Oligopoly behaviour by domestic firms faced with foreign competition in a small open economy is examined in the context of a market for differentiated products. This paper concentrates on the responsiveness of import flows to import price in the context of trade with imperfect competition. The...

The fundamental building block of the economic theory of competition is that the most ideal condition of competition is represented by perfect competition. It refers to a situation in which the market is characterized by the presence of a large number of sellers selling homogenous products....

The author argues that increased foreign competition can affect technical choice and skill differentials even when actual imports do not rise significantly. A model is presented of general oligopolistic equilibrium (GOLE) in which a reduction in import barriers (whether technological or...

The U.S. Department of Justice, the European Commission, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have all recently voiced concern about international price- fixing cartels. The U.S. and European Union have increased prosecution of international cartels in the past decade,...

We show that the effects of tariff changes on welfare and import volume are fully characterised by their effects on the generalised mean and variance of the tariff distribution, implying two “cones of liberalisation” in commodity price space. Because welfare is negatively but import volume...

A basic result of new economic geography (NEG) models is that the proximity to consumer markets impacts wages and employment within regions. The ongoing process of European integration, being targeted on the reduction of barriers to trade and factor mobility, has presumably changed relative...

This paper analyses the economic effects of different magnitudes of tariff cuts, different tariff cutting formulas, the implications of tariff capping as well as different numbers and width of tariff bands in the market access pillar of the Doha Round agricultural negotiations. The simulations...

In a context in which price uncertainty is likely to increase, expected market trends need to be taken carefully into account while negotiating international trade policy rules. This paper aims at analyzing what is their influence on the use of policy flexibilities in the context of WTO...

Market access in the WTO is highly fragmented due to exceptions from GATT principles. Tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) stand in contradiction to the principle of the GATT, according to which all quantitative restrictions in international trade should be eliminated. Bhagwati’s theorem of the...

It is important that Queensland horticultural producers develop export capacity. Production is increasing and Australia has a relatively small domestic market. Export also provides a means to diversify as a risk management strategy and to arrest the income decline from existing markets. This...