The Mexican sugar industry operates under strict government controls. The sugar parastatal, AZUCAR, and other state agencies govern virturally all aspects of pricing and, until recently, AZUCAR controlled virtually all aspects of marketing. The purpose of this study is to make transparent the...

"New"economic geography theory, and the development of innovative methods of analysis have renewed interest in the location, and spatial concentration of economic activities. The authors examine the extent to which agglomeration economies contribute to economic productivity. They distinguish...

Economic efficiency has to do with how much wealth a given resource base can generate. Equity has to do with how that wealth is to be distributed in society. Economic efficiency gets far more attention, in part because equity considerations involve value judgements that vary from person to...

One of the most contentious debates today is whether pollution-intensive industries from rich countries relocate to poor countries with weaker environmental standards, turning them into pollution havens. Empirical studies to date show little evidence to support the pollution haven hypothesis,...

Actual, and potential competition is a powerful source of discipline on the pricing behavior of firms with market power. The authors develop a simple model that shows that the effects of new entry, and import competition on industry price-cost markups, depend on country size. The authors...

China's two main economic problems before reform were low incentives to workers and the misallocation of resources among sectors. These problems were theresult of a development strategy oriented toward heavy industry. By improving material incentives, China's reforms created a flow of new...

The Colombian cut flower industry is one of the majordevelopment success stories of the last 20 years, growing from small beginnings in 1966 to the world's second largest exporter of cut flowers in 1980. This rapid development has made the cut flower industry a major contributor to the Colombian...

Several previous studies have asked whether environmental controls imposed in the industrial economies are diverting investments in pollution-intensive activities off-shore. Broadly, these studies conclude that direct investment does not appear to be stimulated by such regulations, partly...

The current and potential benefits of the East-West gas trade are enormous for all participants. Realizing those benefits requires significant upfront investments. But the new, more complex structure of the gas transit system that has emerged following changes in Eastern Europe and the former...

As is evident from public finance principles, redistribution objectives do not influence environmental policies if there are other, costless means of redistribution. How does optimal environmental protection depend on redistribution objectives? The authors develop a framework that treats air...