Sam Laird

Bio

Mr. Laird is an Australian/British national. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh and the Australian National University. He is also Special Professor of International Economics at the University of Nottingham, UK, and Visiting Professor at Sciences-Po, Paris. He had previously worked at the WTO, the World Bank, UNCTAD and the Australian Government as a research economist in the areas of trade and industrial policy. He has also consulted for the World Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the (then) UN Centre for Transnational Corporations. He has published extensively on trade policy in various professional journals.

Academic Background

  • M.A. (Edinburgh)

Areas of Expertise

  • Trade and public policy

Present Position (s)

  • Chief, Research Section, Trade Analysis Branch, Division for International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, UNCTAD

Previous Position (s)

  • World Bank, WTO, Australian Industries Commission (now Productivity Commission)

Publications

Publications and Working Papers
(Last 20 Years)

  • “Back to Basics – Market access issues in the Doha Agenda”, Policy Issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series, UNCTAD, Geneva (forthcoming in 2002). (with L. Cernat and A Turrini)

  • “Does the DDA reverse the ADD?”, paper prepared for Mediterranean Development Conference, Amman, 8 April, 2002. Also in Policy Issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series, UNCTAD, Geneva (forthcoming in 2002)

  • "A Round by any other name – the WTO Agenda after Doha", Development Policy Review, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 41-62

  • “Quantification of Non-tariff Measures”, Policy Issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series No. 19, UNCTAD, Geneva (forthcoming in 2002). (with B. Bora and A. Kuwahara)

  • “The WTO and Development”, Paper prepared for Conference on Policy Reform, Tulane University, November 2001 (with R. Safadi). Revised version also with A. Turrini in Policy Issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series, UNCTAD, Geneva (forthcoming in 2002)

  • "The WTO Agenda and the Developing Countries", in C. Milner and R. Read (eds.), Trade Liberalisation, Competition and the WTO, Edward Elgar (forthcoming in 2002)

  • "Millennium Round Market Access Negotiations in Goods and Services", in C. Milner and R. Read (eds.), Trade Liberalisation, Competition and the WTO, Edward Elgar (forthcoming in 2002)

  • “Can Trade Policy Help Mobilize Financial Resources for Economic Development?” CREDIT Research Paper No. 01/16 (University of Nottingham) (2001)

  • "Dolphins, Turtles, Mad cows and Butterflies – A look at the Multilateral Trading System in the 21st Century", The World Economy, Vol.22 No. 4 (April, 2001)

  • "Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO", North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 12 pp. 193-211 (2001) (with J. Crawford)

  • "Regional Trade Agreements – Dangerous Liaisons?", The World Economy,Vol.22 No.9 (December 1999)

  • "Multilateral Approaches to Market Access Negotiations", in Trade Rules in the Making (Eds. Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza. Barbara Kotschwar and Patrick Low), Brookings Institution, Washington D.C. (1999)

  • "The WTO’s Trade Policies Review Mechanism - From through the Looking Glass”, The World Economy Vol. 22 No.6 (August 1999)

  • “The EU Model and Turkey - A Case for Thanksgiving?” Journal of World Trade Vol. 33 No. 3 (June 1999)

  • "Transition Economies, Business and the WTO", Journal of World Competition, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 171-187 (March 1999)

  • "Export Policy and the WTO", Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, Vol. 8 No: 1, pp. 73-88 (March 1999)

  • "How important are Trade Defence Measures and Non-tariff Barriers for LDCs with particular Emphasis on those of the EU", in Multilateralism and Regionalism in the Post-Uruguay Era: What Role for the EU?, Kluwer Academic Publishers for the Netherlands Economic Institute, Boston, Dordrecht and London (1999)

  • "The New Liberalism: Trade Policy Developments in Emerging Markets", Journal of World Trade, Vol.32 No. 5 (October 1998), (with Zdenek Drabek)

  • "Trade Measures in Manufacturing Trade" in Montague Lord (ed.), Trade and Industrialization Policies in Latin America, Edward Elgar, New York, 1998 (with R. Guzman)

  • "MERCOSUR: Objectives and Achievements" (1998), Proceedings of Third Annual World Bank Conference on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean on "Trade: Towards Open Regionalism", June 29 July 1, 1997, Montevideo, Uruguay, The World Bank, Washington D.C.

