A political economy model of protection is used to determine endogenously the intersectoral patterns of protection. Three propositions are derived that are consistent with the stylized patterns of tariff protection in rich and poor countries: Nominal protection rates escalate with the degree of...

The estimated coefficient of distance on the volume of trade is generally found to increase rather than decrease through time using the traditional gravity model of trade. This distance puzzle proved robust to several ad hoc versions of the model using data for 1962-96 for a large sample of 130...

The effective market access granted to textiles and apparel under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is estimated, taking into account the presence of rules of origin. First, estimates are provided of the effect of tariff preferences combined with rules of origin on the border...

The least developed countries rely on preferential market access. To benefit from these preferences, proof of sufficient transformation must be provided to customs in importing countries by meeting the rules of origin requirements. These rules of origin are complicated and burdensome to...

In most destination countries, immigration policies are tilted more and more in favor of skilled individuals. Whether this shift hurts economic prospects in sending countries, as argued by the traditional brain drain literature, is somewhat controversial. The most recent literature focuses on...

This trend is raising considerable concern among policymakers in developing countries, wary of having to bear the cost of educating and then losing their most entrepreneurial and talented workers. The possibility for educated migrants to move abroad should raise the returns to education and, in...

For developing countries the 1980s was a decade of external shocks whose adverse effects were compounded by domestic macroeconomic imbalances and structural inefficiencies. The performance of developing countries during this decade, however, was not uniform. The effects of terms of trade and...

This article analyzes the resource implications of voluntary export restraints (VERs) for exporting countries. A simple analytical method is used to demonstrate that, by reducing the marginal revenue of its factors of production, a VER causes an industry in the exporting country to contract, and...