The paper enquires into the e¤ects of China’s entry into the WTO on its economic growth. We ...nd that even in the short run (2001-2005), economic performance can be improved due to obtaining higher survival probability of economic growth rate and better protection of consumer welfare. JEL classi...cation: F10, O10

Using a three-sector general equilibrium model with non-traded goods, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers. We show that foreign direct investment increases the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers, but widens the gap between the two under plausible conditions. JEL: F10, F11, F21

In this paper we simulate the behavior of a population of boundedly rational agents in a two good economy where all agents can spend their time budget for the production of one or both goods or trading. Agents update their strategies according to a simple imitation type learning rule with noise. It is shown that in several different setups both direct trade and trade via mediators who specializ...

This paper takes the neoclassical infant industry model, allows agents to respond to future expectations, and reveals previously unexplained relationships between protection and outcome. Policy, which projects to protect the industry until international competitiveness, may not necessarily succeed, consistent to the mixed empirical evaluations. To guarantee success, protection has to last longe...

Tariff bindings and administered protection are two characteristics of the WTO that are little understood. Tariff bindings place a ceiling on tariffs that is not always reached, while administered protection ensures that all sectors have access to some minimum import protection, effectively creating a floor for protection. How do these policies affect applied MFN tariff rates that are enacted t...

Trade Policy and Labor Services: Final Status Options for the West Bank and Gaza This paper considers the policy options of the West Bank and Gaza (WBG) with respect to trade and the exports of labor services. It concludes that i) a non-discriminatory trade policy (NDTP) is unambiguously superior to an FTA with Israel; ii) the WBG should pursue a NDTP with all its neighbors, but only under the ...

Empirical evidence suggests that the size of the informal sector in the developing countries has increased considerably during the liberalized economic regime. The present paper purports to analyze the consequences of economic reforms on the wellbeing of the informal sector workforce using a three-sector general equilibrium model with two informal sectors. The theoretical analysis finds that di...

This paper examines the response of U.S. manufacturing industries and plants to changes in trade costs using a unique new dataset on industry-level tariff and transportation rates. Our results lend support to recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade that predict a reallocation of economic activity towards high-productivity firms as trade costs fall. We find that industries experi...

This paper investigates the link between exporting and importing activities and firm performance using a rich dataset on Egyptian and Moroccan firms. We test the export premium, self-selection and learning-by-exporting hypotheses using a number of firm characteristics. Our analysis also includes importing activities as a source of learning and considers their effects on productivity changes. A ...

This paper presents a discussion of the potential channels through which international trade affects the position of low skilled workers in the European Union. After an analysis of the European Union's trade flows showing the predominant role of intra-industry trade with other industrialised countries, the discussion focuses on the potential effects of intra-industry trade on low skilled labour...