Authors: Jane Drake-Brockman, Trade and Environment Solutions, Hong Kong and Christopher Findlay, University of Adelaide

The GATS’ contribution to services reform is ‘negligible.’ This is the assessment by Joe Francois and Bernard Hoekman in a recent paper (‘Services Trade and Policy’, Journal of Economic Literature, September 2010, XLVIII (3)) where they argue most services reform has been unilateral.

Regional agreements appear to have wider coverage than the GATS but their contribution with respect to actual policy change and implementation is difficult to assess. Read more…

Author: G.E. Anderson, UCLA

A few weeks ago, Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao paid a visit to Geely’s automotive factory in Hunan Province. Despite the fact that Geely is not a state-owned enterprise, this visit is not all that surprising. State leaders all over the world pay visits to privately owned businesses from time to time.

In the photo below, standing behind Wen’s right shoulder is Li Shufu, founder, Chairman and controlling shareholder of Geely.

What makes Wen’s visit interesting, however, is the fact that Wen’s government itself directly and indirectly owns or controls several competing auto manufacturers. Wen also had some interesting things to say while there:

Read more…