Drawing on a new analytical framework provided by the economic theory of optimal legal areas, this paper identifies the factors determining the optimal size of the European Union. It applies this theory to the question of how enlargement affects the welfare of the current and the new members of...

Trade regulation may never have been in more flux than it is now. Other than the emergence of ‘megaregionals' (such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership-TTIP or the Trans-pacific Partnership-TPP) and the difficulties in finalizing the Doha Development Agenda, increased...

Trade liberalization has proceeded on the assumption that eventual aggregate welfare gains will exceed the losses. While compensatory mechanisms exist in most countries, they tend to be underfunded and ineffective. To begin to address this problem, the direct beneficiaries from trade...

The WTO Agreement is said to be unconcerned with trade effects. Instead, WTO member countries incur state responsibility on the basis of their acts alone. This responsibility is reinforced by the irrebuttable presumption contained in DSU Art. 3.8 and longstanding practice, which together...

This paper takes a welfare-view on eastern enlargement of the EU, focusing on incumbent countries. Enlargement is decomposed into three elements: Single-market integration on commodity markets, budgetary costs from EU-expenditure policies, and singlemarket-induced migration from new to present...

Aim/purpose - This paper surveys three decades of empirical literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade across the former Soviet economic space. In this survey, we outline the current state of research, discuss data limitations, and identify topics for further studies....

Risks that are associated with an uncertain trading world have been dealt with using two different techniques in the literature: defensive, or insurance approaches, and preventive, or self-protection approaches. Much of the earlier work was emphasized by security issues but with the end of the...

Abuse is one of the core issues in EU direct tax matters. Much has been written over the past years. The discussion on the interpretation and application of the different elements of the anti-abuse clauses appears to be settling. However, an equally fascinating discussion appears to be emerging:...