How Openness to Trade Rescued the Irish Economy

The Death of Irish Trade Protectionism: A Political Economy Analysis

The decision to abandon protectionism and move to a more open economy is considered one of the most important developments in modern Irish economic history. Drawing on recent work in the field of international political economy, we propose a new explanation for this important policy change based on interest groups’ demands. More specifically, we argue that Irish agriculture’s needs were highly ...

Trade openness, capital openness and government size

This paper provides empirical evidence of the relation between trade openness, capital openness and government expenditures in a cross-sectional time-series context. It is shown that capital openness is significantly and negatively related to government expenditures in line with the conventional wisdom that capital mobility may undermine the ability of governments to maintain larger public sect...

Trade Openness and Antitrust Law*

Abstract. Openness to international trade and adopting stringent antitrust laws are both ways that countries can curb anticompetitive behavior. But scholars have long debated the relationship between these two tools. Some have argued that greater trade openness makes antitrust unnecessary, while others have argued that antitrust laws are still needed to realize the benefits of trade liberalizat...

Trade and the Informal Economy

It was generally understood during the 1960s and 1970s that, with economic growth, the informal economy would shrink. But despite strong global growth that coincided with a massive increase in international trade, many jobs in developing countries remain in the informal economy. The share of employment in the informal economy has been persistent in many developing countries over recent decades ...

Bilateral trade , openness and asset holdings