exam time Flashcards
what are the 4 schools of thought about IPE?
traditional: 1. mercantilist schools 2. liberal school 3. marxist school modern: 4. interests and institutions
what are the mercantilist school’s main arguments regarding:
- the most important actor?
- the role of the state
- image of IPE
- proper objective
most important actor: state
role of the state: intervene to allocate resources
image of IPE: conflict between states over trade
proper objective: enhance national power
what are the liberal school’s main arguments regarding:
- the most important actor?
- the role of the state
- image of IPE
- proper objective
most important actor: individuals
role of the state: property rights
image of IPE: harmony
proper objective: enhance aggregate social welfare
what are the marxist school’s main arguments regarding:
- the most important actor?
- the role of the state
- image of IPE
- proper objective
most important actor: capitalist class
role of the state: protect the capitalist system
image of IPE: exploitation of labour
proper objective: promote equal income distribution
what are the interest and institutions approach’s main arguments regarding:
- the most important actor?
- the role of the state
- image of IPE
- proper objective
most important actor: winners and losers of the poltiical economy
role of the state: survive in office (politicians)
image of IPE: mix of conflict and cooperation
proper objective: politically constrained efficiency (best policies given political constraints)
what is the main arguments of interests and institutions approach
the interests that matter differ based on the question you want to answer:
- material (societal) interests: what increases my welfare?
- political (institutional) interests: what will keep me in office?
What did the dark leviathan article suggest
- the need for IPE (pure market is extremely difficult)
- irony that by trying to create a market without a government (libertarian) control failed -> ended up needing to be the government
why is trade beneficial?
specialization -> exploit comparative advantage
- net public good
what are types of trade protection?
- tariffs
- quotas
- non-tariff barriers
what are types of non-tariff barriers to trade?
e.g. subsidies, protection laws, health standards, environemntal standards
what prevents successful bargaining?
- info problems
- ability to commit to agreement
- outside options
How can you resolve the problems to successful bargaining?
- less states
- information (monitoring compliance)
- repeated interaction (punish, reciprocation, long-term gains)
- international institutions (linking issues)
what are 3 elements that define the WTO?
- establishes common principles and rules
a. market liberalism
b. non-discrimination -> MFN + prohibits non-tariff barriers - intergov bargaining process
- dispute settlement mechanism (legal reciprocation of victim states)
What are the exceptions to the MFN of the WTO?
- RTAs: free trade areas and customs union
2. developing countries can apply lower tariffs (Generalized System of Preferences)
How is the dispute settlement procedure in the WTO different from the GATT’s?
GATT: defendant could block all actions throughout the dispute settlement mechanism -> meaningless mechanism
WTO: not anymore
How does the WTO aid cooperation?
- providing forum for barganing
- monitoring behaviour
- enforcement mechanism through institutional reciprocity
Why has WTO progress been stalled recently?
due to diverse interests and domestic politics
What incentivises states to participating in the WTO?
- gains of trade -> tying trade relationships to many
- easy to shift blame from politicians to the WTO
- WTO flexibility - lots of exceptions
what are arguments that the WTO works to increase trade?
- members do engage in more trade
2. might act as a deterrent to impose trade barriers
what are arguments that the WTO doesn’t work to increase trade?
- unclear if states would’ve just liberalized unilaterally
- states bring very little cases to the WTO
- don’t eliminate power politics
What is a threat to the WTO lasting?
Trump undermining WTO - e.g. vetoing the appointment of appellate judges & trying to find bilateral agreements outside WTO
What trend have we seen regarding regional trade agreements (RTAs) recently?
increasing amount of RTAs in past 20 years
what are types of RTAs?
- free trade areas (FTAs) (most RTAs)
- custom unions
- bilateral courts
what are free trade areas (FTAs)
- eliminate tariffs among members
- seperate trade policies with non-members
- e.g. NAFTA
is free trade a global public good?
yes
-> non-excludable and non-rivalrous in consumption
what are the implications of free trade being a global public good?
- suffers from collective action problem (even if ignoring domestic political incentives)
- > incentive to consume goods and not contribute (free ride)
what is the hegemonic stability theory
one dominant actor can shoulder the burden of enforcement for all
who benefits from the collective action problem of trade?
small groups (that experience it less) -. disproportionate representation (e.g. rural voters)
what is the Hecksher-Ohlin (H-O) theory?
- explains who trades with who
- resources in abundance -> exported
- resources in scarcity -> imported
so:
a. industrial countries = rich in capital + skilled labour = export capital intensive and skill requiring goods
b. developing countries = rich in land + raw materials + unskilled labour = export agriculture, minerals, textiles..
What is the factor of production approach theory? (stolper-samuelson approach)
- who wins and loses from globalization/free trade
- based on how it is being produced
- winners of free trade = producers of abundant resource
- losers of free trade = producers of scarce resource
- assumes factors are perfectly mobile
- predicts that trade policy generates class conflict (e.g. capital vs labour)
What is perfect factor mobility and its implications?
ease by which factors can move from 1 industry to another
easy moving -> labour demand decrease -> decrease in wages
What is the sector approach theory? (ricardo-viner approach)
- who wins and loses from globalization/free trade
- based on the industry/sector:
a. import-competing (competing with imports from abroad)
b. export-oriented - owners and workers on the same side
what are critiques of the factor of production and sector approaches for the winners and losers of trade?
- individual level evidence doesn’t strongly support either (individuals don’t know much about trade, socio-tropic preferences)
- today: complex global supply chain
what is most manufacturing job losses blamed on and what is it actually caused by?
- blamed on: foreign competition
- actually: technological change
Why did the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 emerge and what did it change?
