This paper contributes to analysis of the extent to which multilateral trading agreements reached under GATT can liberalize the world economy. Its main conclusion is that free trade is not sustainable if production is fixed exogenously and utility is non-transferable. If production is fixed and...

This paper investigates the effects of competing communication networks on trade patterns in a Chamberlinian-Ricardian model of monopolistically competitive firms with a continuum of industries that require communication services in production. We conclude that intraindustry trade between...

Can growth of a trading partner harm a country? This paper seeks to answer this question through the use of an eclectic trade model which is similar in flavour to Markusen (1986). This paper makes two contributions. First, it develops a simple and tractable model of international trade based on...

The impact of international trade on a firm’s degree of specialization and income distribution is studied in a general equilibrium framework in which firms engage in oligopolistic competition. International trade increases a firm’s degree of specialization, but the number of goods a country...

This study offers an empirical microlevel analysis of the pass-through effects of the East African Community Common External Tariff on consumer prices in Kenya. Using data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Surveys conducted in 2005 and 2015, this research employs a fixed-effects model...

We apply a simple method to study the relative quality of Chinese versus European products exported in the clothing sector after the end of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement. Based on the model of Foster et al., (2008), we interpret the change in relative export prices and quantities sold in narrowly...

When the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) formally adopted the principle of “open regionalism” (OR) in its trade liberalization in 1991, many were optimistic that this approach suggested the bloc as a stepping stone toward global free trade. This optimistic view was reinforced by the...

Public-sector purchases from private firms account for over 10 percent of GDP in most developed countries, and they are typically biased in favour of domestic suppliers. This paper explores the impact of discriminatory public procurement on the location of industries. Our main theoretical...

This paper proposes a decomposition of the likely effects of a “deep” regional integration arrangement for a small country. It is based on a steady-state general equilibrium model which allows to capture the long-term effects of a variety of factors, including the reduction of non-tariff...

Scale is universally acknowledged as important in the determination of national comparative advantage. Paradoxically, attempts to associate empiri - cal measures of scale economies and international trade volume have proved largely inconclusive, and often have been found to sport the “wrong”...