International Business and Economics; Law and Policy

The First Edition of this text was written at a time when the structures of international relations were undergoing a profound transformation, with the collapse of Soviet-style communism just behind us and the creation of NAFTA and the WTO just ahead. The Second Edition came at a time when NAFTA and the WTO had taken shape but not yet acquired a history. Now, eight years later, both of those structures can be studied in detail and their ramifications for the world economy can be better appreciated. In the interim, the Internet has established itself as a presence in innumerable firms and households, and the dot com bubble has come and gone. The services-oriented information economy seems no longer to be emerging, but rather a fundamental aspect of contemporary business. The Third Edition of International Business and Economics reflects all these changes. The authors have included much more trade law, many more materials on the international aspects of intellectual property, and a raft of other new cases reflecting the ongoing evolution of the world economy. This edition continues to prompt readers to consider the effects of particular rules by offering various models and methodologies that suggest a variety of answers to these questions. As in the previous edition, the authors include large portions of materials on taxation. The tax materials are intended for teachers who are not tax specialists, and for students who may not have had any tax courses during their legal education. Because the tax materials are in discrete sections, they may be easily omitted by professors who wish to focus on other aspects of international business. The Third Edition incorporates new U.S. case law, a response to the growing significance of international business in the economy, expands its treatment of international intellectual property, discusses new international regimes such as the OECD antibribery convention and the Financial Action Task Force, and greatly expands its coverage of the emerging jurisprudence of NAFTA and the WTO. The increased coverage of these issues makes the book a suitable text for a trade course as well as one devoted more broadly to international business.