We study, theoretically and empirically, how countries choose intra-bloc tariffs and preferential margins when they form Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Our model indicates that countries should set systematically lower preferential margins when the bloc takes the form of a free trade area...

While quotas can be expressed in tariff-equivalent terms and have identical economic effects under some conditions, they do not share the same welfare implications with tariffs in the presence of a piecemeal reform (second-best). In this paper we show that this non-welfare equivalence persists...