Regional integration of Pacific Island countries (PICs) with Australia, New Zealand, and emerging Asia has increased over the last two decades. PICs have become more exposed to the region's business cycles, and spillovers from regional economies are more important for PICs than from advanced...

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates export sensitivity to exchange rates in the context of intra-industry trade (IIT). It is assumed that more IIT implies a smaller elasticity of substitution among differentiated products and vice versa. The model presented suggests the gap in...

While a carbon tax is widely acknowledged as an efficient policy to mitigate climate change, adoption has lagged. Part of the challenge resides in the distributional implications of a carbon tax and a belief that it tends to be regressive. Even when not regressive, poor households could be hurt...

Large reductions in global emissions are needed for the world to be on track to meet global temperature goals. Asia-Pacific countries have a critical role in emissions reduction given their large and rising share in global emissions. This paper discusses the main opportunities and behavioral...

This paper studies the potential for the export sector to play a more important role in promoting growth in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (CAPDR) through deeper intra-regional and global trade integration. CAPDR countries have enacted many free trade agreements and other...

Intro -- Contents -- I. GLOBALIZATION OF PRODUCTION AND FINANCIAL INTEGRATION IN ASIA -- II. ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS AND MARKETS TO FOSTER FINANCIAL INTEGRATION AND ECONOMIC STABILITY12 A. Introduction -- APPENDIX II. 1. KEY FINANCIAL MARKET INDICATORS -- APPENDIX II. 2. REGULATIONS ON CROSS-...

This paper examines the role of Japan against that of China in the exchange rate regime in East Asia in light of growing interest in forming a currency union in the region. The analysis suggests that currency unions with China tend to generate higher average welfare gains for East Asian...

We estimate the macroeconomic effects of import tariffs and trade policy uncertainty in the United States, combining theory-consistent and narrative sign restrictions in Bayesian SVARs. We find mostly adverse consequences of protectionism, in aggregate and across sectors and regions. Tariff...

This paper examines the mechanisms through which output volatility is related to trade openness using an industry-level panel dataset of manufacturing production and trade. The main results are threefold. First, sectors more open to international trade are more volatile. Second, trade is...