Escaping the Holocaust: human and health capital of refugees to the United States, 1940-42

The large-scale persecution of Jews during World War II generated massive refugee movements. Using data from 20,441 predominantly Jewish passengers from 19 countries traveling from Lisbon to New York between 1940 and 1942, we analyze the last wave of refugees escaping the Holocaust and verify the validity of height as a proxy for human and health capital. We further show this episode of European migration displays well-known features of migrant self-selection: early migrants were taller than late migrants; a large migrant stock reduces migrant selectivity; and economic barriers to migration<br/>apply. Our findings show that Europe experienced substantial losses in human and health capital while the US benefitted from the immigration of European refugees.

Movement of Capital and Trade in Services:Distinguishing Myth from Reality Regarding the GATS and the Liberalization of the Capital Account

This article will analyze the interplay between capital movements and trade<br/>in services as structured in World Trade Organization (WTO) law, and it will<br/>assess the implications of the capital account liberalization for the freedom of<br/>WTO Members to pursue their economic policies. Although the movement<br/>of capital is largely confined to the domain of international financial or monetary<br/>policy, it is regulated by WTO law due to its role in the process of<br/>financial services liberalization, which generally requires liberalized capital<br/>flows. From a legal perspective, the interplay between capital movements<br/>and trade in services requires striking a delicate balance between the right<br/>of market access and the parallel right of economic stability. Indeed, a liberalized<br/>regime for capital movements could pose serious stability problems<br/>during times of crisis. For this reason, it is necessary that Members are able<br/>to derogate from their obligations and adopt emergency measures.<br/>Regulating the movement of capital in the General Agreement on Trade in<br/>Services (GATS) requires stretching the regulatory oversight of WTO law<br/>over different aspects of international economic policy. Indeed, capital movements are a fundamental component of the balance of payments and have a<br/>major role in shaping monetary, fiscal, and financial policies. This article will<br/>analyze how the discipline provided by the GATS on capital movements will<br/>affect not only trade in services, but also the Members’ policy space on<br/>monetary and fiscal policy. The article will conclude that while the GATS offers enough policy space for the maintenance of financial stability, it does<br/>not fully take into consideration the need of Members to control capital<br/>movements in order to conduct monetary policies.

The International Regulatory Regime on Capital Flows

Capital controls and exchange restrictions are used to restrict international capital flows during economic crises. This paper looks at the legal implications of these restrictions and explores the current international regulatory framework applicable to international capital movements and current payments. It shows how international capital flows suffer from the lack of a comprehensive and coherent regulatory framework that would harmonize the patchwork of<br/>multilateral, regional, and bilateral treaties that currently regulate this issue. These treaties include the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF Articles), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), free-trade agreements, the European Union treaty, bilateral investment treaties, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Code of Liberalization of Capital Movements (OECD Code of Capital Movement). Each<br/>of these instruments regulate differently capital movements with little coordination with other areas of law. This situation sometimes leads to regulatory overlaps and conflict between different sources of law. Given the strong links between capital movements and trade in services, this paper pays particular attention to the rules of the GATS on capital flows and discusses the policy space available in the GATS for restricting capital flows in times of crisis.