Rules of origin (RoO) are legitimate policy instruments to prevent trade deflection in a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) short of a customs union. Yet, when captured by special interest groups, RoO can restrict trade beyond what is needed to prevent trade deflection. By how much do political...

In a production structure reasonable for a developing economy this note shows that there may arise a conflict between the worldwide liberalized trade policies in agriculture, which raise the price of the economy’s primary exportable commodity, and the inflow of foreign capital into the...

From 2004, enlargement of the European Union is expected to bring substantial net economic benefits. Herein lies a weakness, in that practically all empirical studies characterise ‘single market’ accession using simple ad hoc uniform percentage reductions in trade costs. Employing a modified...

We provide economic backgrounds to the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures under the World Trade Organization. Permitting R&D subsidy under Article 8 of the Agreement can be interpreted as an inefficient victory of an individual exporting country in the non-cooperative game,...

Alternative approaches to estimating the effects of nontariff measures (NTMs) on trade flows are discussed and evaluated critically. Recent econometric studies point to three results: (i) NTM restrictiveness measures based on an aggregate of ‘core’ NTMs are more restrictive than existing...

With the reduction in tariff barriers, Non-tariff and behind-the-border measures (NTM and BTB) have increased in importance. This paper surveys the state of knowledge with the view to drawing implications for policy suggestions to reduce those NTM barriers that are welfare reducing. Following a...

Market access liberalization has influenced product-specific growth of world exports and contributed to the shift in the structure of world exports of manufactures towards electrical and electronic goods (including parts and components), goods that require high R&D expenditures, and...

In the 2001 Doha Development Round ministerial declaration, countries committed themselves “to the objective of duty-free, quota-free market access for products originating from LDCs.” In this light, this paper investigates the current tariff barriers put in place and preferences granted by...

With the help of a simple model of production and trade, we examine the differential impact of tariff escalation on skilled and unskilled wages in an economy. Our findings provide a lobbying-based explanation of the prevalence of tariff escalation in developed countries. It also predicts the...

This paper uses a combination of empirical models to investigate how much of a problem the removal of barriers on trade between the ASEM countries is likely to pose for adjustment in the EU economies. While existing revealed comparative advantage and the relative height of barriers suggest that...