A primary function of trade policy is to restrict imports to benefit the targeted domestic sector. However, a well-established theoretical literature highlights that the form of trade policy (e.g., quotas versus tariffs) can have a significant impact on how much trade policy affects firms'...

How should multilateral trade policy be designed in a world in which countries differ in terms of market access and technology, and firms with market power differ in terms of productivity? We answer this question in a model of monopolistic competition in which variable markups increasing in firm...

This paper investigates the link between competitive, well-functioning food markets and consumer welfare. The paper explores two key food markets in Kenya -- sugar and maize -- and argues that a variety of factors conspire to distort market prices upward. Distortionary factors include import...

A study of distortions to agricultural incentives in 18 developing countries during 1960-84, by Krueger, Schiff and Valdes (1988; 1991), found that policies in most of those developing countries were directly or indirectly harming their farmers. Since the mid-1980s there has been a substantial...

In an increasingly competitive, globalizing world, Bangladesh needs to rationalize its tariff structure and lower overall protection so that its exports can compete in world markets. At the same time, the government needs to protect revenues in a fiscally-constrained year. This note proposes a...

Brazil constitutes a globally vital but troubled economy. It accounts for the largest GDP in Latin America and ranks among the world's largest exporters of critical commodities including iron ore, soya, coffee, and beef. In recent years Brazil's global economic importance has been magnified by a...

Competition between opposing lobbies is an important factor in the endogenous determination of trade policy. This paper investigates empirically the consequences of lobbying competition between upstream and downstream producers for trade policy. The theoretical structure underlying the empirical...