‘Regulatory protection’ or technical barriers to trade (TBT) are two names for the myriad of cost-raising, behind-the-border measures that substantially inhibit trade. This paper argues that TBTs are important and their liberalization will continue. This liberalization will involve...

This study provides a quantitative assessment of the implications of preferential trade liberalization by the North Atlantic economies. Emphasis is placed on the pattern of production and trade in North America and Western Europe, the pattern of import protection, and the likely trade and income...

This paper weaves several sets of facts into an argument that: 1) today's trade is radically more complex, involving a trade-investment-service nexus, 2) this 21st century trade demanded deeper disciplines which were supplied by 21st century regionalism while the WTO was otherwise occupied, and...

Motivated by the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia over the last decade, this paper studies the challenges faced by the Asian “noodle bowl”—overlapping, multiple trade rules, regulations, and standards in Asia—in the process of regional and global trade integration....

This paper tests the hypothesis that the domino-like spread of regionalism is partly driven by ‘defensive’ FTAs, i.e. FTAs signed to reduce discrimination created by third-nation FTAs. A theory-based measure is used to test contagion against alternative determinants of regionalism. The main...

This paper addresses the final steps to global free trade – what they might look like, what sort of political economy forces might drive them, and what the WTO might do to guide them. Two facts form the point of departure: 1) Regionalism is here to stay; world trade is regulated by a motley...

This paper posits a formal political economy model where the principle of reciprocity in multilateral trade talks results in the gradual elimination of tariffs. Reciprocity trade talks turn each nation’s exporters into anti-protectionists at home; they lower foreign tariffs by convincing their...

Regional liberalization sweeps the globe like wildfire while multilateral trade talks proceed at a glacial pace. Why are countries eager to liberalize regionally but reluctant to do so multilaterally? The answer of the GATT-is-dead school is that multilateralism is too cumbersome for...

Economic thinking on regionalism has traditionally focused on the Vinerian question: Would a nation gain from joining a trade bloc? Since 1991, "Big Think Regionalism" considers the broader question of regionalism’s impact on the world trading system focusing on two questions: Does spreading...

The stumbling-block argument asserts that regionalism hinders MFN tariff cutting. If this was of first-order importance over previous decades, we should see a negative relationship between the level of MFN and preferential tariffs, i.e. MFN and PTA tariffs should be substitutes. Using tariff...