This paper investigates the implications for international markets of the existence of retailers/wholesalers with market power. Two main results are shown. First, in the presence of buyer power trade liberalization may lead to retail market concentration. Due to this concentration retail prices may be higher and welfare may be lower in free trade than in autarky, thus reversing the standard e¤e...

In practice, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) vastly outnumber Customs Unions (CUs). Nevertheless, the literature traditionally views CUs as optimal for members because CU members coordinate external tariffs. I show that a dynamic FTA flexibility benefit can help explain the prevalence of FTAs: individual FTA members have the flexibility to form their own future FTAs whereas CU members must jointly...

In order to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the robustness of the quantitative results of applied trade policy simulations to variations in the assumptions about firm conduct, this article provides a systematic synopsis of alternative formulations of imperfectly competitive supply behaviour in applied general equilibrium trade models and examines the sensitivity of simulated...

This paper uses an oligopoly model with heterogeneous firms to examine how an industry adjusts to rising import competition. The model predicts that in the short run the least efficient firms in the industry become inactive, surviving firms face a fall in output, mark-ups and profits, and the average productivity of survivors increases. These pro-competitive effects of import penetration on the...

This paper presents an integrated view of economic growth, development traps, and economic geography. We explain why there is income convergence among some countries (neoclassical regime) and income divergence among others (poverty trap regime). Income convergence (divergence) and manufacturing industry di¤usion (agglomeration) are re-enforcing each other in a cumulative process. Moreover, trad...

We study the influence of minimum quality standards in a two-region partial-equilibrium model of vertical product differentiation and trade. Three alternative standard setting arrangements are considered: Full Harmonization, National Treatment and Mutual Recognition. The analysis integrates the choice of a particular standard setting alternative by governments into the model. We provide a set o...

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on firm heterogeneity in international trade. A first wave of empirical findings from micro data on plants and firms proposed challenges for existing models of international trade and inspired the development of new theories emphasizing firm heterogeneity. Subsequent empirical research has examined additional predictions of these theories and explored o...

This paper examines the importance of factor mobility within countries for the manifestation of agglomeration and location effects emphasized in the new economic geography literature. Working with a model of trade under monopolistic competition, the relationship of factor mobility (in particular labor) to industry adjustment and relocation is developed analytically, and then illustrated with a ...

MARKET STRUCTURE, TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND THE GATS J.F. Francois and I. Wooton Abstract: In this paper we consider the impact of improved domestic market access for a foreign service provider. We emphasize the interaction between the different modes of market access commitments in services (cross-border and establishment) market structure, and regulation. We work with a model where the domesti...