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Ullyses effect
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The role played by a trade agreement such as the GATT/WTO or a PTA in constraining participating governments from acceding to demands of domestic interests, just as Ullyses had his crew lash his hands to the mast of his ship to help him resist temptation. Mentioned by Anderson (2001).
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Uncertainty
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Failure to know anything relevant for an economic decision, such as future variables, details of a technology, or sales. In models, uncertainty usually appears as a random variable and associated probability density.
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Uncovered interest arbitrage
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The act of borrowing one currency and lending another without using the forward market to protect against change in the exchange rate. Because of the risk of exchange-rate change, this can result in a loss and is therefore not truly a form of arbitrage. Sometimes called the carry trade.
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Uncovered interest parity
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Equality of expected returns on otherwise comparable financial assets denominated in two currencies, without cover against exchange risk. Uncovered interest parity requires approximately that i = i* + a, where i and i* are the domestic and foreign interest rates and a the expected annualized percentage appreciation of foreign currency.
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Uncoupling
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In the context of international trade, this seems to be a synonym for, or more extreme version of, decoupling. It is applied not only to the reversal of globalization, but also to the reduced trade between China and the US after the Trump tariffs and between the EU and UK after Brexit.
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UNCTAD Meetings
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The intergovernmental meetings from which UNCTAD gets its name, which occur every four years and began in 1964.
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Under-invoicing
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The provision of an invoice that states price as less than is actually being paid. This might be done on an import in order to reduce the amount that will be collected by an ad valorem tariff. Or it might be done on an export to reduce apparent profit and thus taxes.
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Underemployment
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The employment of workers for fewer hours or in less desirable jobs than they would prefer and are qualified for.
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Unemployed
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Willing and able to work, looking for work, and without a job.
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Unequal exchange
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Derogatory term for trade in which the labor used to produce a country's exports is more than the labor used to produce its imports, as in the exchange between low-wage developing countries and high-wage developed countries.
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Unequal treaty
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1. Any of a series of treaties between countries of Europe and weaker nations in East Asia, beginning with the Treaty of Nanjing. They "imposed harsh conditions on the target nations, sometimes seizing territory, allowing [Europeans] special rights, ... and infringing on the targets' sovereignty."
[Source]
2. China's accession protocol to enter the WTO has sometimes been called an unequal treaty, recalling these earlier ones, on the grounds that it had harsh provisions that did not apply to other WTO members.
[Source]
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Unfair trade
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1. Under the GATT this refers only to exports that are subsidized or dumped.
2. Under U.S. law, this also includes various actions that interfere with U.S. exports. See Section 301 and Super 301.
3. Also used to refer to almost any trade that the speaker objects to, sometimes including that based on low wages or weak regulations. See fair price.
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Unfavorable balance of trade
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An excess of imports over exports, so that the balance of trade is negative. This view, that a negative trade balance is bad for the country, harks back to mercantilist views, and ignores that the country is currently benefiting from consuming more than it produces.
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UNIDO Data Portal
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A collection of statistical databases maintained by UNIDO including data on industrial growth, business structure, and industrial performance by country.
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Unilateral aid
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Aid given by one country to another, as opposed to multilateral aid in which countries contribute to an international organization that in turn gives aid to deserving countries.
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Union for the Mediterranean
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"The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental institution bringing together 43 countries to promote dialogue and cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region."
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UnionPay
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"UnionPay is the major provider of credit and debit cards for customers in China." It is "now the world's largest by transaction volume and is accepted in 183 countries."
[Source]
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Unit isocost line
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An isocost line along which cost is equal to one unit of the numeraire, such as one dollar.
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Unit isoquant
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The isoquant for a quantity equal to one unit of a good. The unit isoquant is useful for relating the price of a good to the prices of factors employed in its production.
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Unit labor cost
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The cost of labor per unit of real output.
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Unit of account
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A basic function of money, providing a unit of measurement for defining, recording, and comparing value. That is, one dollar signifies not only a one-dollar bill, but also a dollar's worth of money in other forms (deposits), of wealth in other forms than money, and of any good or service with a market value.
