In models of economic geography, plant-level scale economies and trade costs create incentives for spatial agglomeration of production into a manufacturing core and agricultural periphery, creating regional income differentials. We examine tax competition between national governments to...

This paper examines the welfare implications of trade reforms in the presence of a government budget constraint. There is consensus about gains from opening up to trade. The less investigated question is, whether a coordinated tax reform, where the tariff revenue cuts are compensated with...

This paper uses a model of horizontal multinational enterprises to explore the relationship between transportation costs and trade policy cooperation. Tariffs have the effect of attracting foreign direct investment to the benefit of consumers in the host country. As transport costs fall, the...

The paper sketches the basic patterns and facts about service trade, foreign direct investment and regulation in the EU. We conclude that the last decade trade in services has increased substantially, in particular in business services. This is also the case for foreign direct investment (in...

The current consensus on indirect tax reform in developing countries favors a reduction in trade taxes with an increase in VAT to raise revenue. The theoretical results on selective reform that underlie this consensus are, however, derived from partial models that ignore the existence of an...

Multinational firms are traditionally considered as firms possessing some technological lead and exploiting this proprietary advantage in international markets, but a growing literature has been arguing that multinational firms set up foreign subsidiaries not only as a means to exploit their own...

Evidence on productivity spillovers from FDI to domestic firms is ambiguous. Incorrect estimation procedures may be one of the sources for the contradictory results obtained in empirical studies on this subject. We observe that inadequacy of the estimation procedures leads to a severe...

The current slump in world coffee prices is mainly due to a structural oversupply. Instead of introducing price measures, measures aimed at reducing this excess supply would be a more efficient method of increasing coffee producers'incomes.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into developing countries have been increasing dramatically over the past decade. At the same time, there has been widespread concern that lax environmental standards are in part responsible for this surge. This paper revisits the pollution haven hypothesis...

The environmental impact of Foreign Direct Investment is still to be explored totally. It is often argued that investment may come to a region or country where environment protection norms are less strict. Investors may be induced to outsource their pollution-intensive production where the...