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This paper aims to examine obstacles to international services trade in tertiary education. It specifically analyzes Japan's international trade in education from three different angles: status of international transactions of tertiary education services; the restrictions on international education services transactions as well as domestic regulations in education sectors; and the relevancy of domestic regulations in the education sector.

The paper first argues that obstacles to international education services transactions usually take the form of domestic regulations rather than direct restrictions, using the case study of Japan. Japan is an interesting case to assess since it has a strong desire to regulate the education sector and has been conducting regulatory reforms recently. The paper then considers the relevancy of domestic regulations in Japan's education sector by comparing them against regulations in other sectors where governments also have a strong desire to maintain regulatory powers, such as in legal and banking services.

While it looks that the Japanese education sector is free from restrictions on international services transactions, domestic regulations are the serious obstacles to trade. Japan's education industry has two principal problems regarding domestic regulations: unclear demarcation between the government and University Council; an emphasis on the restriction on new entrant rather than a smooth solution of “bankruptcy”.

As far as the business operations of foreign universities in Japan are concerned, the emphasis of regulations should be placed on the smooth solution of “bankruptcy” of these universities rather than the restriction of their entry similar to the case of banking sector. It should be also noted that the demarcation between the government and University Council in exercising power is ambiguous. Thus, both parties should maintain transparency in the decision‐making process.

Surprisingly, there are only a few studies that analyze Japan's tertiary education system in terms of the obstacles to international services transactions. This paper is one of the first attempt to examine the status of international transactions of tertiary education services and the restrictions on international education services transactions. It then considers the relevancy of domestic regulations in the education sector in comparison with banking and legal services sectors.

A similarity index of maximum residue level (MRL) regulations is introduced into a variable elasticity of substitution (VES) model to analyze the impacts of MRL regulation similarity on trade flows and social welfare. We specially consider the situation where the requirements set by the importing country are stricter than those of the exporting country. We find that the more similar the MRL regulation between trading partners is, the more substitutable their goods are, and for the consumers that have home preferences for domestic goods, they prefer the imported goods that are more similar to the domestic goods. Our results also show that if the developing countries upward harmonized their MRL standards to developed countries, their exports would expand.

Corporate environmental innovation (CEI) is a proactive type of response to increasing public scrutiny regarding firms’ environmental performance. While past studies have overwhelmingly focused on coercive mechanisms and assumed a closed national institutional field, less attention has been given to non-coercive and transnational inter-firm mimetic mechanisms. This paper aims to investigate the joint effect of coercive isomorphic mechanisms from domestic institutions and mimetic isomorphic mechanisms from foreign multinational enterprises (MNE) on CEI adoption in domestic firms.

The study’s empirical analysis is based on data from 1,967 firms from the 2010 Korean Innovation Survey, as well as other official statistics.

This study reports the following results: the direct effects of domestic institutions on CEI adoption in domestic firms vary according to institution type; foreign MNEs have a positive effect, whether using global or local CEI strategies; and the positive effect of foreign MNEs strengthens when the stringency of domestic environmental regulation increases.

This paper shows that CEI diffusion is driven by both coercive institutional pressures and inter-firm mimetic mechanisms, including their joint effects. Foreign MNEs act as boundary-spanners that activate a dual isomorphic mechanism, affecting social as well as economic development in host countries. Finally, evidence of interaction between domestic coercive and transnational mimetic mechanisms supports the authors’ contention that national institutional fields are increasingly interconnected.

This chapter examines the relationship between the gendering of domestic work – its construction as ‘women's work’ – and the treatment within migration regimes of people who do such work. Research on paid domestic workers to date has highlighted that there are many examples of migrant domestic workers being subject to more stringent, limiting or invasive visa regulations than other migrant workers (see, e.g. Constable, 2003; Mundlak & Shamir, 2008; Pratt, 2004; Yeoh & Huang, 1999a, 1999b). Additionally, domestic workers can be excluded from employment protections, such as those that ensure minimum wages or maximum working hours for other groups (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2001; Mundlak & Shamir, 2008; Pratt, 2004).

This paper aims to highlight some of the more important changes in US prudential regulation and their implications for the operation of large foreign banking organizations (FBOs) in the USA.

This paper begins with a summary of the regulatory status of FBOs prior to the crisis. It then discusses developments during the US financial crisis of 2007-2009 that motivated stricter US prudential regulation. The third part discusses some major post-crisis changes in prudential regulation. Finally, the paper considers two areas where important changes in US rules could not be applied in a straightforward manner to FBOs: non-bank financial subsidiaries and branches and agencies.

Most of the regulatory changes will enhance US financial stability, albeit in some cases at the cost of weakening FBOs consolidated risk management. However, a few of the regulatory changes have given foreign branches and agencies a significant competitive advantage in US money markets.

