Trade Policy and Economic Welfare.

Welfare Reducing Trade and Optimal Trade Policy

This paper shows that free trade reduces the welfare of a small country with unemployment unless the free trade price if the importable falls below the autarky equivalent price. A decline in the price of the importable from the autarky level not only improves the terms of trade but also reduces employment and production in the importable sector. A numerical example illustrates that the autarky ...

Strategic Interaction, Trade Policy, and National Welfare

Trade Policy , Income Risk , and Welfare ∗

This paper studies empirically the relationship between trade policy and individual income risk faced by workers. The analysis proceeds in three steps. First, longitudinal data on workers are used to estimate time-varying individual income risk parameters in various manufacturing sectors. The estimated income risk parameters and data on trade barriers are then used to analyze the relationship b...

Internationalisation of Economic Policy Research Paper 2003 / 31 Welfare state , market imperfections and international trade

Within a two-sector-two-country model of trade with aggregate scale economies and unionisation, a more generous welfare state in one country increases welfare in that country and can have positive spillover effects on the other. Furthermore, synchronised expansions of social security are more welfare enhancing than unilateral ones. Our results counter the fears that a race to the bottom in soci...

Trade Patterns and Welfare

By employing a model with international trade costs and imperfect competition, in which a domestic firm serves both the domestic market and the foreign market, we show that intraindustry trade compared to intersectoral trade is globally, but not mutually, welfare improving. When also foreign firms become active, competition strengthens but domestic welfare declines, because domestic consumers h...