This paper considers regional and unilateral trade policy options for the West Bank and Gaza (WBG). It examines the welfare implications of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Israel, a customs union (CU) with Israel, and a nondiscriminatory trade policy (NDTP). The analysis captures the fact that...

A few studies have shown that free trade agreements have affected the pattern of state exports. This paper examines the effects of free trade agreements on US state vegetable and fruit trade flows. We propose a single commodity gravity equation to overcome a common shortcoming of most gravity...

Whether international economic integration arrangements result in a more liberal trade at the multilateral level cannot be proven with ease. Integration may start this process, but it may also reverse it. New mega-integration deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Regional Comprehensive...

This paper uses a combination of empirical models to investigate how much of a problem the removal of barriers on trade between the ASEM countries is likely to pose for adjustment in the EU economies. While existing revealed comparative advantage and the relative height of barriers suggest that...

This study examines the development of trade between ASEAN and New Zealand. Indices of trade intensity and trade potential are used to analyse the intensity of existing trade for the period 1980~2010 and trade potential going forward. This is the first use of the trade potential method to assess...

From 2004, enlargement of the European Union is expected to bring substantial net economic benefits. Herein lies a weakness, in that practically all empirical studies characterise ‘single market’ accession using simple ad hoc uniform percentage reductions in trade costs. Employing a modified...

This paper assesses the impact of Jordan’s substantial trade liberalization over the last two decades. Using a gravity model, a large country sample, and a long time-series, we estimate the effects of various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession on both...

This paper shows a new exposition of the Trade Diversion Effect when Free Trade Agreements are created. Hub and spoke type of trade networks cause systemic overproduction, and member countries exit from the markets, whereas perfectly connected networks create sustainable markets in any number of...

This paper argues that a China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CJK FTA) will have large benefits to the three Northeast Asian countries and significant implications for global multilateral trade. However, several hurdles seem to make an expeditious completion of a CJK FTA, or even bilateral...

This paper studies how income inequality affects the probability of signing free trade agreements (FTAs) in a political economy framework. The median voter approach to FTA formation within a Heckscher-Ohlin framework predicts that an increase in inequality lowers the desirability of an FTA if...