The paper studies the effects of regional integration on the incentives of mem - bers and non-members to undertake multilateral trade liberalization. Using a three- country political economy model with imperfect competion, it shows how regionalism can undermine support for multilateralism....

on detailed plant-level data, is used to contrast the impacts of the Morocco-EU free trade area (FTA) to multilateral trade liberalization on Morocco’s economy. Simulation results show that the FTA agreement is likely to have adverse effects on Morocco due to: (a) deteriorating terms of trade,...

We consider the impact of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from parent countries outside the PTA. While easier access to a larger market due to a PTA may justify new FDI, preexisting investments may be rationalized as firms concentrate...

This paper analyses the basic labour market inter-dependencies among coun - tries with intra-industrial trade and imper fectly competitive product and labour markets. The paper stresses two major channels through which increased integration may affect product markets and therefore in turn labour...

Traditional push-and-pull factors offered partial explanations to the size of large urban areas in the third world. Moreover, the growing literature in eco - nomic geography identifies an additional factor exacerbating the phenomenon, namely trade costs. The present study tests econometrically...

This paper corrects a shortcoming in the literature on computable general equilibrium models and imperfect competition with free entry and increasing returns to scale. The trade integration simulations applied to the US suggest that the shortcoming is quantitatively insignificant if key...

This paper examines the impact of market integration in the presence of a labor union. Effects on wages, employment, product price, firm profits, and union rents are analyzed. Both the theoretical model as well as numerical sim - ulations show the importance of factors such as the product demand...

When the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) formally adopted the principle of “open regionalism” (OR) in its trade liberalization in 1991, many were optimistic that this approach suggested the bloc as a stepping stone toward global free trade. This optimistic view was reinforced by the...