Subsidies have become one of the most important instruments for industrial policy purposes in recent years, especially for the purpose of promoting high-technology industries. However, the multilateral rules for the granting of subsidies and the imposition of countervailing duties are still...

This paper examines the rationale for the rules on domestic subsidies in international trade agreements through a framework that emphasizes commitment. We build a model where the policy-maker has a tariff and a production subsidy at its disposal, taxation can be distortionary and the...

Energy subsidies are used widely. Although adverse from an efficiency perspective, subsidies confer private benefits on particular groups and, once introduced, tend to be persistent. This paper examines the reasons why and possible ways of overcoming the barriers to reform. The starting point is...

Student loans schemes are in operation in more than seventy countries around the world. Most loans schemes benefit from sizeable built-in government subsidies and, in addition, are subject to repayment default and administrative costs that are not passed on to student borrowers. We probe two...

Die Staats- und Regierungschefs hatten beim G8-Gipfel am 16./17. Juli 2006 in St. Petersburg vereinbart, bis Mitte August die Einigung über die Eckpunkte der Marktöffnung im Agrar- und Industriegüterhandel nachzuholen. Dennoch wurden die Verhandlungen im Rahmen der "Doha Development Agenda"...

Im internationalen Standortwettbewerb ist die Halbleiterindustrie einer der dynamischsten Global Player, wenn es darum geht, nach unter Kostengesichtspunkten lukrativen Investitionsstandorten zu suchen. Weltweit werden potenziellen Investoren aus dieser Branche breit gefächerte...

This paper examines the rationale for the rules on domestic subsidies in international trade agreements through a framework that emphasizes commitment. We build a model where the policy-maker has a tariff and a production subsidy at its disposal, taxation can be distortionary and the...