This paper examines various implications of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), namely Customs Unions (CUs) and Free Trade Areas (FTAs), in the context of a multi-country general equilibrium model based on comparative advantage considerations. We calibrate the model to represent countries with...

There has been growing debate about whether bilateral trade agreements are damaging multilateral efforts to eliminate barriers to international trade. This paper develops a model in which trading blocs always charge optimal tariffs and make trade agreements based on strategic considerations. We...

This paper discusses what the next few decades could bring for the developing countries in terms of the size and composition of their trade and inward investment flows, as well as a possibly changing policy framework within the global economy in which they have to operate. Both the prospects and...

In itself globalization is neither good nor bad. Its economic impact can be both welfare-enhancing and dislocating. This paper dwells on the former, that is, the positive and constructive impact of the contemporary phase of globalization. It examines the evidence for its beneficial effect on...

This paper discusses the distributive consequences of trade flows in developing countries (DCs). On the theoretical side, we argue that the interplays between international openness and technology adoption may constitute an important mechanism leading to a possible increase of income...

This paper considers the current proposals by the World Bank to curb the potential for ?free riding? in relation to financial support and multilateral debt relief to low-income countries. Measures to address the ?free rider? issue will form a pivotal plank in the World Bank?s future strategy...

In this paper an ex-post measurable definition of globalisation has been used, namely increasing trade openness and FDI. A general result is that the optimistic Heckscher-Ohlin/Stolper-Samuelson predictions do not apply, that is neither employment creation nor the decrease in within-country...

Do international organizations generate benchmarks and data as tools for policy enforcement or as tools of knowledge creation? This paper suggests the latter through a case study on the power of numbers in the International Monetary Fund?s (IMF) Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP)....

This paper is aimed at providing a framework for the analysis of organizational structures and processes in the global management consulting industry. Our basic question is why do global consulting firms exist? What distinctive advantages (if any) are they able to bring to their clients and the...

This paper calls for an alternative conception of economic security beyond conventional neorealist-based understandings. In particular, the paper argues that a notion of economic security that does not take into account the prevailing structural condition of economic globalisation maybe far...