why they also serve to distort trade and can therefore be used for protectionist purposes, and why they have a powerful … natural impetus towards strengthening the spaghetti bowl effect in international trade. Secondly, we then examine the impact …

, with a particular interest in examining the role of international trade in impacting upon productivity levels … productivity across the firms/sectors, and of the role of trade liberalization. Our results suggest that changes in firm level …

way, derive a set of diagnostic statistics from readily available trade and trade barriers databases and use them to … (facilitating trade by dealing with trade-impeding factors operating behind the frontier); all in a way designed to make …