International Trade, Regulation and the Global Economy The Impact of Anti-Competitive Market Distortions

Lists of figures and tables

Foreword by Sir Crawford Falconer

Acknowledgements  

1.     The Implications of Recent Trade History

2.     The Danger Anti-Competitive Market Distortions Present to the International Economic System

3.     The Application of a Number of Classical Economic Models to understand the Quantum of Distortion

4.     Recent Improvements, and Refinements of Singham-Rangan-Bradley model and Introduction to Probabilistic Analysis of the Quantum of Distortion

5.     Review of Global Growth Trajectory if ACMDs had been properly dealt with

6.     Some Recommendations to Integrate ACMD Policy into Trade and Economic Policy

Bibliography

Index

Biography

Shanker A. Singham is one of the world’s leading international trade and competition lawyers/economists. He is the CEO of Competere and a former cleared advisor to the United States Trade Representative. Mr. Singham is a former advisor to the Secretary of State for International Trade of the UK. He is Chairman of the Growth Commission and Vice Chairman of the Trade Facilitation Commission. He has represented governments and multinational companies and has had a pivotal role in many major global economic shifts of the last 35 years including the transitions in the former Soviet Union, the opening of Latin America, the UK’s exit from the EU and the global realignment resulting from the Trump imposition of unfair trade and reciprocal tariffs.

Shanker A. Singham is the top conservative economist of his generation. In his latest book, he explains how market distortions affect trade, domestic regulation and economic growth globally.  This new work represents Singham’s most compelling effort to illustrate the scope and depth of regulatory overreach with new metrics.  I urge policy makers to use these provocative new insights to drive game-changing impact in their countries’ economies, poverty alleviation, and human flourishing worldwide.  The numbers now prove what Singham has long said intuitively – that the upside of restrained and thoughtful regulation is massive, but the cost of getting regulation wrong is—and always has been—catastrophic, leading us into a potentially very dangerous and polarized world.

-        Kerry Healey, Former Lt-Governor, Massachusetts and former President, Babson College

 

The U.S. trade system regulating imports is in need of a remedy that is flexible enough to address the wide range of non-market practices in the global economy that damage U.S. firms and workers. Shanker Singham has been ahead of his time in developing this proposal to quantify and redress market distortions that damage trade and competition. This timely book will be highly useful for policymakers who are navigating the challenging trade world we face today.  It is a must-read for anyone who worries about declining productivity and economic growth in Western nations and around the world

-        Meredith Broadbent, Former Chairman of International Trade Commission. Former Assistant USTR for Industry, Market Access and Telecommunications

 

Shanker A. Singham has been the global leader in studying – and measuring – how government-imposed economic market distortions (ACMDs) distort trade, harm competition, and weaken property rights. These effects combine to significantly reduce economic growth around the world.

In addition to authoring pathbreaking studies of ACMDs, he chairs the non-partisan Growth Commission. The Commission is an independent organisation of international economists producing new research and dynamic economic modelling which identifies policies that can increase income per person.

This book represents Singham’s latest and most important effort to establish and refine metrics that estimate the economic harm stemming from ACMDs.

The numbers now prove what Singham has been saying intuitively – eliminating ACMDs has a tremendous economic upside. It spurs economic growth and raises per capita GDP for all citizens.

Public policymakers would do well to take note of Singham’s findings. Future global economic prosperity may depend upon governments’ willingness to root out and tackle ACMDs.

-        Alden Abbott, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, former General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission.

 

Channelling the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Shanker A. Singham writes, ' The normal state of human beings is poverty and war.' Singham then spends the next 123 pages of his new book on anti-competitive market distortions outlining how countries, by abandoning government-imposed restrictions, can (and should) enhance national prosperity and, ultimately, peace. Singham's insightful and timely book ought to be required reading for federal policymakers."

-        James Carter, Former Associate Director, National Economic Council, The White House

 

Written by one of the world’s greatest economic thinkers, this book illustrates the scale of market distortions in the global economy. Shanker A. Singham expertly weaves the scale of distortion into the wider economic and national security picture, precisely describing how the world will be more at risk of conflict and war if these distortions are not dealt with. The world grows more dangerous by the moment, and Shanker A. Singham presents a way out of poverty and war into prosperity and peace. It is a must read.

-        John Poindexter, Former National Security Advisor