This paper describes broad regional and temporal trends in the evolution of international trade and international … factor flows between 1700 and 1870, including key differences in trade costs across space and time. We find trade links in … to these differences, the chapter lays out theoretical reasons for links between trade and economic growth and examines …

This study explores the interaction between trade and geography in shaping the Islamic economic doctrine. We build a … model where an unequal distribution of land quality in presence of trade opportunities conferred differential gains from … trade across regions, fostering predatory behavior by groups residing in the poorly endowed territories. We show that in …

The United States produced about 80 percent of the world's cotton in the decades prior to the Civil War. How much … monopoly power did the United States possess in the world cotton market and what would have been the effect of an optimal … export tax? This paper estimates the elasticity of foreign demand for U.S. cotton exports and uses the elasticity in a simple …

This survey reviews the broad changes in U.S. trade policy over the course of the nation's history. Import tariffs have … been the main instrument of trade policy and have had three main purposes: to raise revenue for the government, to restrict … imports and protect domestic producers from foreign competition, and to reach reciprocity agreements that reduce trade …

We document the outbreak of a trade war after the U.S. adopted the Smoot-Hawley tariff in June 1930. U.S. trade … retaliate by increasing their tariffs on imports from the United States. Using a new quarterly dataset on bilateral trade for 99 … possible mechanism whereby the U.S. was targeted despite countries' MFN obligations. The retaliators' welfare gains from trade …