The Customs Union Issue
Jacob Viner and Edited by Paul Oslington
Reviews and Awards
"Due to the proliferation of preferential trading arrangements, the questions Viner addresses and some of his insights are more important and relevant today...Jacob Viner's classic work, The Customs Union Issue, edited and with an introduction by Paul Oslington, has a special significance.The book is accessible to a broad range of readers, including trade students, trade economists, policy-makers and business people. The book will benefit anyone who is interested in non-discriminatory free trade in general and in free trade agreements in particular." - Chunlai Chen, Economic Record
"Jacob Viner's seminal work on customs unions drew attention to the key fact that preferential free trade agreements are different from, and generally inferior to, non-discriminatory free trade. While the issues we confront today over the downside of preferential trade agreements have shifted and multiplied, Viner's work remains as a warning that policymakers cannot afford to ignore." - Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor (Economics, Law and International Affairs), Columbia University; author of Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade