The proliferation of preferential trade agreements has posed challenges for the multilateral trading system. But regional trade agreements (RTAs) also allow countries to develop and strengthen trade disciplines beyond what is possible at the multilateral level. In some instances, RTAs explore...

Previous literature has concentrated on the rent transfer accruing to exporting countries when a VER is binding. This paper studies the efficiency and distributional effects arising when VERs force factors out of industries in which they are most productive. A theoretical model of the industry...

In this paper we show that price equalization does not imply zero barriers to trade. There are many barrier combinations that deliver price equalization, but each combination implies a different volume of trade. We demonstrate this first theoretically in a simple two-country model and then...

Graph of the month Europe Brent Spot Price, fob per barrel, in current USD and euro and real year 2005 euro (p. 1) Opinion corner Russia-Ukraine conflict do Western sanctions have any effect? (by Vasily Astrov, Vladimir Gligorov, Peter Havlik, Michael Landesmann and Olga Pindyuk; pp. 2-6)...

During the past two decades import tariffs have decreased significantly and the importance of non-tariff measures aimed at further reducing international transaction costs, i.e., trade facilitation, has become more apparent. Even if international shipping and other non-tariff costs are excluded,...

This paper investigates the barriers to trade in Central Asia. While much of the existing literature on international integration of former Soviet Union countries has focussed on the quantities traded, this paper uses relative prices to shed some light on impediments to trade. It finds that the...

The paper sets out to suggest that regional trade between South Asia is quite low when compared to other regional blocks like NAFTA, EU 15, ASEAN, and MERCOUSER. The paper identifies non cooperation between India and Pakistan to be the main reason behind low trade in South Asia. The paper...

EU-US economic relations go beyond that of traditional trade ties. Multinational companies and their affiliates abroad do not only represent vital elements of each other's domestic economy but are also major determinants of the movement of goods and capital across borders. In the light of the...

In a world in which barriers to trade at all levels - international and internal - are mostly a by-product of the implementation by governments of different regulatory policies to deal with "domestic" or "local" problems, the mechanisms that are set in motion by the operation of competition...

The paper develops a general equilibrium model of international production and trade. Technology is carried across borders by multinational producers and the set of technologies being used in a particular country is endogenous. Production locations are chosen based on the costs of production and...