Assignment Task for EC246 - International Trade Institutions and Policy - University of Essex

1. Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs)

   a) Using diagrams or a numerical example, explain what is meant by the trade creation and trade diversion effects of a customs union.

   b) Provide an example of a PTA and discuss its economic effects.

   c) Why have PTAs proliferated in recent decades? Discuss with reference to the characteristics of these agreements.

   d) Why are preferential agreements permitted within the GATT/WTO? What are their likely effects on the development of multilateral negotiations in the WTO?

2. International Trade and Developing Countries

   a) Outline the Prebisch/Singer thesis and explain its implications for developing countries.

   b) Is there any empirical support for the argument that trade is harmful for less developed countries

   (i) in the short-run,

   (ii) in the long run?

   c) Explain what is meant by Import Substituting Industrialisation. Why has this strategy often failed to foster economic growth in developing countries?

3. Migration

   a) What are the drivers of International Migration?

   b) What have been the economic gains from Migration?

   c) Explain policy on refugees and asylum seekers in OECD countries.

   d) Explain the determinants of asylum applications.