We estimate tariff equivalents (TEs) of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) using a series of gravity equations. Our analysis focuses on New Zealand, a nation that has a comprehensive free trade agreement (with Australia) that can be used to benchmark other trade negotiations. We estimate reductions in...

We propose a structural model of the interaction between the aluminium market and the macroeconomy incorporating the rational expectations hypothesis. Based on a competition à la Cournot, our model predicts that aluminium spot price and inventories will respond to macroeconomic shocks to line...

This paper studies instrument choice under market-based regulations when governments expropriate private property in order to protect the environment. The analysis uses survey data collected for Bangkok's old motorcycle retirement program. While the literature studies only "Cash for Clunkers"...

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the credit channel as a transmission mechanism of monetary policy in 20th century economic history by applying a Markov-switching model on the default premium of U.S. corporate bond portfolios. Beside the stance of monetary policy and the state of the...

A pilot empirical study is carried out on how income inequality affects growth through incorporating panel data information into a quarterly macro-econometric model of China. Provincial urban and rural household data are used to construct income inequality measures, which are then used to...

Most economists and policy-makers would now agree that economic growth - in the sense of rising per capita incomes or expenditures - reduces poverty in the developing world. However, it is also true that per capita data does not adequately account for individuals who have fallen into the poverty...

Realization of comparative advantage (David Ricardo) raises issues of income distribution that emerge when specialization gains are achieved. While the Stolper-Samuelson theorem 'predicts' that because of trade liberalization in 'rich countries' like Austria or Germany wages may fall and real...

With the change in donors' priorities since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, there has been a decline in annual aid inflows to Pacific island countries (PICs), which have been among the world's top recipients of aid per capita in the past. Along with fall in aid inflows, growing annual...