The recent growth of regional integration agreements (customs unions and free-trade areas) has been accompanied by a mounting concern for the health of the multilateral trading system. Much of this concern stems from the generally accepted view that the current WTO rules do not provide an...

Has MERCOSUR's trade performance to date provided strong evidence that it has encouraged inefficient trade flows between its members? This paper evaluates the methodology suggested by Yeats (1997, 1998) to study trade flows within MERCOSUR. Yeats was motivated by the traditional concern of...