The author explores a possible link between financial development and trade in manufactures. His theoretical model focuses on the role of financial intermediaries in facilitating large-scale, high-return projects. Results show that economies with better developed financial sectors have a...

Using a political economy approach, the authors analyze the pattern of protection in Mexico's manufacturing sector during the period of trade policy reforms (1985-89), when Mexico experienced significant trade liberalization and an important inflow of foreign direct investment. They take into...

Using data collected during several missions, the author finds that the principal reasons for low revenue mobilization are (1) the adverse fiscal impact of trade liberalization, (2) the defiscalization of agriculture in the 1970s, (3) the collapse of the uranium boom in the 1980s, and (4) the...

Economists often argue that the level and structure of a country's trade barriers and the quality of its governance policies (for example, regulating foreign investment or limiting commercial activity with red tape) have a major influence on its economic growth and performance. One problem...

Most interesting results on the welfare effects of regional arrangements are ambiguous at a theoretical level. Many questions only have quantitative answers that are specific to the particular structural features of the economy and the policy considered. So, to determine the impact of...

The author considers the policy options of the West Bank and Gaza with respect to trade and the export of labor services. He concludes that: 1) Nondiscriminatory trade policy is unambiguously superior to a free trade agreement with Israel; 2) The West Bank and Gaza should pursue a...

The author focuses on whether regionalism sets up forces that encourage or discourage evolution toward globally free trade. Although models can be built suggesting either conclusion, these models are still so abstract that they should be viewed as parables rather than sources of testable...

Negotiations on trade in services at the World Trade Organization (WTO) have so far produced little liberalization beyond levels countries have undertaken unilaterally. One reason: limited application of the traditional negotiating principle of reciprocity. In particular, participants have...

The author investigates the links between trade policy and economic growth using data from a panel of 57 countries from 1970-89. This is the first attempt to empirically evaluate, in a cross-country context, the respective roles of various theories of dynamic gains from trade in explaining the...

In the past decade a sea change has taken place in trade policies in Latin America: within a few years, most of the region's economies have changed from restrictive to open policies. But unlike trade liberalization in Europe, most trade barriers in Latin America have been reduced unilaterally....