The case is studied where several small countries, wanting to set second-best tariffs to maximize objective functions, move from the situation where they can set their most appropriate tariffs to the situation where they form a customs union. By dividing the overall effect of forming customs...

This paper develops three bodies of analysis. First, I examine the bilateral estimation of income yields from financial assets in 10 OECD countries. There are three kinds of assets: debt, portfolio equity, and FDI. I found that Finland, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. have large advantages of...

PTAs are generally negotiated without any tariff concessions or transfers to non-member countries. Can such a PTA benefit the neighbors' welfare? In a two-good competitive equilibrium model in the absence of an entrepot, a PTA without concessions to the outsider will hurt the outsider's welfare...

This paper examines the effects of lobbying activities across international borders, on determining each country’s import tariff in a multi-principal, multi-agent, menu-auction model. Cross-border political donations could promote international policy cooperation because of two of their...

PTAs are generally negotiated without any tariff concessions or transfers to non-member countries. Can such a PTA benefit the neighbors’ welfare? In a two-good competitive equilibrium model in the absence of an entrepot, a PTA without concessions to the outsider will hurt the outsider’s...

The Lerner paradox is the possibility that a tariff on an import good might worsen a country’s terms of trade, and the Metzler paradox is the possibility that a tariff on an import good might reduce a country’s import price. In a general equilibrium framework with multiple goods, this paper...

This paper investigates economic and political factors which explain the presence or absence of preferential trade agreements (PTAs). A model of three countries with imperfect competition markets is employed for theoretical analysis of political economy. The validity of theoretical results is...

This paper investigates whether the Global System of Trade Preferences among developing countries (GSTP) achieves its intent to increase the trade of capital goods between member countries. For this purpose, trade data disaggregated by the degree of commodity differentiation and various GSTP...