Government policies designed to give domestic exporters a strategic advantage in world markets are completely effective only if the government can commit to those policies for as long as they affect firms' decisions. Export subsidies or other output policies that affect firms only in the current...

We study a model in which a customs union trades with countries that behaved strategically. If the members of the customs union are similar but not identical, one country will want to delegate authority for making union policy to its partner. Even if side-payments within the union are permitted,...

We analyse the interaction of asymmetric industries in international vertically related markets. Each downstream firm bargains efficiently with its domestic supplier in a first stage and with the foreign supplier in a second stage. The asymmetry in upstream costs leads to inter-industry trade....

The current price of a depletable resource depends on future demands and supplies, which affect how rapidly the resource is exhausted. Plans for future levels of demand and supply can therefore affect the current price. If agents have market power and can commit to future plans, then such plans...

We study the dynamics of optimal trade policy in a model with costly inter-sectoral adjustment of labour, where migrants pay less than the marginal social cost of migration. If workers have rational expectations, a future tariff has an announcement effect on the current migration decision. If...

After a brief period of liberal agricultural policies, Central and East European (CEE) countries have begun to rely increasingly on price subsidies and trade restrictions. We outline the situation of CEE agriculture and describe current policies. Scarce government funds could be better used to...

We use a North-South model with property right differences and resource dynamics to study the effects of trade on resource use and welfare. Autarky is likely to Pareto-dominate free trade in the long run when the environment is quite fragile, and the result is reversed when the environment is...

International investment agreements in bilateral treaties or free trade agreements allow investors to bring compensation claims when their investments are hurt by new regulations addressing environmental or other social concerns. Compensation rules such as expropriation clauses in international...

Polish economic data are assembled in order to assess the impact on the agricultural sector of the recent reforms. Evidence of recovery in this sector is slight, but the decline seems to have halted. Policy issues for agricultural reform are discussed, emphasizing regulation of monopolistic...

We analyse a model in which a government uses a second-best policy to affect the reallocation of labour, following a change in relative prices. We consider two extreme cases, in which the government has either unlimited or negligible ability to commit to future actions. We explain why the...