Architect of the European Payments Union

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-112
Author(s):  
Ivo Maes
Keyword(s):  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Successful Operation ◽  
Point Of Interest ◽  
Postwar Europe ◽  
The Us ◽  
Representative Office ◽  
Exchange Control ◽  
Control Division

In 1946, Robert Triffin went on to the International Monetary Fund, where he became head of the Exchange Control Division, before moving to Paris to lead the International Monetary Fund’s Representative Office in Europe. Thereafter, he was a special adviser to the (US) Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris. During these years, his focal point of interest was the European Payments Union (EPU). In his analysis of postwar Europe, Triffin emphasized that several structural factors, especially the low level of gold and dollar reserves and weak industrial capacity, impeded the successful operation of market forces. He favored a pragmatic regional approach with the EPU, giving priority to the abolition of bilateral trade and payment restrictions. Triffin played a key role in the EPU negotiations, especially with his proposal for the EPU unit of account.

scholarly journals Ethnic Fundraising in America and the Irish and Lithuanian Wars of Independence, 1918–1923

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
R. J. C. Adams ◽  
Vaida Nikšaitė
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
War Bonds ◽  
First World

Abstract The close of the First World War signalled a proliferation of newly established nation-states across Europe. However, the unilateral proclamations of these states’ independence did not guarantee their international recognition, nor did it guarantee their financial viability. This article examines the funding of two such states: the unrecognized Lithuanian (1919–23) and Irish (1919–21) republics. Both funded their wars of independence by selling ‘war bonds’ to their respective diasporas in the United States; the Lithuanians raising almost $1.9m from c. 28,000 subscribers and the Irish raising $5.8m from c. 300,000 subscribers. Communication between the organizers of these bond drives was virtually non-existent, but following the example of the US Liberty Loans they employed remarkably similar tactics. Yet, issued by self-proclaimed nation-states with neither territorial integrity nor a credible history of borrowing, the Lithuanian and Irish war bonds promised a return only when the states had received international recognition. In this sense, they were examples of what the authors term Pre-Sovereign Debt. Practically, they were a focal point for agitation for governmental recognition and rousing of American public opinion. Symbolically, they were tangible representations of the Lithuanian and Irish pretensions to statehood.

Currency Manipulations and Bilateral Trade Between China and the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoud Moghaddam ◽  
Jie Duan
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Gravity Model ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Trade Deficit ◽  
The Us ◽  
Spot Exchange Rate ◽  
Main Culprit ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Strong Relation

The US trade deficit with China has existed for a long time, and its dollar value has been on the rise recently. It is widely believed that the main culprit is the manipulated value of Renminbi relative to the US dollar. Towards that end, this article re-examines the spot exchange rate and bilateral trade nexus using the Fourier approximation and a variant of the well-known gravity model during the sample period 1993: q1–2014: q1. Although China’s exports to the US Granger cause the exchange rate in a co-integrated space, the findings of a vector error correction model indicate that there is not a strong relation between the two. Indeed, within the aforementioned sample, only 15.52 per cent of changes in China’s exports to the USA are attributable to changes in the spot exchange rate. This is noticeably much smaller than impacts of the other variables utilized in the estimated gravity model. As such, the palpable trade imbalance between the USA and China cannot be single-handedly blamed on the spot exchange rate manipulations.

United States and Its Challenge to Multilateralism in the Global Economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-419
Author(s):  
Krishnakumar S.
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Foreign Exchange Market ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Merchandise Trade

With Donald Trump as President of United States, multilateralism in the world economy is facing an unprecedented challenge. The international economic institutions that have evolved since the fifties are increasingly under the risk of being undermined. With the growing assertion of the emerging and developing economies in the international fora, United States is increasingly sceptical of its ability to maneuvre such institutions to suit its own purpose. This is particularly true with respect to WTO, based on “one country one vote” system. The tariff rate hikes initiated by the leader country in the recent past pose a serious challenge to the multilateral trading system. The paper tries to undertake a critical overview of the US pre-occupation of targeting economies on the basis of the bilateral merchandise trade surpluses of countries, through the trade legislations like Omnibus Act and Trade Facilitation Act. These legislations not only ignore the growing share of the United States in the growing invisibles trade in the world economy, but also read too much into the bilateral trade surpluses of economies with United States and the intervention done by them in the foreign exchange market.

