We show that, in competition between a developed country and a developing country over environmental standards and taxes, the developing country may have a 'second- mover advantage.' In our model, firms do not unanimously prefer lower environmental- standard levels. We introduce this feature to...

The GATT/WTO Article XXIV prevents a customs union (CU) from raising its common external tariff. In this paper, we compare CU formation with and without this Article XXIV constraint. We show, in a multi-country oligopoly model, that for a given CU structure, Article XXIV improves world welfare...

We show that, in a setting where tax competition promotes efficiency, variation in the extent to which firms can use public goods to reduce costs brings about a reduction in the intensity of tax competition. This in turn brings about a loss of efficiency. In this environment, a 'minimum tax'...

A new method is developed for allocating the changing use of skills among final demand growth, trade and technological change. In a multi-sector framework the skills content of intermediate and capital goods purchased is captured through input-output data. Technological change is measured...

This paper shows that the WTO's Article XXIV increases the likelihood of free trade, but may worsen world welfare when free trade is not reached and customs unions (CUs) form. We consider a model of many countries. Article XXIV prevents a CU from raising its common external tariff, which makes...

ECONOMICS ESSAYS ON THE EFFECTS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND OIL PRICE VOLATILITY IN OPEN ECONOMIES OSAYI ETHEL OVBIOSA-AKINBOSOYE Dissertation under the direction of Professor Eric W. Bond This work comprises three chapters. In the first two chapters, I study the effect of reductions in...

This dissertation contains three essays. In the first essay, we consider nontraded goods as an important impact on bilateral trade flows. A testable gravity equation is derived and a simple example is demonstrated. A sample of 1995 including 118 countries is examined. The results show that...

This work is concerned with the interdependent relationship between trade and the environment. It comprises three chapters. The first chapter (work done jointly with Joel Rodrigue) builds and estimates a dynamic model of investment in environmental abatement and exports with heterogeneous firms....