We demonstrate that the Varian (1980) model of sales has a unique Nash equilibrium when firms incur costly advertising to compete for informed consumers. The equilibrium is symmetric. In particular, with costly advertising, the asymmetric equilibria highlighted by Baye et al. (1992) do not arise.

This paper analyses the impact on China's economy from its accession to the WTO. Using a two-region Chinese CGE model, the analysis shows the gains China would derive from a more efficient allocation of resources and from the elimination of MFA quota. It also indicates that the gains are...

Intervention to support export initiatives is commonplace in both industrialised and developing countries. Historically this has been underpinned by a belief that exporting is good for growth. But the evidence base underpinning this belief has been macroeconomic, yet intervention has generally...

Depuis quinze ans, les echanges dans les secteurs du textile et de l'habillement ont montre une forte propension à se developper entre pays proches, ceci s'expliquant en partie par la multiplication des accords regionaux (Caribbean Bassin Initiative, ALENA, Accords d'association conclus par...

Cet article analyse les echanges entre l’Union europeenne et les dix pays candidats, sous plusieurs angles: evolution des specialisations, effets de la segmentation internationale des processus productifs, nature des echanges et positionnement des Peco sur l’echelle de qualite. Il montre que...

Using firm-level data across developing countries, this paper estimates the effect of credit constraints on machinery and equipment imports (i.e. capital imports). We infer credit constraints from survey questions on the availability and cost of finance instead of relying on firms’ financial...

Combining Balassa–Samuelson effects with strategic complementarities between prices of tradables and non-tradables yields a novel determinant of tradables’ prices. A larger productivity difference between tradables and non-tradables raises the non-tradables’ price. With strategic...

This paper assesses the global economic implications of the proposed strict documentation requirements on traded shipments of potentially genetically modified (GM) commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Using a spatial equilibrium model with 80 maize and 53 soybean trading...

This article aims at analyzing the problem of real exchange rate appreciation and competitiveness in the EU's ultra-peripheral regions by the case study of La Reunion Island. After describing economic characteristics of this French overseas department, such as the large deficit of the trade...

Over the past two decades, tourism exports have been a major driver of economic growth in many emerging and developing countries. Yet, increased tourism revenues do not automatically translate into structural transformation and broad-based economic development. Drawing on cross-sectional data,...