In this paper, I discuss the effects of certain trade policy measures, mostly import tariffs, presently contemplated by the US government, aimed at enhancing domestic employment in a number of targeted industries. I intend to show that insofar as such measures restrain free trade among NAFTA...

Increased international production fragmentation implies that firms at home rely on imported intermediates for production. In this context, tariff policy design needs to consider the impact downstream of changes in tariffs upstream. Policy makers embarking on tariff reforms need to answer...

This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade...

Recent research suggests that much of the cross-firm variation in measured productivity is due to differences in use of advanced management practices. Many of these practices - including monitoring, goal setting, and the use of incentives - are mediated through employee decision-making and...

Recent research suggests that much of the cross-firm variation in measured productivity is due to differences in use of advanced management practices. Many of these practices – including monitoring, goal setting, and the use of incentives – are mediated through employee decision-making and...

Building on the results of the OECD-WTO Trade in Value-Added TiVA database, the paper analyses the evolution of effective protection in about 50 developed and developing countries from 1995 to 2008. The paper reviews also the role of preferential agreements on effective protection as well as the...

Building on the results of the OECD-WTO Trade in Value-Added TiVA database, the paper analyses the evolution of effective protection in about 50 developed and developing countries from 1995 to 2008. The paper reviews also the role of preferential agreements on effective protection as well as the...

Building on the results of the OECD-WTO Trade in Value-Added TiVA database, the paper analyses the evolution of effective protection in about 50 developed and developing countries from 1995 to 2008. The paper reviews also the role of preferential agreements on effective protection as well as the...

Global Value Chains are a dominant feature of today’s global economy, yet their empirical analysis is still incipient. Building on a recent OECD-WTO database and the results of an on-going research program at WTO, the present essay contributes at filling this gap, after introducing the main...

With the rise of global value chains, effective protection rates (EPRs) provide important insights on the impact of nominal tariffs on the competitiveness of industries. Building on the results of the OECD-WTO Trade in Value-Added TiVA database, the paper analyses the evolution of EPRs in about...

With international trade moving from trade in (final) goods to trade in tasks, effective protection rates (EPRs) are back to the stage, allowing us to measure the overall protection of a product or sector by including the production structure and the origin of the inputs -domestic or imported....

With international trade moving from "trade in (final) goods" to "trade in tasks", effective protection rates (EPRs) are back to the stage, allowing us to measure the overall protection of a product or sector by including the production structure and the origin of the inputs -domestic or...

This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade...

International trade moved from "trade in goods" to "trade in tasks" and effective protection rates (EPRs) are back to the analytical stage. They measure the overall protection that sectoral value-added is receiving from applied tariffs. The paper calculates sectorial EPRs for 10 Asian-Pacific...

With international trade moving from trade in (final) goods to trade in tasks, effective protection rates (EPRs) are back to the stage, allowing us to measure the overall protection of a product or sector by including the production structure and the origin of the inputs -domestic or imported....

We examine the simultaneous effects of real-exchange-rate movements and of tariff reductions on plant death in Canadian manufacturing industries between 1979 and 1996. We find that both currency appreciation and tariff cuts increase the probability of plant death, but that tariff reductions have...

We study the impact of import protection on relationship-specific investments, organizational choice and welfare. We show that a tariff on intermediate inputs can improve social welfare through mitigating hold-up problems. It does so if it discriminates in favor of the investing party, thereby...

"This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade...

"This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade...

In an incomplete contracts model where there are otherwise no social motives for protection, we show that protection is socially beneficial when a buyer outsources customized inputs from a specialized domestic supplier while also purchasing generic inputs from the world market. The reason is...

Recent studies on trade policy for low-income countries have established that high transport costs associated with poor quality infrastructure in countries such as Uganda represent a barrier to trade and an additional source of protection to domestic producers of import competing goods. This...

This paper discusses the issue whether developing countries forego chances in world manufactured markets by protecting intermediate services against market entry of new suppliers. By scanning the empirical literature on effective rates of protection (ERP), the evidence is supportive. Yet, it...

In the late nineteenth century, the United States imposed high tariffs to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition. This paper examines the magnitude of protection given to import-competing producers and the costs imposed on export-oriented producers by focusing on changes in the...

The paper studies the impact of trade liberalization on competition and productivity. Competition is the main channel through which trade liberalization affects economic performance. Competition fosters innovation and technology adoption which leads to increases in competitiveness and growth...

A moment of consequence to the postbellum U.S. tariff debate was the 'conversion' of David Ames Wells, Commissioner of the Revenue from 1865- 1870, to free trade. When he began his work Wells was a disciple of the eminent American protectionist Henry C. Carey. By the age of forty, however, he...

This paper aims to review the impact of the various tariff legislations passed from 1998 to 2003 on the structure of protection in the Philippines. The paper finds that while the overall level of effective protection has declined, it has remained uneven as some selected sectors have continued to...

The paper studies the impact of trade liberalization on competition and productivity. Competition is the main channel through which trade liberalization affects economic performance. Competition fosters innovation and technology adoption which leads to increases in competitiveness and growth...

The objective of this document is to evaluate MERCOSUR trade policy from two complementary perspectives. In the first case, the effective protection level that results from de chosen tariff structure is determined. In the second case, the protection costs in a set of selected sectors are estimated.

The paper studies the impact of trade liberalization on competition and productivity. Competition is the main channel through which trade liberalization affects economic performance. Competition fosters innovation and technology adoption which leads to increases in competitiveness and growth...

This article offers a critical analysis of the many contributions on ‘tariff-growth paradox’ (or Bairoch paradox) since 1972. The publication in 2000 of O\'Rourke paper’s has reconsidered the debate on the linkages between trade policy and economic growth between 1870 and 1914. The...