Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Regionalism became a major issue in international commercial diplomacy during the 1990s. The European Union's 1992 program, the formation of NAFTA, and attempts to form or strengthen regional trading arrangements in South America, southern Africa, and Southeast Asia were all viewed as challenges to the nondiscrimination principle that had been the cornerstone of the postwar international trading system. This book provides a unified analysis of policies which discriminate among trading partners, featuring ample treatments of both history and theory as well as a review of empirical studies.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of tables
• List of figures
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• Part I History
• Introduction to Part I
• 2 Evolution of the Most-Favoured Nation Principle up to 1929
• 3 Commercial Policies in the 1930s
• 4 Non-discrimination in the GATT
• 5 Discrimination in International Trade, 1947-1985
• 6 Regionalism versus Multilateralism during the Uruguay Round
• 7 Regionalism and the World Trade Organization
• Part II Theory
• Introduction to Part II
• 8 The Mainstream from Viner to the JCM Proposition
• 9 Extending the Model
• 10 The New Regionalism
• 11 Numbers and Geography
• Part III Empirical Evidence
• Introduction to Part III
• 12 Western European Integration
• 13 North America
• 14 Other Free Trade Areas and Customs Unions
• 15 Trade Preferences for Developing Countries
• 16 Global Issues

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Pomfret (Univ. of Adelaide) has written a thorough, balanced, and wide-ranging summary and analysis of regional trading arrangements. In part 1 he describes trading arrangements from the mid-1800s to the mid-1990s. The theoretical principles and models used to assess the economic welfare outcomes of discrimination and nondiscrimination are the subjects of part 2. Part 3 is an intelligent, knowledgeable discussion of empirical investigations of trade discrimination. This section is made more valuable by repeated references to the historical and theoretical information presented previously. Trade policy is a political-economic process, and in part 4 Pomfret offers a concise and savvy commentary on why discriminatory trading arrangements exist and often become diluted over time. The book is a tour de force; the author is a participant as well as an observer of efforts to measure and weigh the causes and consequences of movements away from global free trade. The index and extensive list of references further contribute to the usefulness of the book. Research and professional collections. R. L. Lucier; Denison University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Richard Pomfret is a Professor of Economics at University of Adelaide.