In this paper, we show that strategic complementarities--such as firm-specific factors or quasi-kinked demand--have crucial implications for the design of monetary policy and for the welfare costs of output and inflation variability. Recent research has mainly used log-linear approximations to...

This Paper takes a broader look at how vertical linkages can trigger the spatial agglomeration of economic activity in a ‘new economic geography’ (NEG) set-up. First, it formally establishes the key positive features of a wide class of vertical-linkage models without resorting to numerical...

We review a recent body of theoretical work that aims to put numbers on the consequences of globalization. A unifying theme of our survey is methodological. We rely on gravity models and demonstrate how they can be used for counterfactual analysis. We highlight how various economic...

Despite the well known gains from trade, trade liberalization is one of the most politically contentious actions that a government can undertake. We propose and formalize a new explanation of this unpopularity. The explanation is based on uncertainty and is complementary to the usual...

In this paper we provide a quantitative examination of initiatives for post-Uruguay Round liberalization in ‘traditional’ GATT/WTO market access areas, as a counterpoint to the recent policy literature on newer issues such as the environment, competition policy, and labour standards. We...

We assess some likely consequences of commercial policy in an intertemporal CGE model of an imperfectly competitive, small open economy. Specifically, we combine an overlapping generations model of aggregate savings with capital accumulation by forward-looking investors and production under...

We explore the impact of multilateral liberalization, with emphasis on distributional effects across countries. We first develop a realistic ‘baseline’ that takes into account events such as the entry of China into the WTO and the enlargement of the EU, allowing us to focus on those effects...

Standard theory predicts that exchange rate changes have merely temporary real effects. Yet, if the higher profits that a devaluation ensures are used to improve non-price competitiveness, longer-run effects are possible. The paper looks at the experience of Germany, Spain, France and Italy...

We develop a model where trade liberalization leads to skill-biased technological change, which in turn raises the relative return to skilled labour. As firms get access to a larger market, they have incentives to choose a more skill-intensive technology because a lowering of variable costs...