Sometimes we hope to see a "Savior" of the secular world coming from an unknown alien realm. Such imaginings can encourage us to create both new concerns and goals toward which we scramble. We are always looking for the birth of a Venus. Since the "Miracle of East Asia" was pronounced by the World Bank, Asian economic development has been set against a specific background. Tigers have been sought in the jungles of Asia in place of the tragedies found in Africa or South America. However the Asian economic crisis exposed the misconduct of policy advocated by the then dominant worldly consensus. East Asian developments once again gave an urgent impetus to reexamining conventional wisdom. More recently, the coalescence of an "East Asian economic community" forms a backdrop for discussions on the future shape of the global system. Through this new paradigm will it be possible to further cultivate the fruits of Asian economic experiences? Or, by this rhetoric, will we merely be attempting a lonely effort to seek deliverance from the current realities of the savage world of the free market economy? This volume sheds light on various aspects of and phases in the most recent arguments, bringing together the work of European and East Asian scholars. Part One is devoted to the political and economic dynamics contributing to the emergence of an integrating East Asian entity. Part Two illustrates the challenges and problems faced by selected individual countries that would need to be overcome in creating an East Asian economy.

"Rarefied but unpretentious, each issue is an artfully curated collection of essays, poems, art, and journalistic reportage. . . . Gastronomica's fare never fails to nourish us." --Saveur magazine "I am so impressed with this journal. It indicates an accuracy and diversity of information and style that will inspire and encourage people to pay attention to what they are eating."--Alice Waters "Food, even more than sex, is the basis for human relationships, and if Brillat-Savarin's 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are' is right, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture will enhance your life and improve your relationships with your family and your friends."--Jacques Pépin "Gastronomica deserves the food world's attention." --Paul Levy "A food journal of high standards that takes on substantive food issues."--Patricia Unterman "Interacting with so many disciplines, Gastronomica will assure a fine intellectual menu and reinvigorate the worlds of food and culture with ever higher standards of scholarship."--Anne Willan "[One of] my top food favorites from 2008. . . . A delightful study of all things food, even those that touch the world of food in a peripheral way."--The Zest, food blog

The United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) was signed on November 30, 2018 and aims to replace and modernize the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This paper uses a global, multisector, computable-general-equilibrium model to provide an analytical assessment of five key provisions in the new agreement, including tighter rules of origin in the automotive, textiles and apparel sectors, more liberalized agricultural trade, and other trade facilitation measures. The results show that together these provisions would adversely affect trade in the automotive, textiles and apparel sectors, while generating modest aggregate gains in terms of welfare, mostly driven by improved goods market access, with a negligible effect on real GDP. The welfare benefits from USMCA would be greatly enhanced with the elimination of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico and the elimination of the Canadian and Mexican import surtaxes imposed after the U.S. tariffs were put in place.

Contains papers presented at the XII World Congress of Rural Sociology held in South Korea in 2008. This book provides an international view of the advanced production in rural sociology.

Analyzing the experience of Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 'Lessons from NAFTA' aims to provide guidance to Latin American and Caribbean countries considering free trade agreements with the United States. The authors conclude that the treaty raised external trade and foreign investment inflows and had a modest effect on Mexico's average income per person. It is likely that the treaty also helped achieve a modest reduction in poverty and an improvement in job quality. This book will be of interest to scholars and policymakers interested in international trade and development.