The multilateral trade system rests on the principle of nondiscrimination. The most-favored-nation (MFN) clause embodied in article one of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was the defining principle for a system that emerged in the post, Second World War era, largely in reaction...

The recent literature on preferential trade agreements (PTAs) emphasizes the distinction between the extensive and intensive margins. What has been missing is the distinction between tariff and non-tariff changes under PTAs. Tariff reduction is a quintessential feature of PTAs. But member...

Analyses of preferential trade agreements have traditionally reflected the post-mercantilist spirit of international trade, whereby free trade has been considered welfare enhancing. This spirit has been the driving force behind GATT and the WTO, and by the 1990s there was general agreement among...