The main purpose of this paper is to assess intra-regional trade within the CIS by looking at the impact of numerous trade agreements in the region. Applying a gravity model on a set of 162 countries, we attempt to assess dynamics of intra-regional trade of various trade agreements between 1995...

This paper explores two questions. First, can Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) affect industrial development in developing countries? Second, does it matter for developing countries whom they sign the PTAs with? We find that the answer to both questions is yes. Using bilateral manufactured...

The paper introduces for the most frequently used three-dimensional fixed effects panel data models the appropriate Within estimators. It analyzes the behaviour of these estimators in the case of no-self-flow data, unbalanced data and dynamic autoregressive models.

The paper introduces for the most frequently used three-dimensional panel data sets several random effects model specifications. It derives appropriate estimation methods for the balanced and unbalanced cases. An application is also presented where the bilateral trade of 20 EU countries is...

In current study we analyze the convergence of trade between Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and European Union (EU) during the period from 1984 to 2004. In our extension of the theoretical framework of Helpman, Melitz and Rubinstein (2005) with heterogeneous firms we discuss the...

The south-eastern enlargement of the European Union will be the sixth enlargement since the establishment of the European Community in 1957. This research uses the gravity model to analyze the factors that have an influence on trade flows between the EU and South-east European Countries. The...

This paper attempts to estimate the trade potential expected from the SADC FTA. Specifically, the study investigates what the Southern African countries stand to gain by way of increases in intra-regional trade if all trade barriers are removed. In order to assess the trade potential compared to...

A new method for measuring trade potential from border effects is developed and applied to manufactured trade between the old fifteen European Union (EU) members and twelve Central and East European (CEE) economies. Border effects are estimated with three theoretically compatible trade...

This paper takes stock of the forces that lie behind the recent rise of preferential agreements in services trade. Its initial focus is with a number of distinguishing features of services trade that sets it apart from trade in goods and shapes trade liberalization and rule-making approaches in...

The paper focus on the characteristics of the political economy of an FTA of this kind. With this objective, they develop a methodology that allows them to study the welfare effects of a bilateral agreement by identifying the sectors that would encounter the most problems and those that would be...