In this paper I look at the size of Switzerland's gains from trade through the lens of the workhorse model of modern trade theory. The model finds that most of Switzerland's gains from trade originate from the EU and that realistic changes in the degree of trade integration with EU countries may...

This paper quantifies the impact of trade tensions between the United States and China. Using a general equilibrium Ricardian trade model, it provides a Swiss-centric analysis of two tariff escalation shocks. Counterfactual analysis shows that welfare and trade effects are broadly negative for...

All countries would agree to immediate global free trade if countries were compensated for any terms-of-trade losses with transfers from countries whose terms-of-trade improve, and if customs unions were required to have no effects on non-member countries. Global free trade with transfers is in...

This paper reviews the most significant recent developments in the theory of trade agreements. The paper offers an integrated approach to evaluating trade agreements, and uses the approach to present results on preferential and multilateral trade agreements. The paper identifies also several...

We propose a structural alternative to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI, Hidalgo and Hausmann 2009; Hausmann et al. 2011) that ranks countries by their complexity. This ranking is tied to comparative advantages. Hence, it reveals information different from GDP per capita on the deep underlying...

The pre-eminence of trade and investment in the economic prosperity of developed and developing countries cannot be overemphasized. Many studies have shown a strong positive impact of trade on economic growth across developed and the emerging market. However, very little is known about the...

This paper is built on Venables (2011) theoretical predictions which show that gains from regional integration are unevenly distributed between resource rich and poor countries. We explore the effects of different integration schemes in Middle East and North Africa. Results suggest that within...

We examine the labor market consequences of recent global supply chain disruptions induced by COVID-19. Specifically, we consider a temporary increase in international trade costs similar to the one observed during the pandemic and analyze its effects on labor market outcomes using a...