It has been long recognized that in the presence of market power, positive import tariffs can be optimal. The rationale is that higher tariffs reduce import demand, which in the presence of inelastic export supply from the rest of the world allows the importing country to increase its terms of...

Motivated by the standard Heckscher-Ohlin theory, we investigate whether comparative advantage affects the duration of exports from least developed countries (LDCs). To do so, we first calculate each exported product’s distance from the country’s comparative advantage. Then we estimate a...

The exchange rate plays an important role in a country’s trade performance. Whether determined by exogenous shocks or by policy, the relative valuations of currencies and their volatility often have important repercussions on international trade, the balance of payments and overall economic...

Over the last three decades, global supply chains (GSCs) have increasingly gained importance in linking developing countries to international markets. Today a substantial share of the production processes of GSCs is taking place in developing countries. For developing countries and their...

This paper examines the impact of market access conditions as a determinant of exports from sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis focuses on tariffs and considers both direct market access (the tariffs faced by exports from sub-Saharan Africa) and relative market access conditions (the preferential...

In the past 20 years, tariffs imposed on international trade have been decreasing both in virtue of multilateral agreements under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and of the proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) at the regional and bilateral level. The...

One of the consequences of the proliferation of preferential trade agreements is that an increasing share of international trade is not subject to the most favoured nation (MFN) tariff, but enters markets through preferential access. Preferential access affects trade because, by providing some...

In terms of economic development, it makes a difference whether export increases at the extensive (new trade flows) or intensive margin (traditional, well-established trade flows). Similarly, a decline in international trade may affect new flows relatively more than traditional ones. A more...

Agriculture plays a fundamental role in the development prospects of many developing countries, especially those at the lower end of the development process for which export earnings are largely related to the export performance of their agricultural sector. Although the last few decades have...

Insights from a novel Trade-and-Employment theoretical framework are used to assess the relationship between openness to trade and unemployment. The impact of trade on unemployment depends on the covariance between comparative advantage and sector level labour market frictions. If the covariance...