In this dissertation, possible reforms to the U.S. immigration policy are examined, particularly targeting undocumented migration. The global trade and migration model (GMig2) is modified to include a third labor category -- undocumented unskilled -- to reflect estimates of undocumented workers...

The global outsourcing of services has become increasingly important in the debate over globalization. In India, the most high profile services exporter, GDP per capita increased rapidly between 2001 and 2006 in a climate of increasing services trade, with the export-oriented services sector...

International trade relations have long surpassed the traditional concept of exchange in goods. Trade related aspects of intellectual property rights and investment measures are among the emerging trade policy issues of the 21st century. The goal of this dissertation is to shed light on certain...

In static applied general equilibrium models, the exogenous/endogenous split between variables (or closure) is used to infer the time frame over which the effects of a shock are simulated. This paper introduces a long-run closure for the GTAP model (Hertel and Tsigas, 1997) and uses this closure...

Due to the lack of political consensus at the previous General Agreement on Trade on Services (GATS), negotiations on the temporary movement of natural persons (Mode 4) have stagnated. The growth in the economic literature surrounding this issue has also been lackluster; despite the large...

Since China’s application in 1987 to resume its status in the Generalized Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT)/World Trade Organization (WTO) there has been a great deal of debate over the timing of China’s accession. Although most of the issues relating to the timing of China’s trade...

In static applied general equilibrium models, the exogenous/endogenous split between variables (or closure) is used to infer the time frame over which the effects of a shock are simulated. This paper introduces a long-run closure for the GTAP model (Hertel and Tsigas, 1997) and uses this closure...

A common phenomenon about transition economies is that the return to schooling improves as economic reform progresses. Existing research suggests that Vietnam is not an exception to the pattern. However, the rate of return for the period 1992-1998 is still relatively low, below 5%, relative to...

This paper uses a novel dataset collected by the first author from peri-urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2008 to examine how the poor use their loans, and factors affecting their credit participation and credit constraints. The paper finds the presence of many commercial banks in the...

We investigate the relationship between social distancing, as measured by encounter rates using cellphone proximity data, and COVID-19 infections and deaths. Consistent with the existing literature on the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions, we find a positive and statistically...