The Schengen Agreement has guaranteed unchecked travel across internal EU borders since 1995. Has it also facilitated trade flows? Our econometric analysis suggests that Schengen has boosted trade by 3% on average (equivalent to a drop in tariffs by 0.7 percentage points). Goods trade is more...

We develop a novel two-stage methodology that allows us to study the empirical determinants of the ex post effects of past free trade agreements (FTAs) as well as obtain ex ante predictions for the effects of future FTAs. We first identify 908 unique estimates of the effects of FTAs on different...

Two issues stand out in this conversation. The first concerns the unfinished business of the global fight against the scourge of poverty, which impacts one region more than most: Africa. At the same time, a key pre-requisite for economic performance - affordable and efficient public...

This paper introduces an alternative indicator to evaluate the external sector behavior of a country or region. The objective of this indicator, titled “The External Sector Vulnerability Monitoring Index” (henceforth ESVM) (λ), is to offer policy-makers and researchers a new analytical tool...

Results from this study of three Andean countries cast doubt on the argument that countries may benefit from regional integration arrangements because of industry and cross-industry effects of scale. Unilateral liberalization might have a more positive impact on output growth, through the...

Despite significant economic reforms in many Southern Mediterranean EU neighbour countries, their growth performance has on average been subdued. This study analyses the differences in growth performance and macroeconomic stability across Mediterranean countries, to draw lessons for the future....

One of the basic features of the recent international scenario is the increasing importance of a few emerging economies. In this paper we map the import tariffs imposed by each of the BRICS on the products from its neighboring countries, as well as the tariffs imposed on Brazilian products. We...

This work identifies the main characteristics of trade flows between Colombia and Venezuela with MERCOSUR, with specific discussion of trade with Brazil. It aims at providing a broad view of such trade flows, as well as presenting some descriptive indicators of such trade relationship. A special...