This paper examines how trade liberalization and fluctuations in real exchange rates affect export-market entry/exit and plant-level productivity. It uses the experience of Canadian manufacturing plants over three separate periods that feature different rates of bilateral tariff reductions and...

If a free trade agreement (FTA) is characterized by the exchange of market access with a large and competitive trading partner, the agreement can cause a leakage of protectionist benefits to domestic industry from lobbying against external tariff cuts. This rent destruction effect of an FTA can...

The paper analyzes tariff classification decisions relating to end use since Canadian implementation of the Harmonized System. The author argues that successful interpretation requires attention to use and the commercial context, in addition to the physical characteristics of goods

We employ the Anderson-Neary Trade Restrictiveness Index (TRI) to examine Canadian trade policy during the first wave of globalization (1870-1913). Our analysis is the first to examine two important features of this period using the TRI: 1) the shift to protectionist trade policies, and 2) the...

Were high import tariffs somehow related to the strong U.S. economic growth during the late nineteenth century? This paper examines this frequently mentioned but controversial question and investigates the channels by which tariffs could have promoted growth during this period. The paper shows...

Recent evidence suggests that tariff reductions from the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) generated substantial productivity gains in Canadian manufacturing. Using a comprehensive panel data set of 81 manufacturing industries over the 1983-1996 period, we shed new light on two potential...