Widening imbalances in current account positions across some of the major OECD economic areas have raised concerns about related increases in protectionist sentiments. This paper reviews recent trends in market openness indicators and assesses whether barriers to international trade and...

The core idea behind the paper is that trade policy matters for the organization of global value chains, a notion largely neglected by economists but which has important implications for our understanding of trade and the international transmission of trade policy shocks. We develop a...