We revisit the heterogeneous effects of regional trade agreements (RTAs) using a PPML gravity model and comparing apparel and total trade. The politically-sensitive apparel sector has specialized, usually restrictive, rules of origin (ROOs) clauses that vary considerably across RTAs. Our RTA...

Are product standards protectionism in disguise? This paper estimates the costs of non-compliance with U.S. product standards, using a new database on U.S. import refusals from 2002 to 2012. We find that import refusals significantly decrease exports to the United States. This trade reducing...

An 'Appropriate Industrial Policy' for Peripheral and Catching-up Economies The global economy has been undergoing rapid structural change the impressive development processes in a range of emerging economies have induced strong shifts in global trade shares; international production networks...

We use micro data collected at the border and at retailers to characterize the effects brought by recent changes in US trade policy - particularly the tariffs placed on imports from China - on importers, consumers, and exporters. We start by documenting that the tariffs were almost fully passed...

Mexico’s structural reforms are already boosting productivity, but more can be done. This paper focuses on issues that have led to the success of the “modern” Mexico, and have led to difficulties with the “traditional” Mexico. These include the success of Global Value Chains (GVCs) in...

Financial inclusion and women entrepreneurship concern policymakers because of their impact on job creation, economic growth and women empowerment. Women in Mexico do engage in paid work but many of them work in the informal sector because they lack opportunities to work in the formal sector....

Over the past decade, sound macroeconomic policies and an improved business environment have helped generate relatively strong GDP growth. Investments in infrastructure are improving connectivity and trade integration has been facilitated by lower tariffs. Simplification in opening of...

Housing markets of large cities around the world, particularly in so-called developing and emerging countries, are currently experiencing a clash: On the one hand, large numbers of labour migrants arrive from rural areas and need cheap rental housing. On the other hand, international real estate...

This paper focuses on how the forces of globalisation, specifically the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), have affected women's wages in the apparel sector in developing countries. Using household and labour force surveys from Cambodia and Sri Lanka, we find large positive wage premiums and a...

This paper focuses on how the forces of globalisation, specifically the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA), have affected women's wages in the apparel sector in developing countries. Using household and labour force surveys from Cambodia and Sri Lanka, we find large positive wage premiums and a...