Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) usually result in increased trade amongst member countries and lower prices within the PTA. Thus the markets are assumed to be “more competitive” because lower prices are taken to imply “decreased market power” due to a reduction in price-cost...

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...

With free trade areas (FTAs) under negotiation between Japan and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) members and between the Republic of Korea and AFTA members, preferential market access will become more important in Asian regionalism. Protectionist pressures will likely increase through rules of...

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 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 attempts to assess the discriminatory impact that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement could have on the EU economy. It gives robust evidence that the discriminatory impact will be dramatic if the TPP is successful in reducing or abolishing “behind the border” barriers...

This study offers an empirical microlevel analysis of the pass-through effects of the East African Community Common External Tariff on consumer prices in Kenya. Using data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Surveys conducted in 2005 and 2015, this research employs a fixed-effects model...

We apply the gravity model to examine the effects of the Andean Community and Mercosur on both intra-regional and intra-industrial trade in the period 1980- 1997. After accounting for size distance and competitiveness effects, the Andean Community preferential trade agreements had a significant...

The slow pace of multilateral negotiations has given a greater impetus to regional trade arrangements (RTA) as countries are eager to take advantage of welfare enhancing trade creation effect of trade liberalization. At the same time, this approach raises concerns as due their discriminatory...

The paper aims to show the uneven process of integration of Polish manufacturing into the Single Market due to differentiational changes in competitiveness across industries (third digit level of NACE Rev. 1.1 classification) in 1996-2001. It starts with a discussion on the nature and...