The paper examines the impact of regionalism on the process of multilateral trade liberalization when countries are asymmetric. The author uses a three-country, three-good, competing exporters model, with countries being symmetric in everything but their discount factors. The equilibrium...

[...] This article chronicles the schisms in the Doha Round, which was launched in November 2001 in the Qatari capital, with resoluteness to fight back in the international economic arena against terrorism. Yet, many of the schisms existed well before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,...

This paper presents a theory of optimal multilateral trade agreements with public political shocks. Optimal multilateral agreements exhibit "forbearance'' – where one country withholds retaliation when its trading partner receives a shock. This provides a rationale for countries not acting on...

We quantify the partial and general equilibrium effects of GATT/WTO membership on trade and welfare. Using an extensive database covering manufacturing trade for 186 countries over the period 1980-2016, we find that the average impact of GATT/WTO membership on trade among member countries is...

We study the endogenous formation of climate coalitions linked to a preferential free trade arrangement. In a multi-stage strategic trade and participation game, coalition and fringe countries dispose of a discriminatory tariff on dirty imports as well as emission permits imposed on domestic...

As the demand for environmental quality is increasing and as the current GATT rules monitored by the WTO are not very suitable for environmental protection, either a new international environmental organization may be formed soon or new environmental regulations may be added to GATT. In either...