We study the welfare impact of rules of origin in free trade agreements where final-good producers source customized inputs from suppliers within the trading bloc. We employ a property-rights framework that features hold-up problems in suppliers’ decisions to invest, and where underinvestment...

This study examines how the rules of origin (RoO) of a free trade agreement (FTA) affect firms' pricing strategies. A value-added criterion (VAC) of the RoO requires firms to add more than a certain level of values within an FTA when firms use inputs originating from outside the FTA. The VAC may...

Rules of origin differ among overlapping free trade agreements, raising firm compliance costs, discouraging utilization of trade preferences, and hindering regional value chains. Using a unique dataset comparing the restrictiveness of product-specific rules of origin (PSRO) between the Regional...

Rules of Origin (RoO) are essential components of any preferential trade agreement (PTA) short of a full customs union. The recent proliferation of PTAs has led to increased interest in the effects of RoO with empirical estimates consistently showing that they act as barriers to intra-PTA trade....

This study surveys preferential rules of origin applied by 192 regional trade agreements (RTAs) covering trade in goods notified to the GATT/WTO up to 1 November 2010. It takes into account the preferential rules of origin that were notified to the WTO; whenever known and available,...

This paper is concerned with rules of origin when intermediate goods aredifferentiated. An analytical model emphasizes trade patterns and the relativeimportance of trade in intermediates given trade preferences. Econometric evidencebased on intra-OECD trade in motor vehicles and motor vehicle...

In a three-country Customs Union (CU) formation game, I introduce international trade in intermediate inputs and Rules of Origin (RoO) restrictions. In the case of symmetric countries, I show that as countries become more involved in global supply chains, global free trade is less likely to be a...

Are trade facilitation measures under free trade agreements (FTAs) discriminatory? This important question has yet to be sufficiently explored by the existing literature on trade facilitation. Despite the multilateral scope and non-discriminatory objectives of trade facilitation measures, some...