WTO's rule on process and production methods, which prohibits countries from distinguishing between goods on the basis of the way they have been produced, is a case in point.

ECONOMIST: Letters

It is the cheap cloth, the cheap cotton and rayon fabric, boots, motorcars, and so on that are the typical achievements of capitalist production, and not as a rule improvements that would mean much to the rich man.

FORBES: What Would Louis XIV Have Paid for a Sonicare?

Understandably, considering research and development and added production costs, the National Automobile Dealers Association is against the rule as it currently stands.

FORBES: What Comes First, The Car Or The Buyer?

While greater use of natural gas should be supportive for prices, Goldman said the influence of this new rule will be muted in 2012 because the strong expected growth in shale gas production.

FORBES: 2012 Outlook: Natural Gas Prices Likely To Remain Under Pressure, For Now

Mr Mitarai told The Economist recently that he has a rough cut-off rule for allocating investment: anything for which labour comprises more than 5% of production costs can be done in China or some other low-wage country.

ECONOMIST: Manufacturing in Japan

And Canada is still fighting for an exemption from a rule inserted into the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act that bars the American government from buying fuels whose production causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than conventional petroleum sources, as producing oil from tar sands does.

ECONOMIST: Stephen Harper looks to Washington, not Alberta