Why are some trade agreements are concluded for a limited period of time while others have the form of evergreen contracts supplemented with a clause requiring an advance termination notice? We employ the recent advances in contract theory to demonstrate that the time structure of the trade agreement is related to the nature of the goods traded and that of the trade-related investments. If the agreement concerns trade in homogenous goods, the fixed-term contract duration is more likely. The fixed-term agreement provides incentives for an initial investment in trade-related infrastructure but leaves the parties the flexibility to reconsider the need for further investment. If the trade agreement covers heterogenous goods, the investment risk is more diversified and the likelihood of overinvestment is lower. Hence the agreement is more likely to be evergreen (with an advance termination notice or an escape clause).
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Paper provided by Laboratory for Macroeconomic Analysis in its series Working Papers with number
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