Commodity prices in maize and wheat have risen by more than 50 percent since 2006. While much of this increase reflects increasing demand and some constraints on supply, another factor contributing to the rising prices is the export restraints implemented by major grain exporting countries, such...

We derive a method to econometrically estimate the tariff equivalent and foregone trade effects of a prohibitive technical barrier to trade (TBT) based on Wales and Woodland's Kuhn-Tucker approach to corner solutions in consumer choice. The method overcomes the lack of observed data on bilateral...

This paper studies the effect of strengthening intellectual property rights (IPRs) after the signing of the TRIPS on agricultural trade and bilateral trade links, for the period 1995-2011. It uses data of agricultural exports and an index of intellectual property (IP) protection that considers...

In the analysis of bilateral trade flows, reported trade of zero or missing observations are quite common and this is a problem when estimating log-linear gravity equations. This has caused many researchers to either ignore the zero trade flows or to replace the zero with a small positive...

This paper uses detailed information on the latitude and longitude of conflict events within a set of Sub-Saharan African countries to study the impact of external income shocks on the likelihood of violence. We consider a number of external demand shocks faced by the country or the regions...

This paper reviews the status of Agricultural Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa. It addresses the potential economic benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa and the effect biotechnology policies may have on growth, production and poverty reduction. The extent to which agricultural biotechnology will...

One rationale for the infant industry argument is that, by protecting domestic firms from foreign competition, this increases rents and investment in innovation and other growth enhancing measures. Using data on 4,750 firms across 13 developing countries, we examine whether protection via...

Trade economists traditionally study the effect of lower variable trade costs. While increasingly important politically, technical barriers to trade (TBTs) have received less attention. Viewing TBTs as fixed regulatory costs related to the entry into export markets, we use a model with...

Since firm heterogeneity has been introduced into international trade models, the importance of firm entry and exit (the extensive margin) has been highlighted. In fact, Chaney (2008) illustrates how accounting for this extensive margin and heterogenous firms alters the standard gravity...

This paper analyses the trade effects of restrictive product standards on the margins of trade for a large panel of French firms. To focus on restrictive product standards only, we use a new database compiling the list of measures that have been raised as concerns in dedicated committees of the...