Two common views are that a country cannot develop without a strong manufacturing base and that trade restrictions are essential to facilitate the development of that strong manufacturing base and thus spur economic growth. We ask: <ul><li>Does a strong manufacturing share of GDP facilitate economic...</li></ul>

This paper uses a database covering the universe of French firms for the period 1990-2007 to provide a forensic account of the role of individual firms in generating aggregate fluctuations. We set up a simple multi-sector model of heterogeneous firms selling to multiple markets to motivate a...

In this paper, we first describe the characteristics of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that are the basis of the framework of the multilateral trading system. We then provide an overview of concepts of fairness in trade agreements. Thereafter, we offer a critique of the efficiency criterion...

This paper examines the determinants of the backward vertical linkages of Japanese foreign affiliates in manufacturing for the period 1994-2000, focusing on the local backward linkages, or local procurements in the host country. Our major findings are twofold. First, the unobserved...

This paper analyzes firm panel data to examine how export demand shocks associated with the 1997 Asian financial crisis affected Chinese exporters. We construct firm-specific exchange rate shocks based on the pre-crisis destinations of firms’ exports. Because the shocks were unanticipated and...

This paper focuses on issues of financial sector liberalization in Ethiopia, with reference in particular to the Ethiopian banking sector. We identify two factors that may constrain Ethiopia’s financial development. One is the closed nature of the Ethiopian financial sector in which there are...

I first discuss the Doha Round impasse and how this impasse has been created. I next discuss the trade interests of the industrialized and developing countries and thereafter the structure of WTO negotiations. I conclude with a discussion of the policy options for the industrialized and...

In analyzing the relationship between factor endowments and sectoral percapita output (the path of development), Schott (2003) showed empirically that the number of cones was neither one nor three but two, and that all countries fall into one of these two cones. This is a puzzle because it is...

Introduction

This paper is motivated by three observations about the link between international trade and international business cycle synchronization: (1) a large increase in trade in manufactures over the last 30 years, (2) a larger fraction of trade between core and periphery regions relative to core...