This paper shows that longer trade times are associated with higher levels of trade-related corruption, consistent with a theoretical framework in which “fast” producers earn higher profits than “slow” ones, but may have to pay “speed money” to possibly corrupt customs officials....

This paper shows that export costs, tariffs, and international transport costs are all important determinants of geographical export diversification in a sample of 123 developing countries. A 10% reduction in any one of these factors produces a 5%-6% increase in the number of foreign markets...

Many specialists in international trade have started saying that the era of a mega FTA is approaching. If the three poles of the global economy, namely East Asia, EU and the United States, form mega FTAs, most of the volume of global trade will be covered. That may be fine, but there will be...

his paper attempts to perform an empirical analysis of the effects of “labor clauses” provided in bilateral or plurilateral trade agreements (or regional trade agreements: RTAs) on working conditions that laborers in the RTA signatory countries actually face, using macro-level data for a...

This paper addresses the importance of establishing global value chains through the liberalization of trade in services. A database has revealed rather disconnected policy arrangements across APEC members in terms of service trade liberalization. While the economic benefits arising from...

We conduct an input-output analysis of China’s employment changes due to changes in trade structure on sectoral level. We find that between 2002 and 2007 China generated about 71 million jobs due to trade expansion. We also estimate the additional amount of trade that would be needed if China...

Unlike the Great Depression of the 1930, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 did not trigger a massive wave of protectionism as expected. Nevertheless, numerous countries have adjusted their trade policies during the financial crisis to mitigate its negative effects. Despite the widely shared view...

Since the beginning of the decade, French exports in goods and services have grown less dynamically than German ones. Indeed, independently of any exchange-rate mechanism, the ratio of French to German exports in manufactured goods in current prices dropped by 3.3% on average per year between...

At the 1996 World Food Summit it was agreed to promote triangular food aid operations in order to fight world hunger. Looking into the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and transparency, in this paper it is argued that the Objective has some theoretical justification, but both triangular and...

This paper documents the construction of BACI, our international trade database, which covers more than 200 countries and 5,000 products, between 1994 and 2007. New approaches have been developed to reconcile data reported by almost 150 countries to the United Nations Statistics Division,...