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5 Bus. Info. Alert 1 (1993)

handle is hein.journals/busiale5 and id is 1 raw text is: What's new in business publications, databases and research techniques            Volume 5, N.. 1 January 1993

Contents

The North America
Free Trade
Agreement

I

Database Report 6

For Your
Information

7

New Publications 8
New Editions 13
Publishers 14
Index 15

i

The North America
Free Trade Agreement
By Yolanda C. Maloney
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a landmark on the way
toward global free trade. As in any trade liberalizing measure, there will be winners
and losers. The implication for virtually all businesses is that competition, immedi-
ate or potential, will increase. This article begins with some definitions of terms that
will become increasingly familiar. Some of the most important provisions are
enumerated and explained. Impacts from both the pro- and anti-NAFTA courts are
explored.
Definitions
Comparative advantage is the theory of why trade increases everyone's welfare. Even
if a country isn't very efficient at producing anything, there is something at which it
is relatively (comparatively) best at doing. This is its comparative advantage.
Consequently, there is always scope for specialization and welfare enhancing trade
between any two countries.
Free trade is the absolutely unrestricted exchange of goods and services between
countries. At this time, pure free trade exists nowhere; perhaps a country like
Singapore comes close.
Trade protection is the imposition of restrictions on the flow of goods, services,
money and capital investment between countries. Examples of trade protection
include tariffs, import licensing requirements, import quotas, subsidies, or limits on
foreign investment. No country is absolutely protectionist, but a country like
Albania comes close.
Developing nations tend to favor high-tariff policies to nurture budding industries
until they are full-grown and can compete with other nation's products. Some
advantages of free trade are the expansion of markets, higher productivity, and more
efficiency, while the disadvantages can be loss of jobs, industries moving to areas with
cheaper labor, capital outflow, and dependency on other countries for vital products.
A free trade agreement is the consent of a group of nations to drop trade barriers
among themselves, not necessarily affect their trade relations with countries outside
the agreement.
The North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a treaty to lower and
eventually eliminate trade barriers among Canada, Mexico, and the United States,
which seeks to strengthen the North American position as a global market force.
Mexico will benefit from increased foreign investment and jobs. Of the three
continued on next page

What's new in business publications, databases and research techniques

Volume 5, Mo. I January 1se3

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