scholarly journals Freedom Fries

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Michaels ◽  
Xiaojia Zhi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Average Decrease ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Us

Do firms always choose the cheapest suitable inputs, or can group attitudes affect their choices? To investigate this question, we examine the deterioration of relations between the United States and France from 2002–2003, when France's favorability rating in the US fell by 48 percentage points. We estimate that the worsening attitudes reduced bilateral trade by about 9 percent and that trade in inputs probably declined similarly, by about 8 percent. We use these estimates to calculate the average decrease in firms' willingness to pay for French (or US) commodities when attitudes worsened. (JEL D24, F13, F14, L14, L21)

The Thucydides Trap as an Alternative Explanation for the US–China Trade War

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imad A. Moosa
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
National Income ◽  
Trade Deficit ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
China Trade ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Thucydides Trap ◽  
Trade War

The current trade war between the USA and China is perceived to be motivated by the US desire to curtail the bilateral trade deficit, on the assumption that reducing the deficit boosts economic growth. This flawed proposition indicates gross misunderstanding of the national income identity and the basic principles of macroeconomics. The imposition of tariffs will not reduce the trade deficit as the assumptions and conditions required for a smooth working of the process are unrealistic and counterfactual. The notion of an economic Thucydides trap is put forward to explain why the trade war is motivated by US apprehension about China’s rising economic power.

scholarly journals The economics of merger appraisal: analysis of best practices

2019 ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
V. Pruzhansky
Keyword(s):  
Cost Savings ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Customer Switching ◽  
The Us ◽  
Buyer Power ◽  
Merger Remedies

The article briefly outlines key economic principles that are used for merger appraisal in Europe and the US. We consider three most typical cases: horizontal, vertical and conglomerate mergers. We explain the main positive and negative effects that typically arise in each case. We point that the analysis of structural factors (levels of industry concentration and market shares) and barriers to entry can serve only as a starting point of the merger appraisal process. Other indicators such as closeness of competition, countervailing buyer power and customer switching, counter-reactions of rivals, levels of profitability, cost savings are far more important for the analysis of merger effects on consumers and competition. In addition, we describe general economic principles with regards to merger remedies.

An Exclusive Country Club: The Effects of the GATT on Trade, 1950–94

2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Gowa ◽  
Soo Yeon Kim
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
World War ◽  
Trade Blocs ◽  
Country Club ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Bilateral Trade Flows ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Exchange Control ◽  
The Impact

Using data on bilateral trade flows from both before and after World War II, this article examines the impact of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade on trade between its members and on the system of interwar trade blocs. It shows that the distribution of the benefits produced by the GATT was much more highly skewed than conventional wisdom assumes. The article also shows that the gold, Commonwealth, Reichsmark, and exchange-control blocs exerted positive and significant effects on trade after 1945. The authors attribute these effects to the bargaining protocol that governed successive rounds of GATT negotiations, the signature element of the postwar trade regime.

scholarly journals The US-China Bilateral Trade Balance: Its Size and Determinants

10.3386/w6598 ◽  
1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Feenstra ◽  
Wen Hai ◽  
Wing Woo ◽  
Shunli Yao
Keyword(s):  
Trade Balance ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Bilateral Trade Balance ◽  
The Us

Relating ASME Flaw Evaluation to ASME Task Group on Carbon Fiber Repairs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Jimenez ◽  
Eric Houston ◽  
Nico Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Fiber ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
Fiber Reinforced Polymers ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Operating Life ◽  
The Us ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
Wave Passage ◽  
Regulatory Commission

As most nuclear power stations in the US have surpassed their initial 40 years of operability, the industry is now challenged with maintaining safe operations and extending the operating life of structures, systems and components. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have identified safety related buried piping systems as particularly susceptible to degradation. These systems are required to maintain the structural factors of the ASME Construction Codes under pressure and piping loads, which includes seismic wave passage. This paper focuses on evaluation approaches for metallic buried piping that can be used to demonstrate that localized thinning meets the requirements of the Construction Code. The paper then addresses a non-metallic repair option using carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) as the new pressure boundary.

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