Trade facilitation policies intend to simplify administrative processes and accelerate the handling of shipments across borders. Recent research shows that these policies have substantial effects on trade flows. In this chapter, we discuss what the existing evidence for trade implies for the...

The growth of Chinese exports both in volume and in market share over the past two decades is a singular event in the history of world trade. Using data from 1995-2005, we document this growth in a variety of ways. First, we show that the expanded trade is pervasive. Virtually every country in...

This report assesses how specific border procedures impact on the operation of supply chains and the resulting policy implications, using data from the OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFIs) database and from the OECD-WTO database on trade-in-value-added. The assessment focusses on the impact...

Free trade agreements (FTAs) have been proliferating in Asia for more than a decade. International fragmentation of production and the resultant cross-border production networks have been growing for a much longer period. Although FTAs are not necessary for the formation of production networks,...

For small open economies, it is essential that many firms find their way to the export market and most governments provide some form of export promotion assistance. We use detailed firm-level data for Flanders, the largest region in Belgium, to evaluate whether its program raises firms'...

Ten years ago, member countries of the Central AmericanCommon Market (CACM) began to turn away from a decades-oldpolicy of "inward development". They encouragednontraditional exports by lowering tariff barriers, unifyingexchange rates, and granting exporters access tointermediate and capital...

All WTO members participate in the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), a rules-based bottom-up approach built on monitorable provisions (e.g. the publication of information, advance rulings, appeal or review of decisions, transparency, and border agency cooperation) aimed at reducing time in...

International trade and migration are two important dimensions of globalization. Although governments have been very willing to open their borders to trade, they have not been so liberal in their immigration policies. It has been suggested, however, that a causal positive link might exist...

As a result of the global economic crisis and the situation in the EU, as well as that of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the Baltic exports have decreased toward these countries, while there is a slight increase in exports to other regions, mainly to Asia, meaning that Asian developing countries...