‘To Catch the Public Taste’: Interpreting American Consumers in the Era of Atlantic Free Trade, 1783–1854

2014 ◽  
pp. 595-618
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
The Public

WTO Confidential: The Case of Asbestos

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Castleman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Significance ◽  
Scientific Adviser ◽  
Health Legislation

The World Trade Organization (WTO), created in 1995, adjudicates “trade disputes” between member nations in cases with great human rights, cultural, environmental, and public health significance. Throughout the process of dispute resolution and even after a case is concluded, very little of what happens is made accessible to the public. However, it is one thing to criticize the WTO for its lack of transparency from outside the process, and another to critically examine what was withheld from disclosure and what dangers that presents. This is the inside story from a scientific adviser to one of the parties in a WTO case, analyzing what happened from a public health point of view. This analysis concludes that the public health justification of banning asbestos was accepted in the end by the economists at the WTO, despite the WTO's bias in favoring the party (Canada) making the free trade challenge (to public health legislation, in this case) in numerous stages of the process, despite the WTO's utter lack of expertise in science, medicine, engineering, and public health, and despite important erroneous statements made to the WTO under the cover of confidentiality. Despite its result, this case illustrates that the WTO's threat to national sovereignty could never withstand the light of day, that the people of the world would reject this dangerous free trade fundamentalism if the limitations and dangers of the process were open for all to see.

NAFTA & the Alien Tort Claims Act: Making a Case for Actionable Offenses Based on Environmental Harms and Injuries to the Public Health

2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 381-404
Author(s):  
Kevin Scott Prussia
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Mechanism ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
Legal Barriers

Multinational corporations often wield more power than many of the world's nations. Their immense wealth and political capital make them almost hegemonic entities. These domineering enterprises are often able to undertake profit-making endeavors, particularly involving the consumption or extraction of natural resources, in developing nations with little or no regulation, and often without meeting the social and environmental standards adhered to in the United States.The emergence of multilateral free trade agreements, specifically within the developing world, has further enhanced the ability of multinational corporations to proliferate their business. Concomitant with the rise of free trade, political and legal barriers to multinational entry into the economy of developing nations are rapidly disappearing. In addition, many nations are unwilling and unable to protect their citizens from environmental abuses through domestic law. Therefore, finding a legal mechanism capable of checking the hegemonic power of multinational corporations is extremely important to the vitality of most developing nations.

Richard Harris, Slave Trader Spokesman

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Rawley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
International Market ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
The West ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Record ◽  
American Trade

“So little is known of the separate traders,” lamented the historian of the Royal African Company, K. G. Davies, that he was reduced to perceptive speculation about their activity. The authority, Basil Williams, writing about the period 1714–1760, asserted, “The traffic in negro slaves was carried on mainly by the Royal African Company.…“ In actuality a great deal can be discovered about the separate traders and their activity. The papers of Humphry Morice provide a rich source for a merchant who was perhaps London's and Great Britain's foremost slave trader in the 1720s. The assertion that the traffic in Negro slaves was carried on mainly by the Royal African Company is easily refuted by materials in the Public Record Office. London separate traders dominated the trade for the first three decades of the eighteenth century giving way to Bristol traders in the 1730s, who in turn gave way to Liverpool ascendancy in the 1740s.The English slave trade between 1699 and 1729, energized by the end of monopoly and the booming international market for slaves in America, grew prodigiously. In these years England accounted for nearly one-half of all slaves exported from the west coast of Africa. London alone accounted for two-thirds of all slaves delivered by English ships.Although the period falls half a century and more before the classic exposition of the advantages of free trade over monopoly by Adam Smith, an English free trade doctrine had found expression in Sir Dudley North's pamphlet, Discourses upon Trade (1691), and parlimentary proceedings. Interlopers in the slave trade, smugglers in the lucrative Spanish-American trade who opposed parliamentary restriction on their activity, separate traders whose participation in the trade became legalized in 1698, and a variety of commercial, industrial, and planting interests all contributed in their fashion to an outlook favoring free trade in slaves.

