Widespread food insecurity remains a daunting challenge in Africa, despite significant gains in global efforts to eliminate hunger over the last three decades. This paper examines the effects of easing trade across borders – through reductions in documents, time, and costs to export and import...

World price shocks and disruptions in international cereal trade in 2007 and 2008 caused considerable anxiety and hardship for food importing countries throughout the world. In South Asia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India were all affected by these movements in international prices,...

This paper estimates the productivity gains from reducing tariffs on final goods and from reducing tariffs on intermediate inputs. Lower output tariffs can increase productivity by inducing tougher import competition, whereas cheaper imported inputs can raise productivity via learning, variety,...

The paper reviews the cost and benefits of globalization (i.e. greater integration of national and global economies) from the perspective of India. It argues that India’s hesitant and reluctant globalization had a significant cost in terms of forgone growth, delay in the eradication of...

China’s rise as a merchandise exporter in recent decades is unparalleled. Supported by a rapidly growing urban workforce, massive investments in productivity enhancing infrastructure and technologies, a range of subsidies and incentives, and a favourable external economic environment, Chinese...

The paper seeks to analyze various contemporary theories in the measurement of real exchange rates and the associated problematics involved in each case particularly for a developing economy. It then focuses on the estimation of real exchange rate for the developing economy of Turkey using the...

Alternative approaches to estimating the effects of nontariff measures (NTMs) on trade flows are discussed and evaluated critically. Recent econometric studies point to three results: (i) NTM restrictiveness measures based on an aggregate of ‘core’ NTMs are more restrictive than existing...

For 106 countries over 1969-2004, this paper revisits the relationship between openness, education and economic growth using the System Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) approach. Trade and growth are usually positively correlated and capital formation appears to be an important channel through...

With the reduction in tariff barriers, Non-tariff and behind-the-border measures (NTM and BTB) have increased in importance. This paper surveys the state of knowledge with the view to drawing implications for policy suggestions to reduce those NTM barriers that are welfare reducing. Following a...

This paper studies various approaches to the equilibrium real effective exchange rate estimation, including structural and direct estimation approaches. It shows their strengths and weaknesses with application to the case of Latvia. Despite the approaches differing considerably in terms of their...