We study whether financial openness facilitates the economic integration of formerly centrally planned economies with the EU-15. Two dimensions of economic integration are considered: cross-country convergence of per-capita incomes and bilateral trade in goods and services. We find that more financially open economies effectively catch-up faster and trade more with the EU-15. These integration-...

National economies are not randomly distributed in the global economy, but embedded in complex networks of trade, financial flows, and international organizations. This research uses this insight to address the Convergence-Divergence debate by focusing on how network structures at the international level affect domestic policy outcomes. My thesis posits that economic forces of globalization imp...

Using firm-level data for three Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and four manufacturing industries, I examine how imports from OECD countries lead to productivity gains for domestic establishments through their knowledge absorption capabilities. I find that domestic firms with technology standards farther away from the international frontier benefit more from trade than those with technology...

Th e present paper focuses on the role of domestic resource mobilization for fi nancing poverty reduction strategies. Policy makers should be aware of important macroeconomic trade-off s associated with MDG strategies fi nanced from tax increases or domestic borrowing. Th e trade-off s are largely intertemporal: can poor and middle-income countries absorb the initial fi nancing costs in order t...

Non-tariff measures are pervasive. In the area of merchandise trade, although tariffs have fallen worldwide, there has been no shortage of bureaucratic imagination in conceiving new non-tariff measures, or in turning existing regulatory instruments to protectionist ends. In the area of services trade, there is also a growing realisation that domestic regulatory regimes designed to address legit...

World food trade patterns have changed in the last 40 years with the share of world trade comprised of bulk commodities falling, and the share of world food trade comprised of processed commodities rising. These changes have been driven by a combination of supply and demand forces. On the demand side, world demand for livestock products and more highly processed food products has been rising mo...

This paper analyzes the results of the climate-energy-economy model, REMIND, to assess the regional costs of climate-change mitigation for reaching the 2 ̊C target with a medium to high likelihood. We assume that the global climate regime remains fragmented until 2020 after which a global mitigation target is adopted. We decompose the regional mitigation costs into (a) domestic and energy trade ...

The global trade in wildlife provides disease transmission mechanisms that not only result in human disease outbreaks, but also threaten livestock, international trade, rural livelihoods, native wildlife populations, and the health of ecosystems. Global movement of animals for the pet trade is estimated at some 350 million live animals, worth approximately US$20 billion per year. Approximately ...

The important characteristic of international competition between firms from developed and less developed countries is vertical product differentiation, where firms’ quality choices are strategic decisions. We consider a model with sequential quality choice and the possibility of imitation, and compare positive and normative aspects of this setup in free trade and under strategic trade policy. ...

The objective of this study is to measure the effect of global policy reforms on rice trade, prices, and economic welfare. The Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations aims to increase market access, and reduce or eliminate export subsidies and trade distorting domestic price supports. Two modeling frameworks are used to estimate trade, price and economic welfare effects of policy reforms....