This article documents the Great Trade Collapse of 2008-09, as well as the dramatic recovery in trade of 2009-10. The authors consider how three distinct policy actions - fiscal stimulus, funding for trade finance, and a commitment to refrain from increasing trade barriers - might have affected...

This paper estimates the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on import protection policies over 1988:Q1-2010:Q4 for five industrialized economies - the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada and South Korea. We find evidence of a strong countercyclical trade policy response in the...

This paper estimates the impact of aggregate fluctuations on the time-varying trade policies of thirteen major emerging economies over 1989-2010; by 2010, these WTO member countries collectively accounted for 21 percent of world merchandise imports and 22 percent of world GDP. We examine...