@article{Bouët:333112,
      recid = {333112},
      author = {Bouët, Antoine and Laborde, David},
      title = {Plurilateral agreements: a promising trade liberalization  modality?},
      address = {2019},
      year = {2019},
      note = {Presented at the 22nd Annual Conference on Global Economic  Analysis, Warsaw, Poland},
      abstract = {In this paper we evaluate the opportunities given by  plurilateral agreements (or plurilaterals) in terms of  concluding trade liberalization agreements and study the  characteristics of “agreeable” plurilaterals: inclusive or  exclusive agreements, i.e. inclusion or not of an MFN  clause, inclusion of specific trading partners, of specific  sectors. We first design a theoretical model of  international trade with four countries and four goods,  where countries have implemented import duties based on  terms-of-trade externalities, to identify the mechanisms by  which these types of trade agreement affect members and  non-members. Second, we use a static version of a  multi-region multi-sector Computable General Equilibrium  (CGE) model to evaluate the welfare consequences of 64,770  potential plurilaterals to estimate the number of  “agreeable” deals, first because they increase members’  welfare, second because either they are inclusive, or they  are exclusive and do not decrease non-members’ welfare. We  conclude that the addition of an MFN clause tends to  decrease members’ welfare and increase non-members’  welfare. “Agreeable” plurilaterals tend to include the  European Union and to cover liberalization of capital goods  while they tend to exclude Sub-Saharan Africa and  agriculture.  Keywords: Plurilateral trade agreements,  Most-Favored Nation clause, Computable General Equilibrium  model JEL classification: F11, F13, F15},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/333112},
}