On the 50th anniversary of the OECD, we examine the unique work the organisation performs in regulating and rationalising governments’ use of export credits in support of exports, jobs, economic growth and national interests more broadly. This work ...

On the 50th anniversary of the OECD, this book examines the unique work the organisation performs in regulating and rationalising governments' use of export credits in support of exports, jobs, economic growth and national interests more broadly.

Business corporations can and do violate human rights all over the world, and they are often not held to account. Emblematic cases and situations such as the state of the Niger Delta and the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory are examples of corporate human rights abuses which are not adequately prevented and remedied. Business and human rights as a field seeks to enhance the accountability of business – companies and businesspeople – in the human rights area, or, to phrase it differently, to bridge the accountability gap. Bridging the accountability gap is to be understood as both setting standards and holding corporations and businesspeople to account if violations occur. Adopting a legal perspective, this book presents the ways in which this dual undertaking has been and could be further carried out in the future, and evaluates the extent to which the various initiatives in the field bridge the corporate accountability gap. It looks at the historical background of the field of business and human rights, and examines salient periods, events and cases. The book then goes on to explore the relevance of international human rights law and international criminal law for global business. International soft law and policy initiatives which have blossomed in recent years are evaluated along with private modes of regulation. The book also examines how domestic law, especially the domestic law of multinational companies’ home countries, can be used to prevent and redress corporate related human rights violations.

Pricing of export credit is a challenge in the globalised world trade. Annual premia represent billions of euros or dollars and may determine competition. This book develops a rigorous new framework for pricing export credit products, e.g. buyer and supplier credit insurance and performance and working capital guarantees , based on well-known financial and actuarial theories. It introduces the products, the theories and the different data sources in order to apply the mathematical and financial ideas, e.g. discounting, risk-neutral valuation and Merton type defaults. It shows the differences of historical experience and implicit market pricing assumptions. The well-known OECD Arrangement is used as a benchmark for some part of the framework. Short code snippets in R are given in order to re-perform the results and have a basis to try own ideas. Many unprecedented exhibits give new insights into the subject matter. The book is targeted at practitioners and actuaries in the field with a good quantitative background.

This book explains various methods of payment in international trade and trade finance schemes for international trade. It also presents an overview of the concepts, purposes, features, and risks of international trade. A grasp of the features and risks of international trade facilitates a better understanding of the numerous methods of payment in international trade and the relevant trade finance schemes, which is essential to success in international trade transactions. In order to complete an international trade transaction, depending on the terms, both parties need access to funds. Compared with large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), frequently face difficulties in raising capital or funds, but financing an international trade transaction is often the key to its successful completion. As such, selecting an appropriate financing mechanism from the various options available is vital. This book offers a systematic overview of international trade and payment together with trade finance, providing instructive examples and illustrations of trade documents, each method of payment, and trade finance including export credit insurance or guarantee.

This book outlines features of international business transactions, and discusses their various associated risks. For the successful completion of an international business transaction, depending on its terms, both parties need access to funds. This text deals with financing mechanisms mainly in the international sale of goods and in overseas construction projects. Concerning financing international sale of goods, it discusses export working capital financing, documentary credit, negotiation of bills of exchange, export factoring, and international forfaiting. Concerning financing an overseas construction project, this book discusses supplier and buyer credit, project finance, syndicated loans, and independent guarantees (or standby letters of credit). The book also covers export credit insurance (or export credit guarantee), which is very useful for the facilitation of financing in the international sale of goods and in overseas construction projects.

Moral Hazard is a core concept in economics. In a nutshell, moral hazard reflects the reduced incentive to protect against risk where an entity is (or believes it will be) protected from its consequences, whether through an insurance arrangement or an implicit or explicit guarantee system. It is fundamentally driven by information asymmetry, arises in all sectors of the economy, including banking, medical insurance, financial insurance, and governmental support, undermines the stability of our economic systems and has burdened taxpayers in all developed countries, resulting in significant costs to the community. Despite the seriousness and pervasiveness of moral hazard, policymakers and scholars have failed to address this issue. This book fills this gap. It covers 200 years of moral hazard: from its origins in the 19th century to the bailouts announced in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak. The book is divided into three parts. Part I deals with the ethics and other fundamental issues connected to moral hazard. Part II provides historical and empirical evidence on moral hazard in international finance. It examines in turn the role of the export credit industry, the international lender of last resort, and the IMF. Finally, Part III examines specific sectors such as automobile, banking, and the US industry at large. This is the first book to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of moral hazard and explain why addressing this issue has become crucial today. As such, it will attract interest from scholars across different fields, including economists, political scientists and lawyers.

An innovative textbook setting out a systematic approach to business and human rights.

The first of its kind, this comprehensive interdisciplinary textbook in business and human rights coherently incorporates ethical, legal and managerial perspectives. This path-breaking textbook will be a valuable introductory resource for students, instructors and researchers in business, public policy and law schools.

This book offers a multidisciplinary approach to the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) by bringing together contributions from legal scholars and political scientists. Most of the authors belong to a tightly knit legal epistemic community, trained at the University of São Paulo and at the top-ranked research and policy centers on WTO law in Europe. Presenting a novel and unique perspective on the DSM, it provides an analysis of current themes at the heart of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism through the lenses of scholars with a “developing country” perspective. Focusing on assessment, substance, and process, it presents a three-fold approach to the analysis and offers a singular contribution to the scholarly literature on the WTO. The book discusses the topic from the viewpoint of individuals deeply involved in the scholarly production as well as the daily operation of the mechanism. The contributors include academics in the fields of international economic law and political science, diplomats, individuals engaged in legal private practice, and individuals affiliated with the WTO as well as WTO-related think tanks. The result is a balanced perspective on pressing issues that have arisen and that are likely to remain at the center of the scholarly and policy debate for years to come.