Free Trade Agreements and Governance of the Global Trading System

Free Trade Agreements and Governance of the Global Trading System

IN 1995 when the WTO was established, it seemed to be final confirmation of the success of a system that had managed multilateral trade relations since 1947. It provided an institutional framework within which governments were not only able to negotiate reductions in trade barriers but also to bind themselves to rules of conduct that, in principle, were both universal and nondiscriminatory. Abo...

Endogenous Free Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System

I evaluate in this paper the impact of free trade areas (FTAs) on the world trading system. I use an oligopolistic-political-economy model where the external tariffs of FTA members, as well as the decision to form FTAs, are endogenously determined. In this context, I show that FTAs are primarily beneficial to the multilateral trading system. This conclusion is based, first, upon the finding tha...

Free-trade agreements: challenges for global health

In this study new free-trade agreements are discussed, which are based on the breaking down of tariff and technical barriers and normally exclude most of the poorest countries in the world. Considering the current context of economic globalization and its health impacts, seven controversial points of these treaties and their possible implications for global public health are presented, mainly r...

ANZUS Free Trade Agreements: Results from a Global Model

Reciprocity in Free Trade Agreements

We use detailed trade, tariff, and income data for countries involved in 91 trade agreements negotiated since 1980 to test for reciprocity in free trade agreements. The results offer strong evidence of reciprocity in North-North and South-South free trade agreements, but there is little empirical support for reciprocity in North-South trade agreements. In particular, after controlling for other...