How Britain Turned to Free Trade

1987 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Grampp
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Critical Event ◽  
Commercial Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
History Of ◽  
Per Capita

British free trade has been variously attributed to the importuning of business interests, to the advanced state of manufacturing, to politicians acting on improper or unworthy motives, or to imperialism. Professor Grampp examines a critical event in the history of free trade: Parliament's declaration in 1820 that future commercial policy should be guided by that principle. By 1850, all major restrictions had been abolished. The decision of 1820, according to Thomas Tooke, a principal in the event, was made by the Tory Government with the concurrence of the Whig Opposition, both of which had come to believe free trade would increase per capita real income: that is, both acted in what they and others since have understood to be the public interest.

scholarly journals Port reform – key aspect of globalization

2018 ◽  
Vol XIX (1) ◽  
pp. 159-162
Author(s):  
Nistor F
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Administration System ◽  
Port Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Logistic Chain ◽  
Port Reform

Globalization and increased free trade between continents have led to the need to adapt port management to changes and opportunities that occurred. Ports under public administration have had to identify strategies to deal with more aggressive regional or international competition. The opinion of governments of developing countries about improving port performance is more involvement of the private sector. Therefore, countries have understood the need to change over ports administration system from the "public interest" into "public/private interest" category. This paper attempts to highlight the importance of structural reform in the ports due to national markets open up to international trade and the need to integrate the port into the local or regional logistic chain.

The Free Trade Agreement and the Mexican Health Sector

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asa Cristina Laurell ◽  
Maria Elena Ortega
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
General Context ◽  
The Public

This article presents a discussion of the probable implications for the Mexican health sector of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The authors argue that the FTA should be seen as part of neoliberal policies adopted by the Mexican government in 1983 that are based on large-scale privatization and deregulation of labor relations. In this general context the health sector, which traditionally has been dominated by public institutions, is undergoing a deep restructuring. The main trends are the decapitalization of the public sector and a selective process of privatization that tends to constitute the private health sector in a field of capital accumulation. The FTA is likely to force a change in Mexican health legislation, which includes health services in the public social security system and recognizes the right to health, and to accelerate selective privatization. The U.S. insurance industry and hospital corporations are interested in promoting these changes in order to gain access to the Mexican market, estimated at 20 to 25 million persons. This would lead to further deterioration of the public institutions, increasing inequalities in health and strengthening the private sector. The historical trend toward the integration of a National Health Service in Mexico would be interrupted in favor of formation of a dual private-public system.

Policy Networks and Business Participation in Free Trade Negotiations in Chile

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENEDICTE BULL
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Shock Therapy ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Trade Negotiations ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
Business Associations ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Government Bureaucracy

AbstractWithin Latin America, Chile is distinguished by its stable trade policies and rapid negotiation of trade agreements with countries and regions all over the world. Explanations for these phenomena often point to the stable pro-free trade coalition established in the aftermath of the shock-therapy pursued in the 1970s, and Chile's professional government bureaucracy. Although both of these elements are important, this article shows how the rapid integration of Chile into the world economy has also depended on the existence of business associations with expertise on trade issues. Through the process of integration, a close policy network has evolved between key public officials and business representatives. This is premised on the mutual recognition of expertise in the public and private sectors, and is held together by close personal networks of loyalty and trust across the public-private divide. However, while the development of such a policy network has been highly favourable to the process of negotiating trade agreements, it has also contributed to the de-facto exclusion of societal actors that have less to contribute to trade negotiations than business sectors.

scholarly journals The influence that different urban development models has on PM2.5 elemental and bioaccessible profiles

