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Do South-South Preferential Trade Agreements Undermine the Prospects for Multilateral Free Trade?

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  • Paul Missios

    (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada)

  • Halis Murat Yildiz

    (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada)

Abstract

Due to trade diversion, there has been concerns expressed over the proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) between South countries. In this paper, we compare welfare across the various forms of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and customs unions (CUs) and examine their implications for the stability of multilateral free trade. While North-North PTAs tend to yield higher welfare, we fi?nd certain cases where South-South agreements are more likely to lead to global free trade than North-North or North-South agreements, but other cases where multilateral cooperation over free trade is the least likely under South-South agreements. We also examine how the expansion of existing agreements, or the combination of separate agreements, affects the potential for free trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Missios & Halis Murat Yildiz, 2013. "Do South-South Preferential Trade Agreements Undermine the Prospects for Multilateral Free Trade?," Working Papers 045, Ryerson University, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp045
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    2. Hideo Konishi & Minoru Nakada & Akihisa Shibata, 2024. "Free trade agreements with environmental provisions between asymmetric countries: transfer of clean technology and enforcement," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 26(1), pages 1-30, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade agreements; free trade; development; tariffs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy

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