  • "The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and the Arab Countries", paper presented at Conference on the Uruguay Round and the Arab Countries held at Cairo University on 13-15 January 1996 (with Brad McDonald) and published in H. Kheir El-Din, The Uruguay Round and the Arab Countries, Cairo University, 1997

  • "Quantifying Commercial Policies" in Joseph F. Francois and Kenneth Reinert, Applied Trade Policy Modelling: A Handbook, Cambridge University Press, 1997

  • "The Uruguay Round Agreements: Impact on Developing Countries", World Development, Vol.24 No.7, pp.1223-1242, June 1996 (with Raed Safadi)

  • "Fostering Regional Integration" in OECD, Regionalism and its Place in the Multilateral Trading System, Paris 1996

  • "Latin American Trade Reform", Minnesota Journal of Global Trade,Vol.4 No.2, 1995, pp.111-127.
    "The EC market for Hungarian Exports", Journal of Open Economies, No.3, 1992 (with Alfred Tovias)

  • "Porque nos preocupan las barreras no-arancelarias", Información Comercial Española, Special Issue on Non-tariff Barriers, November 1991 (with René Vossenaar).
    "Whither Hungary and the European Communities?", World Bank PRE Working Paper, 1990 (with Alfred Tovias)

  • "Institutional Reform for Trade Liberalization", The World Economy, No.2 1991 (with Patrick Messerlin)

  • "Trends in the Use of Nontariff Barriers in OECD Countries: 1966 to 1986", Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Band 126 Heft 2 1990 (with Alexander Yeats).
    Quantitative Methods for Trade Barrier Analysis, MacMillan, London, 1990 (with Alexander Yeats).
    “Two Sources of Bias in Standard Partial Equilibrium Trade Models", PPR WPS No. 374, February 1990, The World Bank (with Alexander Yeats)

  • "Manufactured Export Performance of the Highly Indebted Countries", The Developing Economies, December 1988.
    "On the potential for expanding South South trade through the extension of mutual preferences among developing countries", World Development Vol. 16 No. 12, December 1988 (with Refik Erzan and Alexander Yeats)

  • "Trade policies and the debt crisis", The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 3 No. 2, May 1989 (with Julio Nogués)

  • "A note on the aggregation bias in current procedures for the measurement of trade barriers", Bulletin of Economic Research Vol.40 No.2 April 1988 (with Alexander Yeats).
    "Protection in developed and developing countries", Journal of World Trade Law Vol.21 No.6 December 1987 (with J. Michael Finger)

  • "Policy issues relating to the treatment of most favoured nation tariffs in the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations", in Handbook on the Multilateral Trade Negotiations (eds. J. Michael Finger and Andzrej Olechowski), The World Bank, Washington D.C., November 1987 (with Alexander Yeats)

  • "Tariff preferences", in Handbook on the Multilateral Trade Negotiations (eds. J. Michael Finger and Andzrej Olechowski), The World Bank, Washington D.C., November 1987 (with André Sapir)

  • "On the potential contribution of trade policy initiatives for alleviating the international debt crisis", Journal of Economics and Business, August 1987 (with Alexander Yeats)

  • "The GSP, Policy Options and the New Round", Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Band 123 Heft 2, 1987 (with Guy Karsenty)

  • "Empirical evidence concerning the magnitude and effects of developing country tariff escalation", The Developing Economies, Vol. XXV No. 2 June 1987 (with Alexander Yeats).

  • "Case for evaluating protection in an economy wide perspective", The World Economy, Vol. 10, No.2 June 1987 (with Gary Sampson)

  • "The UNCTAD Trade Policy Simulation Model A Note on the Methodology, Data and Uses", UNCTAD Discussion Paper No 19. Geneva 1986 (with Alexander Yeats)

  • "The Generalized System of Preferences A quantitative assessment of direct trade effects and policy options", UNCTAD Discussion Paper No. 18, September 1986 (with Guy Karsenty)

  • "Intra industry trade of developing countries and some policy issues", Seminar Paper No. 289, Institute for International Economics, Stockholm, 1984 (with Refik Erzan)

  • "Intra industry trade and the expansion, diversification and integration of the trade of the developing countries", Trade and Development An UNCTAD Review, UNCTAD, Geneva, Winter 1981.

