It has been argued that the adverse impact of skilled versus unskilled labor migration can be mitigated or even offset by the fact that skilled migrants remit more than unskilled ones. This paper contributes to a much debated and so far unresolved issue, namely whether remittances increase or...

Intro -- Contents -- Title -- Preface xi -- Abbreviations and Acronyms xv -- Chapter 1. Regional Integration Agreements: An Overview 1 -- Chapter 2. How Trade Blocs Increase Trade and Competition 31 -- Chapter 3. Making the Most of Regional Integration 63 -- Chapter 4. Stimulating Investment 101...

Labor market integration raises welfare in the absence of distortions. This paper examines labor and goods market integration in a general equilibrium model with social capital. The findings are: i) labor market integration has an ambiguous impact on welfare, and raises it if the goods produced...

It has been widely argued that, with the decline in trade costs (e.g., transport and communication costs), the importance of distance has declined over time. This paper examines the evolution of the geographic profile of countries' trade by studying the evolution of their distance of trade (DOT)...

This paper examines two issues: 1) the welfare impact of preferential trade agreements (PTAs), and 2) the effect of structural and policy changes on the welfare impact of PTAs. It is shown that, on the import side, the home country loses from a PTA between small countries (and the PTA as a whole...

This paper draws on Hinkle and Schiff (2003). It analyses the planned Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from a development perspective. It does not take a position on whether SSA should enter into EPAs with the EU. Rather, it starts from the...

Labor market integration raises welfare in the absence of distortions. This paper examines labor and goods market integration in a general-equilibrium model with social capital. The findings are: (i) labor market integration has an ambiguous impact on welfare, and raises it if the goods and...

A number of studies have examined the implications of preference interdependence. This paper models individual utility as depending either on the level of other people's consumption or on the difference in consumption levels. It assumes that the impact of an increase in other people's...

The smaller the volume (or share) of imports from the trading partner, the larger the impact of a preferential trade agreement on home country welfare - because the smaller the imports, the smaller the loss in tariff revenue. And the home country is better off as a small member of a large bloc...

This paper examines the impact of the brain drain, human capital and inequality on institutions in a country where a rent-seeking elite levies a tax on the residents in migrants’ home country, and where skilled migrants and skilled and unskilled residents can affect the likelihood of regime...