Since the beginning of 2017, a paradigm change in international trade policy is observed. While the protectionist agendas are on the rise, the EU and Japan signed an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on 17 July 2018. It is the most ambitious agreement of the EU with any Asian state. The study...

This working paper analyses the transformations of the Mexican labour regulation model in its different phases. The first phase is selective inclusion of waged workers among the beneficiaries of the development driven by the internal market. The second phase includes the deactivation of labour...

One of the key goals of trade policy, which includes FTAs, should be the enhancement of productivity in the overall economy through the improved productivity of the tradable sector. This can be achieved by enhancing the productivity of existing firms, and eliminating lowproductivity firms to...

This paper uses an endogenous merger formation approach in a concentrated international oligopoly to examine the effects of trade liberalization on the nature of merger incentives (national vs. international). The effects of unilateral trade liberalization on a country's industry structure are...

This paper develops a modality of liberalization for APEC, based on a sectoral level, as an alternative to the politically sensitive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). This model, originally developed by Wonnacott (1994), argues for the liberalization of sectors on an MFN basis, where...

For the Philippines, quantitative policy analysis should incorporate regional differences in welfare and economic structure, which arise partly from geographic constraints. However, existing CGE models offer limited analysis of regional effects or national impacts of region-specific...

The recent trade and productivity literature shows that trade liberalization can lead to productivity gains through increased competition and exit of inefficient firms and reallocation of market shares in favor of more efficient firms. In this paper, an attempt is made to examine the impact of...

Firm entry and exit play a crucial role in spurring a reallocation of resources across firms as tariffs are reduced. In the light of the substantial trade reforms implemented in the Philippines over the last two decades, the paper examines the impact of trade reforms on the exit of domestic...