We analyze the effects of a country's export connections on its income growth using Trade Partner Diversification (TPD) measures that capture the country's relative importance in the international trade network. On top of the standard trade openness measures, TPD measures are shown to enter...

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which was concluded by participating countries in the Uruguay Round of negotiations, is the first multilateral effort to establish rules governing the conduct of international trade in services, including financial services. The GATS also...

We use network centrality measures to capture the trade partner diversification (TPD) of countries as revealed by their position in the international trade network. These measures are shown to enter long-run growth regressions positively and significantly, on top of trade openness and other...

Interest payments based on income flows are a common feature of informal loans. Such so-called `interlinked loans' can be seen as an insurance against very low disposable incomes, as interest payments are lowest when income turns out to be low. This paper examines whether interlinked loans...

Access to credit is important for the productivity and overall welfare of farmers in developing countries. We present a theoretical framework which shows that a change in the mode of shipping (from air to sea) in the Ghanaian pineapple industry made it profitable for pineapple exporters to...

Liberalization and regulatory reform of telecom markets has emerged as a high profile policy issue. This paper analyzes how the multilateral system under the World Trade Organization can help developing countries in promoting their own information infrastructures. We focus on a specific ?regime?...

The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative has gained much popularity since its launch at the World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference in 2005, and there are ongoing discussions on its effectiveness and potential to improve the integration of developing countries into the world economy. This...

There have been ongoing discussions within the WTO Doha Round on Trade Facilitation and the wider Aid for Trade agenda to assist developing countries in reducing behind-the-border restrictions and to help them benefit from trade reform. Our paper contributes to this debate by analyzing the...