The 'new' economics of trade agreements

a column by Gene Grossman, Phillip McCalman and Robert Staiger for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

While tariffs have significantly been reduced in the last decades, other barriers to trade, such as differing regulations across countries, continue to pose obstacles.

This column presents a new framework to analyse how different forms of trade agreements can address these non-tariff barriers. For various economic environments, it discusses whether and how these treaties can achieve global efficiency.

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