This thesis is a collection of three essays in international trade. Chapter 1 explains how firm heterogeneity and market structure can distort the geography of international trade. By considering only the intensive margin of trade, Krugman (1980) predicts that a higher elasticity of substitution between goods magnifies the impact of trade barriers on trade flows. In this chapter, I introduce fi...

This paper focuses on Indo-Iranian merchandise trade for a period of 30 years from1980-81 to 2009-10. The study is based on econometric modeling comprising 3 versions of the RWM model and alternative forms and specification of regression functions. RWM model(s) evaluates the stationary nature of time series data relating to GNP, Exports, Imports and total merchandise Indo-Iranian trade. Dickey-...

This paper discusses trade facilitation in the context of enhancing trading links between South and Southeast Asia, in a manner understandable to the non-specialist. Presently, these two Asian regions tend to trade preferentially with distant markets. One of the reasons cited for the limited trade between themselves is that trade facilitation with trade partners in developed countries is more u...

The Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established the World Trade Organization to supervise the reduction of barriers to, and liberalisation of, world trade. The application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures will be standardised to avoid use for protectionist purposes by countries or regional trade blocks. Harmonisation of animal disease control measures wi...

as regional integration agreements (RIAs)—is one of the major international relations developments of recent years. Most industrial and developing countries in the world are members of a regional integration agreement, and many belong to more than one: more than one-third of world trade takes place within such agreements. 1 The structure of regional agreements varies hugely, but all have one th...

BACKGROUND Central America has undergone extensive trade liberalization over the past two decades, and has recently signed a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The region is also experiencing a dual burden of malnutrition with the growth of dietary patterns associated with the global 'nutrition transition'. This study describes the relationship between trade liberalization policies an...

There has been great focus in the recent trade theory literature on the introduction of firm heterogeneity into trade models. This introduction has highlighted the importance of the entry/exit decision of firms in response to changes in trade barriers. However, it is typical in many of these models to use iceberg transport costs as a general form of trade barriers that can be interchangeable wi...

This paper presents promising methodologies for modeling and quantifying nontariff barriers (NTB) to trade in the agricultural and food sectors. We limit the analysis to sanitary, phytosanitary, and technical regulations that can have an impact on trade and to methods that provide some quantitative estimates of the impact of such barriers on market equilibrium, trade flows, economic efficiency,...

The UK textile industry was very prosperous in the past but in the 1970s Britain started to import textile materials from abroad. Since 1990, half of its textile materials have been imported from the EEA (European Economic Area), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and North America countries. Meanwhile, UK imports from China have increased dramatically. Through comparisons, this pap...