There is a growing number of studies that investigate the effect of trade liberalization on productivity and nearly all assume that trade policy is independently determined of productivity, hence it is exogenous. I show that this assumption is generally invalid both theoretically and...

There has been a proliferation of preferential trade agreements within the last two decades. This paper analyzes the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on external tariffs in small economies where protection decisions are made politically. It extends the Grossman and Helpman (1995) model by...

There is a growing literature where authors investigate the effect of trade liberalization on productivity. Nearly all such studies assume that trade policy is determined independently of productivity, hence it is exogenous. I show, both theoretically and empirically, that this assumption is not...

There has been a proliferation of preferential trade agreements within the last two decades. In this paper I analyze the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on external tariffs under a political economy setup. I extend the Grossman and Helpman (1995) model by determining tariff rates...