The title of this session assumes a trade-off between growth and equity, and a need to choose a point on that trade-off. Indeed, a recurring issue in development circles is whether countries should focus their development strategies on growth or on poverty reduction strategies. The trade-off could come from a possible influence of growth on the distribution of wealth; or from a possible influen...

This paper sets up a two country monopolistic competition model with intra-industry trade to study the effects of an exogenous differential in wage and social policies on the location of industry. Two model scenarios are considered. In the traditional one with physical capital, such a differential induces a relocation effect which increases with the level of trade integration. The ‘new economic...

Despite the predictions of standard trade theory, countries in the North are not indifferent between free migration and free trade. Explanations include the redistributive policies of the welfare state (Wellisch and Walz, 1998, this Review). This paper offers an explanation using the concept of social capital and extends the analysis to the South. The movement of people differs from the movemen...

What is the e®ect of national antitrust policies in a world with international trade? Traditionally, economic analysis of mergers has assumed a closed economy, which as we show in this paper, may lead to errant policy in an open economy. We use a very simple model to highlight some key issues in optimal competition policy when trade is important, and compare the nationally optimal number of ̄rm...

Water markets are developing as part of a Council of Australian Governments initiative to promote an efficient use of Australia's water resources. The consequences of these policies on river health is yet to be fully understood, but recognised as having significant interrelationships which need to be explored. This paper examines the consequences of introducing trade and allocating water for en...

At the turn of the last century, the Argentine economy was on a path to prosperity that never fully developed. International trade and trade policies are often identified as a major culprit. In this paper, we review the history of Argentine trade policy to uncover its exceptional features and to explore its contribution to the Argentine debacle. Our analysis tells a story of bad trade policies,...