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Unit root
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A property of a linear stochastic process that, if present, means that the process is non-stationary, meaning that the distribution of the values that it may take on will change over time.
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Unit simplex
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A set in Euclidean space of values that sum to one: S={x∈ℜn|Σixi=1}. Sometimes used as the numeraire in real models that seek to avoid selecting a single good for that purpose.
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Unit-value isoquant
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The isoquant for a quantity of a good worth one unit of value. This is meaningful only if the nominal price of the good is given, for some specified currency or numeraire. Unit-value isoquants are central to the Lerner diagram for analyzing the H-O Model.
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Unitas
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Name for an international accounting unit briefly considered as part of the White Plan, "perhaps in order to make it marketable to the Congress." Unlike the bancor proposed by Keynes, this would only have been an "accounting unit in which to denominate the Stabilization Fund's assets and liabilities."
[Source]
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United Nations
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1. An organization of countries established in 1945 with 51 members, it had expanded to 193 countries as of February 2025. Its purpose is "to preserve peace through international cooperation and collective security."
2. Prior to 1945, "United Nations" was the term for the allied countries fighting in opposition to Germany, Japan, and Italy.
[Source]
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United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations
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Begun November 1975, this "served as a focal point for all matters related to transnational corporations." After a name change in 1992, it ceased to exist in July 1993 when its activities were integrate into another program.
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United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
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UNCITRAL is a legal body created in 1966 to formulate and harmonize national rules on international commercial transactions. It currently (as of February 2025) includes 65 elected UN member states, representative of various geographic regions and economic and legal systems. It differs from the WTO in its more technical focus and its broad representation.
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United Nations Development Programme
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The "development network" of the United Nations, operating in "about 170 countries" (as of February 2025) "advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life."
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United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference
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Official name of the 1944 meeting at Bretton Woods
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United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
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"UNRRA was created at a 44-nation conference at the White House on November 9, 1943 ... to provide economic assistance to European nations after World War II and to repatriate and assist the refugees." It continued until it ran out of funds in 1947, when its tasks were assumed by the IRO.
[Source]
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United States Customary System
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The system of weights and measures used by the United States, derived from the but not identical to the British Imperial System and very different from the metric system and its SI extension used by most of the world. Examples include: yard versus meter; ounce versus gram; and acre versus hectare.
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United States Customs Service
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The agency of the U.S. government that monitors the border to prevent illegal goods from crossing it and to collect tariffs -- customs duties -- on legal goods that are subject to them. Now a part of United States Customs and Border Protection.
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United States Mexico Canada Agreement
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The renegotiated version of the NAFTA, agreed by the three countries in 2018, ratified by the US Congress and then signed by President Trump January 29, 2020, and finally ratified by Canada March 13, 2020. It entered into force July 1, 2020.
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United States Trade Representative
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The cabinet-level official of the U.S. government "responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international trade,
commodity, and direct investment policy, and leading or directing negotiations with other countries on such matters."
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Unity
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One. For example, "an elasticity greater than unity" means an elasticity (defined so as to be a positive number) greater than 1.00.
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Universal Copyright Convention
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One of two international copyright conventions (the other is the Berne Convention), the UCC standardizes how an author may claim copyright so as to be recognized under national laws.
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Universal Debt Rollover Option with a Penalty
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UDROP is a proposal by Buiter and Sibert (1999) "that all foreign-currency debt should have attached to it an option, exercisable at the discretion of the borrower, to roll the liability over (for three to six months, say) at a penalty rate."
[Source]
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Universality
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Said to be an "unwritten rule" of the WTO, this means having a single set of global rules that apply to all member countries. While this applied to the WTO as it was created, this has eluded many subsequent negotiations which have achieved only plurilateral agreements.
[Source]
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Universitas21
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A collaboration of universities around the world (29 in 19 countries as of February 2025) that shares knowledge and experience. It also produces and publishes annual rankings of countries by the quality of their national higher education systems.
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Unjustified geo-blocking
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"This is EU-speak for any measure introduced by a member state that undermines online shopping and cross-border sales in the EU." Specifically: "Discrimination between EU customers to segment markets along national borders and to increase profits to the detriment of foreign customers."
