Recent empirical evidence documents the superior characteristics of exporters relative to non-exporters. Three explanations for this phenomenon have been proposed: self-selection; learning-by-exporting; and conscious self-selection. We test these three hypotheses using plant-level data from...

explain tariffs as the outcome of a lobbying process. In most empirical implementations of this framework protection is instead measured using non-tariff barriers. Since tariffs allow the government to fully capture the rents from protection, while non-tariff barriers do not, the existing...

We study how the sequential formation of free trade areas affects trade flows between member countries. In a three-country, three-good model of comparative advantage if two countries have an FTA, and both sign a similar agreement with the third, trade between the two decreases. However, if only...