Accession clause of TPP : Is it really open?

One of the most important policy questions relating to the future impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the global and regional economy is whether other countries in the region, particularly China, will join the partnership. While several commentators have made some observations regarding the future prospects of TPP expansion, little scholarly analysis has been conducted. To go beyond the speculation of a certain country's accession to TPP, we first attempt to generalize the issue before moving on to a specific question. We conduct a comparative analysis of a large number of regional trade agreements for a better understanding of the parameters of RTAs that are critical for membership expansion. This general framework enables us to conduct a systematic examination of specific membership expansion cases, such as China's membership in TPP. The paper also proposes a necessary "accession practice" that truly facilitates new members' participation.

Analysis on International Trade of CLM Countries

Since their accession to AFTA, trade volumes of CLM countries have being grown rapidly while their trade patterns and directions have significantly changed. Recognizing the importance of international trade in CLM economies, this study attempts to analyze the trade patterns of CLM countries based the gravity model. The empirical analysis is conducted to identify the determining factors of each country’s bilateral trade flows and policy implications for promoting their trade.

アブドッラー国王統治下のサウジ権力構造の変化 -- 2015年1月のサルマーン国王即位後の動きを含めて

The Basic Law of Governance in Saudi Arabia stipulates that the king of Saudi Arabia has absolute power in the government of Saudi Arabia. However, after King Abdullah's accession to the throne in 2005, his political powers were limited because of the presence of the so-called Sudeiri Seven, the powerful royal group that consists of the seven sons of King Abdel-Aziz's purported favorite wife, Sheikha Hussa bin Ahmad Sudeiri. The death of the crown prince Sultan in 2011 followed by the death of the next crown prince Naif in 2012, both members of the Sudeiri Seven, weakened the power of the Sudeiri Seven. As a result, King Abdullah's power had increased greatly compared to that of the Sudeiri Seven. Also, the sons of King Abdullah, who occupied prominent governmental posts, were acquiring strong influence in the regime. The death of King Abdullah in January 2015 and Salman's accession to the throne caused changes to the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia. King Salman appointed Prince Muqrin as crown prince and deputy premier, and Prince Muhammad b. Naif as deputy crown prince. King Salman also appointed his son Muhammad b. Salman as defence minister and head of the royal court. Finally, King Salman issued a royal order on January 29 to reshuffle his cabinet and dismiss the governors of the Riyadh and Makka.

Domestic and international border effects

Previous studies in the border-effect literature surprisingly found that domestic border effects are larger than international border effects (e.g., in the United States or Brazil). One interpretation of this result is that these estimates include the effects of producer agglomeration. Therefore, in this study, we estimate those border effects exclusively for transactions for final consumption, in which such agglomeration forces will be weak, in China and Japan. As a result, we found larger international border effects and could not find a significant role for producer agglomeration in the estimates of border effects. We also found that China's accession to the World Trade Organization reduces border effects in trading between China and Japan but does not decrease domestic border effects.