How does trade affect the design of preferential trade agreements (PTAs)? What is the role of global value chains (GVCs)? The authors answer these questions by empirically investigating the causal impact of gross and value-added trade on the depth of PTAs. To solve the critical issue of...

Since 1990 the number of preferential trade agreements has increased rapidly. Our argument explains this phenomenon, known as the new regionalism, as a result of competition for market access. Exporters that face trade diversion because of their exclusion from a preferential trade agreement...

We propose that major powers give foreign aid to developing countries to facilitate politically costly economic reforms that preferential trading agreements prescribe. Democratic developing countries (i) need adjustment assistance more than autocracies and (ii) can credibly commit to using...

To address security concerns, governments often implement trade barriers and restrictions on the movement of goods and people. These restrictions have negative economic consequences, possibly increasing the supply of political violence. To test this hypothesis, we exploit the restrictions...

This paper investigates the impact of agricultural trade liberalization on economic activity and political violence in emerging countries. We use data on all Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) signed between 25 low- and middle-income countries and their high-income trade partners between 1995...

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have been proliferating for the last twenty years. A large literature has studied various aspects of this phenomenon. Until very recently, this literature has treated all PTAs as equal. However, PTAs differ significantly in terms of design. In this paper, we...

Ratifying conventions adopted by the International Labor Organization creates legal obligations to improve labor standards in the domestic economy. Why and when do states choose to ratify them? Two influential theoretical approaches lead to the expectation that states are influenced by the...