This paper identifies the most restrictive limit that rules of origin can enforce and still continue to guarantee gains from trade area formation in general settings. Many commonly used rules of origin exceed this condition in practise. Second, free trade areas generally involve unharmonized...

This paper constructs a framework for analysing the welfare effects of free trade areas. We provide an alternative verification of the Panagariya-Krishna proposition on free trade areas, shortening the proof, covering a broader set of circumstances, and showing the necessary income flows to...

We investigate the limits of a mechanism for free trade area (FTA) formation that simultaneously satisfies internal industrialization targets. For arbitrary targets, we find necessary and sufficient conditions that guarantee that the mechanism is efficient for member countries individually, even...

In this paper we construct a mechanism where any group of nations can form a welfare enhancing free trade area and, at the same time, satisfy their industrialization targets efficiently. The mechanism does not rely on cross-country transfers and, therefore, allows each member country to reap...

This paper constructs a simplified framework for analyzing the welfare effects of free trade areas. We provide an alternative proof of the Panagariya-Krishna proposition on free trade areas, shortening the proof, covering a broader set of circumstances, and showing that the necessary income...

The number of preferential trade agreements has greatly increased over the past two decades, yet most existing bilateral arrangements take the form of free trade areas, and less than ten percent can be considered to be fully fledged customs unions. This paper develops a political economy model...

This paper examines the trade policy response of Latin American governments to the rapid growth of China and India in world markets. To explain higher protection in sectors where a large share is imported from these countries, we extend the `protection for sale\' model to allow for di®erent...

We use a multi-country asymmetric oligopolistic framework for segmented markets to study the welfare effects of reducing tariff discriminations - which we call a move towards Most Favored Nation tariffs. Both unilateral and multilateral reforms are considered. We investigate this issue under...

The number of preferential trade agreements has greatly increased over the past two decades, yet most existing arrangements take the form of free trade areas, and less than ten percent can be considered to be fully fledged customs unions. This paper develops a political economy model of trade...

No abstract received.