Conference papers not otherwise published

  • "Developing Countries' Interests in the Millennium Round", paper prepared for an ASEF/CEPS Conference on A New Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations – An Asia-Europe Perspective, Brussels, 5-6 July 1999

  • "Patterns of Protection and Approaches to Liberalization" (1999), paper presented at World Bank/CEPR Conference on New Issues in the World Trading System, London, 19-20 February

  • "Agriculture and the World Trade Organization", Paper prepared for a seminar on Trade Policy in Transition Economies and WTO Accession, organized by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) in collaboration with the Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, 15-19 June 1998

  • "Contingency Protection and Trade Reforms", Paper prepared for a seminar on Trade Policy in Transition Economies and WTO Accession, organized by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) in collaboration with the Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, 15-19 June 1998

  • "Issues for the Forthcoming Multilateral Negotiations in Agriculture", Seminar on Agricultural Marketing in Developed Countries, Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza, 29 September 1997

  • "EU Agricultural Policy: Recent changes and challenges", Paper prepared for Seminar on Agricultural Marketing in Developed Countries, Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza, 29 September 1997

  • "Agriculture and the World Trade Organization", Paper presented at two Seminars on Trade Policy in Transition and WTO Accession, organized by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) in collaboration with the International Economic Department of the World Bank, held at the Joint Vienna Institute, Vienna, Austria, 2-4 and 5-7 February 1997

  • "Contingency Protection and Trade Reforms", Paper presented at two Seminars on Trade Policy in Transition and WTO Accession, organized by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) in collaboration with the International Economic Department of the World Bank, held at the Joint Vienna Institute, Vienna, Austria, 2-4 and 5-7 February 1997.

  • "Non-tariff Measures in Hemispheric FTA Negotiations", prepared for a Colloquium at IDB Headquarters, Washington DC on September 28-29, 1992, held under IDB/ECLAC Project on Support to the Process of Hemispheric Trade Liberalization.

  • "Non-tariff barriers and the Uruguay Round", Address to Annual Meeting of International Trade and Finance Association, December, 1990

  • "VERs recent developments", paper prepared for Conference on Political Economy of Export restraint Agreements organized by the Trade Policy Research Centre, Washington D.C., June 5 6, 1989).

  • "Protection in developed and developing countries", paper presented to the Symposium on the Role and Interests of the Developing Countries in the Multilateral Trade Negotiations, organized by the World Bank and the Thailand Development Research Institute, Bangkok, October 1986 (with J. Michael Finger)

Official Documents
(Unattributed)

  • “The Generalised System of preferences: A preliminary analysis of the GSP schemes in the Quad”, WT/COMTD/W/93, October 2001

  • GATT/WTO Trade Policy Reviews of 30 countries (1991-1998) (with other TPRD staff)

  • "Problems of protectionism and structural adjustment Introduction and Part I: Restrictions on trade and structural adjustment", UNCTAD, Annual reports for 1985-87, Geneva

  • "Consideration of the questions of definitions and methodology employed in the UNCTAD Data Base on Trade Measures", UNCTAD TD/B/AC.42/2, Geneva, 4 September 1985

  • "Considerations relating to the negotiating elements and likely economic effects of a global system of trade preferences (GSTP) among developing countries", Technical Working Note, UNCTAD/ECDC/179, Geneva, July 1985

  • "Implementation of the results of the Tokyo Round", UNCTAD TD/B/C.2/R.8, Geneva, February 1983

  • "Protectionism and structural adjustment an overview", UNCTAD TD/B/942, March 1983.
    "Multilateral trade negotiations", UNCTAD TD/B/861, Geneva, August 1981

  • "Intra industry trade and international sub contracting", UNCTAD TD/B/805/Supp.2, Geneva August 1980

  • "A case study of trade related structural adjustment", UNCTAD TD/B/805/Supp.1, Geneva August 1980

  • "The industrial policies of the developed market economy countries and their effect on the exports of manufactures and semi manufactures of the developing countries", UNCTAD TD/230/Supp.1/Rev.1, New York, 1979 (UN Sales No. E.79.II.D.13)

  • "Comprehensive measures required to expand and diversify the export trade of developing countries in manufactures and semi manufactures", UNCTAD TD/230, Geneva, February 1979.

Other Activities and Memberships

Recent Publications

Current Research Projects

  • WTO agenda (development issues, market access, agriculture)

Recommended Links

World Bank
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)
Organization of American States (OAS)
World Trade Organization (WTO)
 International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)
 United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United Nations
Third World Network
Biz/Ed Internet Catalog
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Commonwealth Secretariat

Areas of Interest