Long-run cross-country price data exhibit a puzzle. Today, richer countries exhibit higher price levels than poorer countries, a stylized fact usually attributed to the "Balassa-Samuelson" effect. But looking back fifty years, or more, this effect virtually disappears from the data. What is...

This paper compares various estimation methods often used in the estimation of gravity models of international trade. The authors first discuss different structural and consistent estimation techniques, their underlying assumptions and their impact on estimated coefficients. They then estimate...

The paper examines the rise fall and rise of the Liberal International Economic Order over the last 150 years, and critically examines the various hopes and fears in developed and developing countries that this most recent global integration is raising

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is making moves to get into the world of Internet governance. Many haven't heard of the ITU, and this essay provides some historical background by first looking at the events that took place 100 years ago at the time of the sinking of the Titanic....

We provide evidence on the dynamic effects of fuel price shocks, shipping demand shocks and shipping supply shocks on real dry bulk freight rates in the long run. We first analyze a new and large dataset on dry bulk freight rates for the period from 1850 to 2020, finding that they followed a...

Do conflicts among naval powers hurt international trade? In theory the commercially relevant aspects of aggressive naval power can either thwart trade (through blockades, embargoes, commerce raiding, and guerre de course strategies) or facilitate trade (through control of trade routes and...

SOME authors have called for enhancing the government's role in promoting Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) due to its slow growth. The problem with ODR seems to be the lack of confidence in the technology itself or the law that governs ODR. To cure these problems, authors think that government...

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the treatment of legal services in the United States’ international trade agreements. Although many individuals are now familiar with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), far fewer realize that legal services are included in at...