This paper studies the impact of trade costs reduction on geographical concentration in the presence of firm heterogeneity and overhead type of export fixed costs. Firm heterogeneity with the export fixed costs hampers full agglomeration through weakening the forward and backward linkages and fortifying the market crowding effect. Rather than catastrophic agglomeration that the standard new eco...

Recent studies report that equity market liberalisation positively correlates with total return, which in turn purportedly increases private investment growth. While the finding on reform and performance is generally robust to alternative perspectives on capital account liberalisation that emphasise over-heating and volatility, this crucial first link in the causal chain is not wholly robust em...

BACKGROUND The liberalisation of trade in services which began in 1995 under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has generated arguments for and against its potential health effects. Our goal was to explore the relationship between the liberalisation of services under the GATS and three health indicators--life expectancy (LE), under-5 mortalit...

While much of the trade liberalisation literature analyses liberalisation effects on trade volumes, we postulate the implications of trade liberalisation for price transmission and market integration between tomato producer and consumer markets under a high and a reduced period of agricultural, import tariffs in Ghana. Our objective is to determine whether price transmission and thus the factor...

This paper uses the GTAP computable general equilibrium model to assess the impact of a Doha Development Agenda agreement on agricultural trade liberalisation. In particular, we examine the consequences for developing countries. The simulation incorporates further liberalisation in the areas of market access, export competition and domestic support. Most developing regions can expect strong pos...

The promotion of human welfare is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of economic development. To achieve this, many developing countries adopted trade liberalisation in the late 1980s, premised on the theoretical evidence based on the definitive Heckscher-Ohlin theory which predicts gains for the poor. The empirical support for this theory, however, is at best mixed. This paper employs ...

OBJECTIVE To document the effect of the liberalisation of the Japanese tobacco market on Japanese smoking rates and on Japanese tobacco industry practices. DATA SOURCE Asahi Shimbun (major daily newspaper) from 1980 to 1996. STUDY SELECTION Review of media coverage on the effects of market liberalisation following the imposition of the USA's section 301 trade sanction. DATA SYNTHESIS The ...

Objective—To document the eVect of the liberalisation of the Japanese tobacco market on Japanese smoking rates and on Japanese tobacco industry practices. Data source—Asahi Shimbun (major daily newspaper) from 1980 to 1996. Study selection—Review of media coverage on the eVects of market liberalisation following the imposition of the USA’s section 301 trade sanction. Data synthesis—The opening ...

The proliferation of preferential trading agreements (PTAs) in different regions of the world has been a significant development over the last two decades. South Asian countries are slowly moving towards a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in recent years. The desirability of SAFTA has been questioned by some observers recently. Do necessary conditions exist for a successful PTA in South Asia?...

Rapid trade liberalisation can exert profound effects on labour markets. Domestic firms, to sustain competitiveness for survival, could react through cutting labour benefits to achieve cost reductions. Alternatively, trade liberalisation may alter the industry composition of firms changing the aggregate formality rates. This paper studies the relationship between trade liberalisation and inform...