[Source]
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UNO International Trade Strategy
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"A consultancy formed by ex-interns from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs program in Geneva that is linked to an international network of consultancies working on trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, and trade strategies."
[Source]
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Unreliable entity list
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"A list-based countersanction that allows the Chinese government to impose punitive measures against foreign entities, including companies, organizations, or individuals" created September 9, 2020, by MOFCOM after being proposed in May, 2019.
[Source]
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Unrequited transfer
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Same as transfer payment. "Unrequited" means "not in return for anything," but that is implicit in "transfer," at least in the context of international payments.
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Unskilled labor
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Labor with a low level of skill or human capital. Identified empirically as labor earning a low wage, with a low level of education, or in an occupational category associated with these; sometimes crudely proxied as production workers.
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Unstable
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Not stable, by either of its definitions. Unstable equilibrium arises when there are multiple equilibria, as in the case of inelastic offer curves that intersect three times instead of once. The middle equilibrium is unstable.
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Upstream
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In a supply chain, the producers that provide inputs to a production process, inputs to those inputs, and so forth. Contrasts with downstream.
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Upstream subsidization
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Export of a good one of whose inputs has been subsidized.
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Uridashi bond
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A bond sold to Japanese retail buyers but denominated in a foreign currency.
[Source]
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US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue
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A meeting of the heads of state of the United States and China that was initiated by Presidents Obama and Hu in April 2009 and has occurred annually, alternating between China and the US.
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U.S. China Working Group
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Formed by NBR in 2005, this "hosts monthly briefings to hear from key business, academic, and political leaders about U.S.-China issues ranging from trade and maritime security to energy cooperation."
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US-Japan NTT Agreement
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An agreement from January 1, 1981, under which "Japan agreed to open NTT's procurement of telecommunications equipment to foreign bidders on an MFN basis." It was renewed and revised through 1999.
[Source]
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US-Japan Partnership on Trade
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Announced November 17. 2021, this "initiative reaffirms the shared commitment to strengthen this alliance through regular engagement on trade-related matters of importance to both countries." It began a series of talks on a variety of trade issues, though these do not include tariffs or other trade barriers.
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US-Japan Supercomputer Agreement
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Either of two agreements, in 1987 and 1990, intended "to improve the transparency of the [Japanese] procurement process for supercomputers and ensure non-discriminatory treatment of foreign suppliers."
[Source]
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US-Japan Trade Agreement
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An agreement signed in October 2019, along with the US-Japan Digital Trade Agreement. This "provides for limited tariff reductions and quota expansions to improve market access." The two were intended by the Trump and Abe administrations to be "stage one" of a broader trade agreement that did not happen.
[Source]
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US-Offset Act
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The short title of the WTO case against the Byrd Amendment. The full title: United States -- Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000.
[Source]
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U.S. News and World Report
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A weekly begun in 1933 as a newspaper, United States News, it became a magazine in 1940 and U.S. News and World Report in 1948. In 1995 it launched its website, usnews.com, and ceased print publication in 2010. It is known both for its reporting of news and for its rankings, including of countries.
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U.S.-E.U. Trade and Technology Council
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Identified as "TTC," this was set up in June 2021 with the "overall objective ... to promote U.S. and EU competitiveness and prosperity and the spread of democratic, market-oriented values." The aim is to promote trade, investment, and innovation especially in new technologies.
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Utility
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The level of well-being that a consumer achieves through their choices of consumption and other economic activities.
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Utility function
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A function that specifies the utility of a consumer for all combinations of goods consumed (and sometimes with other considerations). Represents both their welfare and their preferences.
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Utility settlement coin
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A token created in 2019 (after 4 year preparation) by 14 international financial firms and using blockchain technology, this is intended to facilitate international financial transactions including international trade by making both the transfer of money and record keeping about it more efficient.
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Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
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Signed into law by US President Biden December 23, 2021, this "establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of [anything] wholly or in part [from]" the Xinjiang region of China "is prohibited by Section 307."
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