We analyze the potential effects of ongoing trade reforms: Ecuador signing an FTA with the US, and Slovenia joining the EU. We construct a static Applied General Equilibrium Model and perform numerical experiments eliminating all import tariffs. Based on Input-Output tables, we construct Social...

The ASEAN+3 proposal has attracted attention in Asia and the world. We argue that a free trade agreement (FTA) for ASEAN+3 is beneficial to all member countries due to three factors: (i) existing and expected vertical foreign direct investment linkage between Japan/Korea and ASEAN member...

The Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA) which was signed in December 1998 between India and Sri Lanka has shown a promising start to trade liberalisation among SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries. This paper provides a quantitative assessment of the likely...

The potential benefit of several regional integration initiatives undertook by African countries in recent years is a contentious issue that is continuously being debated. This article assesses the impact of a free trade agreement between member countries of the Southern African Development...

The aim of this paper is to analyse how a process of economic integration between two adjacent countries with different transport costs (different levels of development) affects firms’ decisions on location and prices. Considering the situation where one firm is located in each country and...

This paper investigates the linkages between economic integration and horizontal Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) location. In a three-country partial equilibrium model with differentiated Cournot and Bertrand competition, we incorporate the two main FDI modes: Greenfield Investment (G.I.) and...

Using a symmetric multi-country model that allows for the possibility of stagnation, this paper analyzes the effects of openness on effective demand. A regime shift from autarky to free trade boosts the value of consumption utility by expanding the range of consumption goods available to people...

In this paper, we investigate how market integration affects firms’ technology choices. Although market integration encourages cost-reducing research and development (R&D) investments in many cases, it may discourage it in two cases: (1) when market sizes are quite different and the effects of...

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) usually result in increased trade amongst member countries and lower prices within the PTA. Thus the markets are assumed to be “more competitive” because lower prices are taken to imply “decreased market power” due to a reduction in price-cost...

This paper provides a new model of firm’s location choices. It integrates a Ricardian model of comparative advantage with the location effects deriving from trade costs, increasing returns to scale, product dif ferentiation, and monopolistic competition. In a two-region,...