The paper provides an integrated analysis of both the why and the what of changes in US regulation with some discussion of the economic consequences.

Existing literature has expressed significant pessimism about the outcomes of foreign aid received by developing nations. Foreign aid can lead to negative outcomes by generating greater rent-seeking opportunities and creating aid dependence. While aid’s negative impact has been explored in the context of growth, political institutions, and economic institutions, the literature has not investigated the effect of aid on business climate of recipient nations. The purpose of this paper is to explore foreign aid’s impact on government regulations on the business climate in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) and Middle East and North American countries.

The authors consider a panel of 64 countries over six years. Since foreign aid is most likely to be endogenous, as identified in most studies, the identification strategy follows two methodologies – system GMM estimator, that creates its own instruments via moment generating conditions and instrumental variable approach that relies on an external instrument.

The authors find that aid worsens the business climate by increasing government restrictions. Foreign aid provides the recipient governments and the political elite resources to strengthen their power and reinforce predatory policies that are harmful for the business climate. The results further show that in the presence of long-lasting and sustainable democratic regimes, the negative impact of foreign aid on business climate mitigates to a certain extent.

While aid’s negative impact has been explored in the context of growth, political institutions, and economic institutions, the literature has not investigated the effect of aid on business climate of recipient nations. The authors explore the impact of foreign aid on government regulations on the business climate in SSA and Middle East and North American countries.

The applicable jurisdiction for insolvency proceedings, as provided by the Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 on insolvency proceedings, is the court of the Member State where the debtor's center of main interest (COMI) is located (Article 3(1)). The Regulation, however, does not provide a comprehensive definition of the COMI. This paper seeks to explore the meaning and developments behind the meaning of COMI as influenced by judicial reasoning and conflicts across Member States.

The study centres around the emerging jurisprudence and analyses case law across Member States in order to draw conclusions on the meaning of COMI and the emerging concepts. Extensive consideration of statutory interpretation, case reports and judicial comment is present in order to inform and develop conclusions.

In the absence of a definition it appears that the only relevant European guidance emerges from recital 13 and Article 3 (1). With little guidance in the Regulation, it has therefore been left to national courts to decide how the notion of COMI should be interpreted. Determining the COMI has emerged as one of the most controversial aspect and the principle point of legal conflict, with some highly debated cases within member states’ courts. On the basis of the case law, it is suggested that the interpretation of COMI is more flexible in UK and Italian courts. The approach adopted in continental Europe is referred to as the “centre of operations approach”, i.e. the debtor's COMI has to be determined by the place where he is “ascertainable by third parties”. The Anglo Saxon approach, on the other hand, is known as the “mind of management approach”, i.e. the debtor's COMI must be situated where decisions are actually made. The latter seems to enjoy a more practical and accessible approach.

Not only will the findings assist those seeking to understand the process and COMI requirements across member states but it will also assist those researchers seeking to understanding the comparative and conflict of law barriers to pan‐European insolvency proceedings.

We first discuss what fairness may mean in the context of the dispute settlement process, noting the crucial relation between fairness in dispute settlement and the functioning of the trading system as a whole. We explore this relation further through an analysis of three main groups of dispute settlement cases. These are cases that turn around the question of defining fair competition; cases that arise from the use of contingency measures; and cases that draw the boundaries between domestic regulatory measures and the trade-related norms and rules of the WTO. There follows an analysis of experience with compliance and with the use of countermeasures in various cases. Finally, taking together the rulings of the Dispute Settlement Body and the procedures for compliance and the use of countermeasures, we conclude that while the present dispute settlement process serves to protect the fairness of the trading system as a whole, there are some aspects of dispute settlement that remain problematic from the standpoint of fairness.

Discussions on the appropriate international regime to govern trade in biofuels are in their infancy. However, a large number of countries have set minimum blending targets for biofuels. Meeting these targets will require greater production and increased international trade in biofuels. Concerns exist as to whether unsustainable practices will be used to satisfy this growing demand. There is currently no multilateral agreement governing sustainable production and trade in biofuels. In the absence of an international framework, this paper will seek to demonstrate that concerned countries may unilaterally regulate imports of unsustainably produced biofuels in a way that is consistent with international trade rules. Unilateral regulation is to be understood as a stop gap until multilateral agreement can be reached on the interaction between trade in biofuels and issues of sustainability.

Although much of the debate about financial regulation tends to be focused at product, firm or market level, international trade agreements are of growing importance. This paper explains why these ‘macro’ rides have come into existence and examines some of the more important at a multilateral and at a regional level. Recent trade agreements have major consequences for trade in financial services, the rights of establishment and the way financial markets will develop. They provide a framework for nation states to affect both the pace and nature of linkages between domestic and international markets. As such this design of the rules for financial services is, in part at least, the design of markets by regulators. The paper examines some of the more important rides and comments on linkages to other areas of regulatory activity.