Category: TRADE AND INVESTMENT RULES

Is China the Villain? Jobs, Wages and Building a Better U.S. Policy toward China

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a blame game between the U.S. and China, disrupting the urgently needed international cooperation to control the spread of the disease and accelerate efforts to find and distribute affordable vaccines and treatments. The current finger pointing has exacerbated bilateral tensions that were already flaring as a result of […]

How Trade Policy Failed US Workers – And How to Fix it

A new report from the Global Development Policy Center in collaboration with the Groundwork Collaborative and the Institute for Policy Studies examines U.S. trade policy and performance in the Trump and COVID-19 era. The report examines U.S. trade policy prior to the pandemic and reveals an approach heavily focused toward the interest of the financial sector […]

New BU Policies for Visiting Faculty & Research Scholars and Visiting Students

On March 17, the Boston University Council approved a new policy for Visiting Faculty & Research Scholars, and on June 16 a related policy for Visiting Students. These policies will be applied to all new appointments starting on or after Tuesday, September 1. Policy highlights are as follows — Visiting Faculty & Research Scholars Criteria for Appointment: The […]

Report: Trade treaties and fiscal stability in the COVID-19 era

Trade and investment treaties are partially standing in the way of emerging market and developing country efforts to create as much fiscal space possible in order to fight the COVID-19 virus, protect the vulnerable, and put together pathways for a sustainable economic recovery. This is the main finding coming out of a new GDP Center report […]

Domestic Resource Mobilization and the Trade and Investment Regime: The Need for Policy Coherence

The challenges that developing countries have faced in terms of fiscal constraints, debt overhang and access to essential medicines existed long before COVID-19 and will persist long after it is gone. In November 2019, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center partnered with the Intergovernmental Group of 24 on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24) […]

The Fiscal Impacts of Trade and Investment Treaties

There is a renewed global push to mobilize resources to meet glaring global infrastructure gaps, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement commitments and generally improve standards of living. A core component of such resource mobilization will be the generation of domestic resources through taxation. Whereas tariffs form a miniscule share of public revenue […]

Growing Share of Online Trade Undercuts Government Ability to Pull-in Revenue

The internet and rapid development in information technology (IT) has revolutionized the way the world trades and conducts business. The majority of buying and selling goods and services moved online through online marketplaces. The changing nature of trade should also mean a change in government policy in response. However, it is challenging to define efficient […]

GDP Center launches Trade and Medicines Working Group to make sense of COVID era

As governments struggle to make their health care systems more resilient in the COVID-19, Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center has established an expert “Working Group on Trade and Access to Medicines.” The aim of the group is to generate evidence-based policy research that helps policy-makers align the trade and investment treaty regime with universal […]