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Polezer ◽  
Andrea Oliveira ◽  
Sanja Potgieter-Vermaak ◽  
Ana F. L. Godoi ◽  
Rodrigo A. F. de Souza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Zone ◽  
The Public ◽  
Development Models ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Geographical Locations ◽  
Total Average ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Abstract Limited studies have reported on in-vitro analysis of PM2.5 but as far as the authors are aware, bioaccessibility of PM2.5 in artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF) has not been linked to urban development models before. The Brazilian cities Manaus (Amazon) and Curitiba (South region) have different geographical locations, climates, and urban development strategies. Manaus drives its industrialization using the free trade zone policy and Curitiba adopted a services centered economy driven by sustainability. Therefore, these two cities were used to illustrate the influence that these different models have on PM2.5in vitro profile. We compared PM2.5 mass concentrations and the average total elemental and bioaccessible profiles for Cu, Cr, Mn, and Pb. The total average elemental concentrations followed Mn > Pb > Cu > Cr in Manaus and Pb > Mn > Cu > Cr in Curitiba. Mn had the lowest solubility while Cu showed the highest bioaccessibility (100%) and was significantly higher in Curitiba than Manaus. Cr and Pb had higher bioaccessibility in Manaus than Curitiba. Despite similar mass concentrations, the public health risk in Manaus was higher than in Curitiba indicating that the free trade zone had a profound effect on the emission levels and sources of airborne PM. These findings illustrate the importance of adopting sustainable air quality strategies in urban planning.

Free Trade vis-à-vis Morality: Revisiting the Public-Morals Exception Clause in the World Trade Organization

2021 ◽  
pp. 001573252110154
Author(s):  
Swargodeep Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Public Morality ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Restrictive Measure ◽  
Restrictive Measures

The most sanctified obligation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the promotion and facilitation of international trade and liberalisation of the world economy. Although WTO members are committed to the WTO principle of free flow of goods and services among its members, the WTO permits its members to retain certain regulatory powers under its system to impose trade-restrictive measures based on certain exceptions, like, among other things, public morality under Article XX(a) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, 1994). Nevertheless, the question remains: what is public morality for a WTO member, and how far may this clause be invoked in defence of adopting trade-restrictive measures? Recently, the WTO panel on the US tariff case revived the long-standing debate on international trade versus public morality. Is a WTO member free to choose any trade-restrictive measure under the cloak of public morality? Then, what mechanism has the WTO panel/AB (Appellate Body) envisaged to check WTO members from adopting any trade-restrictive measure based on public morals? This article tries to answer these questions by analysing previous WTO disputes related to trade and morality. Against this background, this article looks back at the history of the public-morals exception clause, revisits previous WTO case laws on the public-morals exception and tries to ascertain the precise meaning of public morality—how the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) checks and balances two conflicting principles, that is, the right to regulate and the principle of free trade—and whether WTO has successfully developed a coherent jurisprudential approach to deal with contradictory interests, that is, trade versus morality. JEL Codes: F, F1, F13

scholarly journals Research on the Innovation of Public Health Law Education under the Background of Free Trade Port Construction

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 190-196
Author(s):  
Jiaqi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Public Health Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Times ◽  
Trade Port ◽  
Port Construction ◽  
Immersion Type

In 2020, “Overall Scheme of Hainan Free Trade Port Construction” emphasized that Hainan should focus on developing modern service industry represented by medical and educational fields. In this context, the public health law education in Hainan, as a representative course integrating the dual characteristics of 'medical' and 'education', should also keep pace with the times to better meet the practical needs of the construction of Hainan free trade port. Through the extensive and in-depth investigation of five hospitals, two courts and five universities randomly selected in Hainan Province, and the analysis of 815 effective questionnaires collected by SPSS statistical method to form a survey database, the key and difficult points that need to be broken through in the innovation of Public Health Law education under the background of the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port are systematically summarized, and the scientific structure of strategic discipline orientation to improve the attention of Health Law, the adoption of immersion-type Health Law teaching methods.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document