The landlocked and fragile countries Mali, Niger, and Chad have suffered, to varying degrees, from Dutch Disease, with high export concentration in natural resource commodities and in a few foreign markets, and little development of their non-resource economies. The three countries' ability to...

The authors examine the economic case for the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement signed on January 6, 2004 by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. They start with a detailed analysis of the preferential trading arrangements in South Asia to look at...

In 1995 the seven South Asian countries-Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka-initiated a multilateral framework for regionwide integration under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA). In a recent initiative, members agreed that SAPTA would begin...

The world has witnessed an impressive increase in trade over the past four decades. World merchandise trade increased from US$217 billion in 1962 to US$22.8 trillion in 2006. While industrialized countries accounted for the vast majority of this growth, between 1985 and 2006, developing...

In an era of global trade dominated by global value chains, much of the recent empiricalanalysis has focused on the impacts of non-tariff barriers, behind-the-border measures, and othertransaction costs on integration. Though most countries have substantially lowered their Most Favored Nation...

The authors examine the economic case for the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement signed on January 6, 2004 by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. They start with a detailed analysis of the preferential trading arrangements in South Asia to look at...

In 1995 the seven South Asian countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - initiated a multilateral framework for regionwide integration under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA). In a recent initiative, members agreed that SAPTA would...