In the early 1980's, faced with a mounting debt crisis, most highly indebted developing countries increased trade barriers to generate more foreign exchange; but in the last three to four years, they have reversed course. Almost all highly indebted countries have undergone real devaluations and...

This paper presents policy- and outcome-based ways of measuring the progress of market-oriented reforms in both traditional areas of first-generation reform and the areas of institutional reform that have been emphasized lately. These policy areas are the domestic financial system; international...

There is as yet no fully satisfactory way to compare income per capita of the former Soviet Union with that of other economies. Even more problematic is compiling estimates for the separate economies that have emerged with the breakup of the Soviet Union. The main problem is the isolated...

In the late 1980s, after decades of poor economic management, many Latin American and Caribbean countries undertook structural reform that placed them on a path toward superior economic performance. The authors examine the experience in structural reform in five areas: governance (reforming...

Based on static analysis, a number of studies argue that forming a regional trade agreement is more likely to raise welfare if member countries are"natural trading partners,"while other studies claim that the opposite is true. Schiff and Wang look at the argument from a dynamic viewpoint by...

The author examines the main distinction between trade liberalization under the General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT) and under regional trading agreements. Under the GATT, trade liberalization is based on the most-favored-nation principle. Under regional trade agreements, it is based on...

The authors are particularly interested in evaluating the concern that efficiency or policy-induced changes in the supply of exports of primary commodities, such as cocoa, coffee, and tea, may lead to such a large decline in the prices of those commodities that export revenues and incomes of the...

Over the past three decades, free trade agreements were mostly a European phenomenon European Free Trade Agreement [EFTA], European Economic Community [EEC], and their regional arrangements). Recently, this phenomenon has reached the Americas and is growing. The authors show that free trade...

Some economists have argued that the process of disintegration of the world economy between the two world wars led to income divergence between the countries. This is in keeping with the view that economic integration leads to income convergence. The paper shows that the view that the period...

The alarming increase in the number of antidumping actions pursued by both industrial and developing countries has caused considerable concern among economists, lawyers, and trade reformers. These concerns have led to suggestions to substitute antitrust principles for antidumping laws and...