would fit with the interests and priorities of South Asian countries. One of the major issues the paper tries to emphasise upon is that the problems of improving customs administration in the region are only a small part of a much greater problem relating to border management and domestic tax and revenue enforcement issues.
pp 44, #0425, Rs.100/US$25, ISBN: 81-8257-0141-7

2003

Child Labour in South Asia – Are Trade Sanctions the Answer?
This research report of CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment has explored the impact of the trade sanctions and finds that these sanctions resulted in the contradiction of the basic objective, i.e., elimination of child labour. Besides highlighting the causes of child labour, the report makes some very useful recommendations on how the issue of child labour can be addressed best at the domestic as well as the international level.
pp 62, #0311, Rs.100/US$25, ISBN 81-87222-82-4

2002

Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Trade and Development – Issues and Policy options concerning compliance and enforcement
The latest report of CUTS on Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Trade and Development, examines the role of provisions for technology and financial transfer as well as capacity building as an alternative to trade measures for improving compliance and enforcement. This study also examines pros and cons of carrots and sticks approaches, and analyses incorporation of these approaches in three major Multilateral Environmental Agreements – the Montreal Protocol, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the Basel Convention, to find out which approach has been more successful in ensuring enforcement and compliance. pp 44, #0205, Rs.100/US$25, ISBN: 81-87222-58-1

1997

Trade, Labour, Global Competition and the Social Clause
The social clause issue has remained one of the most heated areas of international debate for a number of years. This study reveals that the quality of that debate has not addressed the real issues. It attempts to string the various debates together.
pp 40, #9708, Rs.100/US$30, ISBN: 81-87222-01-8

Tariff Escalation – A Tax on Sustainability
This study reveals that the existence of escalating tariff structure, particularly in developed countries, results in “third-best” allocation of resources. It also harms environment, development and balance of trade.
pp 25, #9707, Rs.100/US$30, ISBN: 81-87222-00-X

1995

Environmental Conditions in International Trade
This is a study on the impact on India’s exports in the area of Textiles and Garments, including Carpets, Leather and Leather Goods, and also in the area of Agricultural and Food Products, including Tea and Packaging, for the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.
pp 39, #9508, Rs.200/US$50, ISBN: 81–87222-04 -2