Geography, economic size, or common history, help predicting signed regional trade agreements (RTAs). However, not all signed RTAs are "natural" according to economic determinants. En-dogeneity and general equilibrium effects of RTAS are the two mechanisms addressed in this paper. We estimate...

This paper develops an open economy firm-heterogeneous model where the combination of market rigidities and exchange rate uncertainty acts like a barrier to trade and modifies a firm's optimal choice in terms of production and pricing. The existence of price and labor rigidities, coupled with...

With the virtual disappearance of tariffs, domestic export time delays have emerged as a major obstacle to trade. This explains recent WTO initiatives to combat such delays that have resulted in important reductions in forty percent of developing countries. We propose a novel mechanism by which...

The report provides the first comprehensive assessment of the effects of non-tariff barriers on mutual trade in the EEU and gives recommendations as to how to remove them. It is based on a poll of 530 Russian, Kazakh and Belarusian exporters. In the research non-tariff barriers are divided into...

Inclusivity is perhaps the single most important human need to facilitate and demonstrate fairness for all members in an open and free society. When this principle need is compromised by appearances of unscrupulous self-interested privileged elites to perpetuate a systemic widening disparity...

The worldwide trend towards privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation has produced substantial economic benefits. Nevertheless, liberalisation has had its shortcomings and there are potential threats to further progress, including in particular an anti-liberalisation backlash. Continuing...

Trade liberalization has proceeded on the assumption that eventual aggregate welfare gains will exceed the losses. While compensatory mechanisms exist in most countries, they tend to be underfunded and ineffective. To begin to address this problem, the direct beneficiaries from trade...