If South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are to become constructively engaged in the next attempt by World Trade Organization (WTO) members to liberalize trade multilaterally, they need to be convinced that there will be sufficient gains from trade reform to warrant the inevitable costs of...

Although textile and apparel imports from most countries entered the United States quota-free after the expiration of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing on January 1, 2005, substantial restraints remain on U.S. trade in these sectors, including high tariffs, quantitative restraints on China...

This paper explores the poverty impact of Vietnam’s trade liberalisation over the 1990s and asks how well they could have been predicted from prior data. We identify policy changes and their major effects on trade and prices. We then seek the effects of these changes in a panel comprising...

The agreement recently signed between Morocco and the United States foresees several modalities in dismantling tariffs. Our simulations show that the various modalities of trade liberalization may have different impacts on the welfare, the rate of growth and the sectoral trade balance of these...

This paper discusses the challenges confronting developing countries seeking to use WTO negotiations to promote their economic growth and performance. Progress will require that major stakeholders within countries perceive the overall package to be beneficial. A number of possible focal points...

This study is motivated by frequent calls to harmonize labor standards across countries, which result from the fear that economic integration (and the accompanying liberalization of trade flows) will lead to an erosion of working conditions, as countries deliberately try to reduce labor...

We are interested in whether Preferential Trade Agreements facilitate attainment of Global Free Trade. Using a numerical general equilibrium model based on global trade data aggregated to 5 regions and 12 goods, we calculate the optimal tariffs in a Nash tariff-setting game when regions are free...

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...

The objective of this paper is to examine the effects of political asymmetries on a FTA and a CU. I have shown that either a higher lobbying sensitivity to the foreign firm or a more susceptibility of politicians to lobbying are sufficient to lead to a higher tariff protection at the individual...

Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the second largest intergovernmental organization after UN with its 57 members. OIC accounts for 22.48 percent of world population, 6.64 percent of world GDP, and 9.1 percent of world trade as of 2007. When it comes to having world valuable...