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Project

Essays on the Economics of Trade Agreements.

Economic Integration Agreements (EIAs) have been gaining importance in the last two decades in terms of number of countries concluding them, trade flows covered, trade barriers removed and policy domains covered. This dissertation wants to add to the understanding of how these agreements are negotiated and what impact they have, as this is important for academics as well as policymakers and well-informed citizens.

In the first two essays of this dissertation, I study the effects of EIAs between the European Union and the rest of the world on the product-level. I find that EIAs have trade-creating effects. This before as well as after entry into force of the agreement. Trade flows start increasing from the moment negotiations of the trade agreement start and this trade creating effect continues up to five years after entry force of the agreement. Especially the number of products exported to a destination (the extensive margin) increases, yet there is great heterogeneity between agreements and EU member states.  

In a third essay, I confirm these findings on the firm-level using detailed data from Belgian firms. I find that trade agreements present great opportunities for firms, and firms make use of them. Yet, there is again large heterogeneity in the effects of trade agreements: mainly older firms and firms with 50 to 99 employees benefit from trade agreements.

In the fourth and last essay, I study the negotiation process of EIAs. I find that the market power of a product is a good predictor of the outcome of bilateral trade negotiations for that product, as well as the lobbying efforts of firms. Goods with higher market power and goods from import-competing sectors that are politically organized to lobby are more likely to be excluded from liberalization in the trade agreement.

Date:1 Oct 2012 →  29 May 2017
Keywords:international trade, trade agreement, international economics
Disciplines:Applied economics, Economic history, Macroeconomics and monetary economics, Microeconomics, Tourism
Project type:PhD project