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"COMMODITY TRADE"
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The world for sale : money, power and the traders who barter the Earth's resources
The modern world is built on commodities - from the oil that fuels our cars to the metals that power our smartphones. We rarely stop to consider where they come from. But we should. In 'The World for Sale', two leading journalists lift the lid on one of the least scrutinised corners of the economy: the workings of the billionaire commodity traders who buy, hoard and sell the earth's resources. It is the story of how a handful of swashbuckling businessmen became indispensable cogs in global markets: enabling an enormous expansion in international trade, and connecting resource-rich countries - no matter how corrupt or war-torn - with the world's financial centres.
BOOK
The Global Impact of the Systemic Economies and MENA Business Cycles
This paper analyzes spillovers from macroeconomic shocks in systemic economies (China, the Euro Area, and the United States) to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as well as outward spillovers from a GDP shock in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and MENA oil exporters to the rest of the world. This analysis is based on a Global Vector Autoregression (GVAR) model, estimated for 38 countries/regions over the period 1979Q2 to 2011Q2. Spillovers are transmitted across economies via trade, financial, and commodity price linkages. The results show that the MENA countries are more sensitive to developments in China than to shocks in the Euro Area or the United States, in line with the direction of evolving trade patterns and the emergence of China as a key driver of the global economy. Outward spillovers from the GCC region and MENA oil exporters are likely to be stronger in their immediate geographical proximity, but also have global implications.
eBook
Alien insect dispersal mediated by the global movement of commodities
Globalization and economic growth are recognized as key drivers of biological invasions. Alien species have become a feature of almost every biological community worldwide, and rates of new introductions continue to rise as the movement of people and goods accelerates. Insects are among the most numerous and problematic alien organisms, and are mainly introduced unintentionally with imported cargo or arriving passengers. However, the processes occurring prior to insect introductions remain poorly understood. We used a unique dataset of 1,902,392 border interception records from inspections at air, land, and maritime ports in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Japan, USA, and Canada to identify key commodities associated with insect movement through trade and travel. In total, 8939 species were intercepted, and commodity association data were available for 1242 species recorded between 1960 and 2019. We used rarefaction and extrapolation methods to estimate the total species richness and diversity associated with different commodity types. Plant and wood products were the main commodities associated with insect movement across cargo, passenger baggage, and international mail. Furthermore, certain species were mainly associated with specific commodities within these, and other broad categories. More closely related species tended to share similar commodity associations, but this occurred largely at the genus level rather than within orders or families. These similarities within genera can potentially inform pathway management of new alien species. Combining interception records across regions provides a unique window into the unintentional movement of insects, and provides valuable information on establishment risks associated with different commodity types and pathways.
Journal Article
Trade and biodiversity loss: disentangling the complexities for effective policy action
There is a growing policy emphasis on “harnessing trade for biodiversity” and “biodiversity-friendly trade.” However, achieving this requires a full understanding of the complexities involved. Biodiversity is a complex concept that encompasses a wide range of factors and influences. It cannot be measured in a straightforward manner and its evaluation depends on the specific context, scale, and time frame. Additionally, there are inherent tensions between the benefits of trade and the importance of maintaining biodiversity. The pursuit of trade often leads to greater agrosystem specialization, intensification, and concentration, which can harm ecosystem functions. Indeed, it is important to avoid oversimplification and exercise caution in advocating for “biodiversity-friendly” production and trade. This article critically examines the idea of “harnessing trade for biodiversity” and scrutinizes the intricate interplay between trade and biodiversity. It approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective, considering trade policy vis-à-vis commodity trade economics and social-ecological system frameworks. By linking trade policy to various approaches in the “beyond growth” debate, we present an overview of different pathways to reconcile trade and biodiversity, ranging from fundamental reform to incremental changes.
Journal Article
Primates in peril: the significance of Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for global primate conservation
Primates occur in 90 countries, but four—Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—harbor 65% of the world’s primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservation, we examine the anthropogenic pressures each country is facing that place their primate populations at risk. Habitat loss and fragmentation are main threats to primates in Brazil, Madagascar, and Indonesia. However, in DRC hunting for the commercial bushmeat trade is the primary threat. Encroachment on primate habitats driven by local and global market demands for food and non-food commodities hunting, illegal trade, the proliferation of invasive species, and human and domestic-animal borne infectious diseases cause habitat loss, population declines, and extirpation. Modeling agricultural expansion in the 21st century for the four countries under a worst-case-scenario, showed a primate range contraction of 78% for Brazil, 72% for Indonesia, 62% for Madagascar, and 32% for DRC. These pressures unfold in the context of expanding human populations with low levels of development. Weak governance across these four countries may limit effective primate conservation planning. We examine landscape and local approaches to effective primate conservation policies and assess the distribution of protected areas and primates in each country. Primates in Brazil and Madagascar have 38% of their range inside protected areas, 17% in Indonesia and 14% in DRC, suggesting that the great majority of primate populations remain vulnerable. We list the key challenges faced by the four countries to avert primate extinctions now and in the future. In the short term, effective law enforcement to stop illegal hunting and illegal forest destruction is absolutely key. Long-term success can only be achieved by focusing local and global public awareness, and actively engaging with international organizations, multinational businesses and consumer nations to reduce unsustainable demands on the environment. Finally, the four primate range countries need to ensure that integrated, sustainable land-use planning for economic development includes the maintenance of biodiversity and intact, functional natural ecosystems.
Journal Article
Global bargaining : UNCTAD and the quest for a new international economic order
Negotiations on an international commodity policy have been the central issue on the North-South agenda for the past three years. They also can be seen as the first major effort to give substantive meaning to the Third World's desire not only for a new regime for the world's raw commodity trade but also for a new international economic order. Yet various obstacles have impeded successful North-South bargaining, and the negotiations remain at a stalemate. Focusing on the bargaining process between developed and developing countries in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Robert Rothstein analyses the factors that have inhibited successful negotiation and suggests ways in which these obstacles might be removed.
Book
Application of open multi-commodity market data model on the communication bandwidth market
In the paper the market model for balancing communication bandwidth trade (BCBT) is analyzed in the form of multi-commodity market data model (M3). The distinguishing feature of BCBT model is that it assumes that market players can place buy offers not only for isolated network resources – inter-node links, but also for end-to-end network paths of predefined capacity, that is, every offer concerns a point-to-point bandwidth connection between a pair of specified locations in a communication network. The model enables effective balancing of sell and buy offers for network resources in a way which maximizes global economic welfare. The open multi-commodity market data model provides efficient and clear mechanisms, which support the environment of auctions and multi-commodity exchanges, especially when the trade is constrained by the infrastructure resources. Thus the model may be used in designing open information systems for market balancing and clearing in the context of multicommodity trade in various network infrastructure sectors.
Journal Article