Economists have repeatedly warned against them, NGOs have fought them, and somegovernments have begrudgingly (at least in appearance) signed them. Yet, in the last twentyyears the growth in number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has been unabated. Evenmore strikingly, their scope has...

We use data on US food import refusals to show for the first time that reputational spillovers are important factors in the enforcement of food safety measures. The odds of a country experiencing at least one import refusal increase by over 100% if there was a refusal of the same product from a...

Economists have repeatedly warned against them, NGOs have fought them, and somegovernments have begrudgingly (at least in appearance) signed them. Yet, in the last twentyyears the growth in number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has been unabated. Evenmore strikingly, their scope has...