A new cooperation Agreement has been signed between the European Union and the 77 ACP Countries in Cotonou (Benin) on June 23rd 2000. A point of this agreement is regarding a new trade cooperation between these different countries in districts (or regions) gathered and the European Union, based...

Adherents to the “natural trading partner” hypothesis argue that forming a PTA is more likely to raise welfare if member countries already trade disproportionately with each other. Opponents of the hypothesis claim that the opposite is true: welfare is likely to be higher if member countries...

East Asian countries have experienced dynamic structural change in regional trade during the 1990s. While intra-regional trade rapidly progressed within the region after the financial crisis, Asia accounts for a large portion of inter-regional trade volume, even after the crisis. In this paper,...

The paper studies the effects of regional integration on the incentives of mem - bers and non-members to undertake multilateral trade liberalization. Using a three- country political economy model with imperfect competion, it shows how regionalism can undermine support for multilateralism....

This study examines the development of trade between ASEAN and New Zealand. Indices of trade intensity and trade potential are used to analyse the intensity of existing trade for the period 1980~2010 and trade potential going forward. This is the first use of the trade potential method to assess...

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...

China’s forthcoming accession to the WTO involves reforms across a wide range of sectors in China, both in directly trade-related sectors and behind the border. The implications of these reforms are greatly influenced by the starting point—a partially reformed economy with relatively high...

This paper illustrates the main trends in international trade in services during the last two decades of the last century, focusing particularly on developing and transition countries. The Introduction briefly exposes some of the shortcomings and methodological problems affecting statistics on...

Non-transparency is a term given in this paper to a set of government policies that increase the risk and uncertainty faced by economic actors (foreign investors). The higher in risk and uncertainty stem from the presence of bribery and corruption, unstable economic policies, weak and poorly...

In 1965, Cooper and Massell (CM), using a partial-equilibrium trade model, reached the conclusion that a policy of unilateral tariff reduction (UTR) is superior to the formation of a customs union (CU). Wonnacott and Wonnacott (WW) challenged this conclusion in 1981 by claiming to show that UTR...