The value of world exports of commercial services rose by 11% in 2011 to $4,170 billion, exceeding pre-crisis levels of $3,850 billion in 2008. Half of world exports of commercial services in 2011 consisted of travel receipts and other business services. Asia-Pacific as a region increased its...

Can Africa's current state of under-development be partially attributed to the large trade in slaves that occurred during the Atlantic, Saharan, Red Sea and Indian Ocean slave trades? To answer this question, I combine shipping data with historical records that report slave ethnicities and...

This study provides a quantitative estimate of the potential economic consequences of multilateral trade reform under the WTO for Africa using a framework that explicitly incorporates issues of concern to the region, such as preference erosion, loss of tariff revenue, and trade facilitation. It...

The paper provides empirical estimates for import and revenue implications that would follow implementation of the planned customs union between the East African Community member states Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. We use 2002 trade and trade policy data for the three countries to simulate the...

Unfulfilled expectations about economic growth in Brazil has led many observers to question the ability of the new, open trade regime to put the economy back on an path of sustainable growth. Whereas the country’s growth record has been really poor, the evidence suggests that the underlying...