We study, theoretically and empirically, how countries choose intra-bloc tariffs and preferential margins when they form Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Our model indicates that countries should set systematically lower preferential margins when the bloc takes the form of a free trade area...

We document the partial utilization of the U.S. General System of Preferences program by exporters in Brazil, Egypt, and Thailand in 2020. Then we use tariff line-level econometric models to estimate the potential expansion of the exports of these beneficiary developing countries if the program...

In this paper, we examine the extent to which developing countries export more as a result of being officially labelled as an LDC and consequently being eligible for a range of unilateral trade preferences. We estimate a gravity model of trade over the period of 1970 to 2013, in which...