Australia’s external trade is relatively low compared with the size of its economy. Indeed, Australia’s openness ratio (exports plus imports as a proportion of GDP) in 2002 was the third-lowest among the 30 OECD countries. This paper seeks to understand Australia’s low openness by...

Obstfeld and Rogoff (2001) argue that trade costs provide at least part of the explanation for a number of puzzles in international macroeconomics. Using data on imports to the United States from developed economies, this paper investigates whether trade costs are associated with correlations...

Is China’s demand for resources driven predominantly by domestic factors or by global demand for its exports? The answer to this question is important for many resource-exporting countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and India. This paper provides evidence that China’s...