In the 1970s, China began to sign bilateral investment treaties (BITs), but refused to grant foreign investors the right to sue their host government in international arbitration tribunals. Few realize that China’s treaty negotiations have in fact abandoned this restriction in almost every Chinese BIT signed since 1998, including those with Latin America. Scholars have […]
By Rachel Thrasher. GEGI Working Paper Series, May 2014.
Universal access to affordable medicines depends on national legislation that is constrained by a range of international agreements. Tensions and contradictions between industry profitability and health objectives characterize debates on access, innovation and regulation. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement in 1995 contributed to a gradual strengthening of intellectual property (IP) protections, which […]
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was a regional trade agreement involving 12 Pacific Rim countries, including New Zealand. Throughout negotiations, it became clear that the TPP had the potential to significantly alter the domestic environment for health policy-making. The United States sought to eliminate therapeutic reference pricing, introduce appeals processes for pharmaceutical companies to challenge […]
Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in 2014 sparked considerable concern and debate about its possible impacts on public health. The negotiations involved a diverse set of 12 countries from around the Pacific Rim: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States. Leaked documents from the […]
In China, three major health insurance programs cover specific groups: rural residents under the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), urban employees under the Urban Employees Basic Medical Insurance (UE-BMI) and unemployed urban residents under the Urban Residents Basic Medical Insurance (UR-BMI). The three schemes function differently in how they are financed and operate, and […]
By Bryan N. Patenaude. GEGI Working Paper Series, February 2014.
By Cornel Ban. GEGI Working Paper Series, December 2013.
November 2013 Since the global financial crisis, a consensus has emerged around the need to regulate capital flows in order to reduce the chances of future crises and to mitigate their damage if they do occur. Many emerging economies have already introduced measures to reregulate cross-border finance. However, these economies are concerned that some of […]
By Kevin Gallagher, Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, Mah-Hui Lim, Katherine Soverel GEGI Working Paper Series, October 2013. Read the Paper