Maurice Schiff - Böcker

Given the remarkable increase in regional integration agreements [RIAs] in the past decade, understanding of their economic rationale and consequences is essential. Schiff and Winters succeed admirably in covering the conceptual, empirical, and policy issues arising from RIAs in an informed, comprehensible, and accessible manner. Their book should be required reading for policy analysts, academics, and students concerned with evaluation of RIA initiatives. -Robert M. Stern, Department of Economics and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan Regional Integration and Development examines regionalism from the perspective of developing countries and presents a comprehensive account of existing theory and empirical results. This book incorporates the findings of formal analyses of the politics and dynamics of regionalism. It considers the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism and explores the economic advantages of nondiscriminatory trade liberalization, which the authors argue should be exploited to the maximum extent. The book also provides rules of thumb for regionalism, rules that are not inviolable but which should not be violated lightly. Designed as a practical guide for policymakers whose countries are considering membership in a trade bloc, this book will also be of interest to scholars and students of international trade.

International migration, the movement of people across international boundaries, has enormous economic, social and cultural implications in both origin and destination countries. It is estimated that some one hundred and eighty million people (three per cent of the world's population) are living in countries in which they were not born. Among these are millions of highly-educated people who moved to developed countries from developing countries that already suffer from low levels of human capital and skilled workers. Moreover, the flow of formal remittances from migrants to their relatives in their countries of birth has exhibited a very rapid and accelerating rate of growth. Estimated to exceed one hundred billion dollars annually, remittances surpass foreign aid and account for the largest source of foreign capital for dozens of countries. This timely volume provides an in-depth examination of the relationship between - and the impacts on - migration, remittances and development. Using new household surveys and census data, the determinants of migration and the impact of migration and remittances on various measures of welfare are analyzed.Other issues discussed include the migration of skilled workers, the impact of international students and skilled migration in the United States, the determinants of internal and international migration from rural areas whilst providing a critical examination of the new 'brain drain' literature.