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Purpose − The principal aim of this chapter is to present a comprehensive and critical review of Murray Kemp's contributions to the discipline of international trade and welfare economics.

Methodology/Approach − This chapter employs the critical literature review approach, including archival analysis and face-to-face interviews.

Findings − It is shown that Kemp has been a key player in the modernization of trade theory. In particular, he has extended the theorems of gains from trade in many different directions and under the most general conditions.

Practical implications − In surveying Kemp's research contributions this chapter provides a useful overview of the development of the normative theory of trade. It also examines a number of methodological issues that may prove to be useful to economic theorists.

Purpose − Instances of refusal to trade stand in contrast to the theorems on the gains from trade. Two paradigms, second-best and political economy, have been used to explain refusal to trade. Murray Kemp (1962) provided a foundation for the political economy paradigm when he noted that, in the absence of lump-sum redistribution, the theorems on the gains from trade are “true but irrelevant”. This chapter takes Murray Kemp's observation as a point of departure for a consideration of the relation between individual and group gains from trade. Paradigms in explaining refusal to trade are distinguished.

Methodology/Approach − This chapter examines ideas underlying explanations for refusal to participate in international trade.

Findings − Two different approaches are identified in modeling and explaining why the gains from trade are compromised by refusal of governments to allow free trade. The second-best approach suggests a justification for refusal to trade while the political economy approach with public-choice foundations proposes an explanation.

Practical implications − Ideology expressed in how governments are viewed can influence economic analysis.

This edited volume has its genesis in a conference entitled New Paradigms in Economics of Welfare and Trade under Globalisation and Regionalisation. Held at the Coogee campus of the Australian School of Taxation (Atax), University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) from 8th to 10th August 2006, this conference brought together economic theorists from around the globe to celebrate Murray Kemp's 80th birthday. Conference participants and presenters included a former teacher, colleagues, co-authors, senior academics and many former students of Murray. After a two-year gestation period, the volume has finally been published. Half of the chapters in this book are derived from papers presented at the conference. The remaining half of the book consists of invited papers completed after the conference. All chapters in this volume were subjected to a formal reviewing and revision process.

Purpose – The chapter examines whether the well-known Kemp–Wan proposition about customs unions is valid for free trade associations (FTAs).

Methodology/approach – The chapter employs the assumption of perfect competition but with considerable generality.

Findings – It is shown that the Kemp–Wan proposition is valid for any form of FTA. It is also shown that sense can be made of the common conjecture that a customs union is more beneficial to the world economy than a comparable but distinct FTA.

Originality/value – The findings are of significance in view of the recent tendency of governments to prefer FTAs to customs unions.

Clem Tisdell is one of Australia’s pre‐eminent economists who has made decisive contributions in several areas of economics, perhaps most notably development economics, environmental economics and natural resource economics. Tisdell is presently Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and is also a long‐standing member of the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Social Economics. This interview, which falls in the tradition of Klamer, was recorded in his Brisbane home in November 1995 and seeks to explore Tisdell’s extraordinary career, the development of his thinking about economics in general and his prodigious research output in particular. Tisdell answered the questions in his customary quietly‐spoken and good‐humoured manner.

Just a few years ago, active management of foreign exchange risks was confined to a relatively small number of multinational firms. With saturation of domestic markets, though, many firms have turned their attention to product markets abroad. Some have gone abroad in search of lower production costs. Second, since 1973, foreign exchange rates have fluctuated widely, oftentimes wildly. Finally, recent financial accounting reporting requirements have made corporate gains and losses due to foreign exchange transactions much more visible. All of these factors have served to magnify the importance of managing foreign exchange risks.

This paper attempts to develop a simple, static model of tax administration that is capable of explaining the widespread collusive petty tax administration corruption observed in developing countries.

This paper utilizes a positivist research framework and adopts a theoretical method of analysis, although secondary data will also be mentioned to support theoretical arguments whenever it is appropriate to do so.

A high rate of collusive tax corruption is inevitable in developing countries.

The model is static and needs to be extended into a dynamic model.

Traditional enforcement tools such as higher audits or a higher penalty regime against tax evasion do not work. Tax simplification can lessen the incidence of tax corruption.

Fighting tax corruption requires significant changes in the attitudes of taxpayers and tax auditors.

This paper combines the literature on Kantian economics and tax compliance in an innovative fashion.