- due to a recession and very low prices of agriculture (low income for farmers)
- put tariffs on many foreign goods
- product of logrolling (farmers traded votes for protection)
- made possible by the U.S. congress institutional structure: focus on district gains (vs. national)
what were the consequences of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930?
- contributed to the great depression
- exporters hurt by retaliation
- consumers hurt by tariffs
- Reciprocal Trade Agreemnt Act (RTAA) (1934)
What did the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act (RTAA) of 1934 change?
- gave president (vs. congress) greater autonomy to set trade policy -> focus on national welfare
- president could negotiate bilateral trade agreements (vs. unilateral)
- gave congress power to remove pres (but never used)
what was important for the emergence of the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act (RTAA) of 1934?
- new rules and institutions (pres instead of congress) that dictate trade policy
- changing distribution of societal support (democrats came into office)
What institutional factors affect trade policy orientation?
- regime type (democracy/autocracy)
- electoral system (majoritarian/proportional)
(majoritarian -> sector based so more protection; pr -> factors of production so less protection) - type of dictatorship (military/party dictatorship)
- more or less veto players
Do those with the most liberalized internal markets usually have the most liberal external markets?
no
- those that engage in lots of trade (external liberalization) need to provide losers of globalization benefits -> larger welfare states (internal restrictions)
- so more trade = more demand for welfare states
are domestic politics important to understand international politics?
yes (both societal interests and domestic institutions)
domestic institutions shape societal interests into society
what is import-substitution industrialization (ISI)?
- essentially: trade protectionism
- substituting previously imported goods with domestically producing them
how (what policies) have governments implemented ISI?
- trade barriers
- investment in private sector that wouldn’t otherwise produce
- state-owned enterprises
- tax policies for income(e.g. taxing agricultural exports)
what are marketing boards?
purchasing crops (comparative advantage resource) at below world-market prices -> sell them for more at world market-price for income to pay for all the ISI policies
what are critcisms of import-substitution industrialization (ISI)?
- states - bad planners (can’t forsee competitive industries + poor at distributing resources)
- government have to cover industry losses (funded through borrowing -> increased national debt)
- persistent trade imbalance (current account) -> imports>exports because not int competitive and taxed agriculture
what was the trend observed between import-substitution industrialization (ISI) and export-oritented industrialization (EOI)?
- ISI -> EOI shift gradually
- basically: liberalization
why didn’t states shift from ISI to EOI quicker?
- leaders motivated to remain in power
2. growing dependency on ISI (e.g. agricultural sector)
what are the effects of IMF and WB austerity programs/loans?
- help creditors gain investments
- help govs stay in power
- short term
a. less hr respect
b. increase in protest/rebellion
c. less access to health and edu among poor - long term
a. increased growth
b. improving hr
ISI and EOI adoption are products of what pressures?
- domestic interests
- domestic institutions
- global forces
(ww2, great depression, IMF intervention)
what are multi-national corporations (MNCs)?
single corporate structure that controls and manages production establishments in at least 2 countries
what are different types of foreign investment?
- portfolio investment
2. foreign direct investment (FDI)?
what is portfolio vs foreign direct investment?
portfolition investment:
- claim on some income but not enough % to control (only interested in rate of return)
- e.g. loans, stocks, bonds, sovereign lending
FDI:
- investment to control facilities located in another country
- highly immobile (fixed investment)
- MNCs are primarily involved in this type
why would companies invest abroad (FDI) instead of hiring a foreign company?
- locational advantages (resources and market)
- market imperfections -> horizontal integration (paradox of info, intangible assets)
- market imperfections -> vertical integration (time-inconsistency problem of specific assets fixed through vertical integration)
how can you determine where how the mnc will function?
locational advantages presence/absence and type of assets (intangible vs specific) -> tells whether mnc is profitable and whether firm will internalize the production
MNCs are predictable response to economic environment
what are the benefits of FDI for host states?
- transfer of capital -> aids economic growth
- technological and managerial experience
- integration into global markets (opportunity to show worth to other states)
what are the risks of FDI for host states?
- could potentially reduce domestic capital
a. crowd out investment to other firms
b. require affiliates to purchase inputs abroad from MNC - drive local firms out of business
- tech often tightly controlled
- MNC objectives may clash with domestic economic objectives
where does most FDI flow from and to, and why?
expectation: developed country -> developing country
reality: developing country -> developing country
why?
- MNCs fear state will impose burdensome regulation or expropriation of investments
- obsolescing bargaining: over time, power shifts to govs due to fixed investment of MNCs
How does FDI and democracy relate?
FDI tends to flow to democracies, because of:
- higher costs of expropriation (act of gov taking property)
- better at tying their hands (more veto power to constrain policy choices)
- FDI = widespread benefits -> support
What are the arguments for FDI !not! being beneficial for the average citizen?
- race to the bottom
- govs compete for FDI -> give many advantages (e.g. tax cuts, less regulation..)
What are the arguments for FDI being beneficial for the average citizen?
- climb to the top
- firms don’t always want to lower taxes or want less regulation
- instead: want public goods provided by taxes (e.g. infrastructure, educated work force)
- FDI helps states grow -> incentives for better political regimes & public good investments
what forms do international regulation of MNCs take?
- no rules or institutions like the ones that govern trade
- no enforcement
- some “legal” norms of behaviour
- e.g. 1. Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITS)
- e.g. 2. Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)
what are bilateral investment treaties (BITS)?
due to absence of int global rules for MNCs, turn to bilateral treaties
govern:
1. treatment of foreign investors under the law
2. protection of assets and flow of assets
3. make sure foreign firms aren’t exploited by host gov (so mainly protection of mncs)