PAPERsJOF THE WORLD TRADE CONFERENCE 1985 HELD IN AMSTERDAM ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AMSTERDAM ON 4,5, AND 6 SEPTEMBER 1985 Between the covers of this book the reader will find the papers presented at the World Trade Conference 1985, held on 4,5 and 6 September 1985. This conference was organized by the World Trade Center Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam on the occasion of the opening of the World Trade Center Amsterdam. The aim was to bring together businessmen, academics and policy makers in order to study pro blems of international trade and finance from a variety of viewpoints, sc. of those who are engaged in the cut and thrust of trade and finance, those who analyse it without being themselves involved, and those who regulate it. Hopefully this resulted in some useful cross­ fertilisation. The conference covered not only the whole globe, including the Japanese threat, the problems of the dollar, East-West trade, the Pacific Basin, barter trade etcetera, but also spanned a long historical period. The present and the future were examined, but also the past. The articles provide a round-up of what's going on in the field of international trade and finance. They cover a wide field, not remaining within the traditional boundaries of international economics. At the same time, the organizers strove to avoid shallowness.