Over the time a large number of reciprocal preferential trade agreements (RTAs) have been concluded among countries. Recently many studies have used gravity equations in order to estimate the effect of RTAs on trade flows between partners. These studies report very different estimates since they...

This work provides a revised method of aggregation of tariff line data that is consistent with a common objective of the preferential policies. Using constant-elasticity-of-substitution aggregators we compute the uniform preferential tariff reduction that would leave the volume of imports...

In the international trade literature there seems to be some confusion between quot;opennessquot; and quot;protectionquot; measures. The aim of this paper is to bring together the quot;state of the artquot; in quantifying trade policy measures, so we focus on the extent of the protection granted...

Building on the work by Anderson and Neary on theoretically grounded trade policy indexes, we define an aggregate measure (Mercantilistic trade preference index - MTPI) of the trade referential margins. The MTPI provides a method of aggregation that is consistent with a common objective of the...

The aim of this paper is to assess of the impact of the European Union's trade preferences on global trade, focusing on several methodological issues that are relevant to the trade-creating impact of these preferences. Using highly disaggregated eight-digit data in a theoretically grounded...