Modeling Trade Policy: Applied General Equilibrium Assessments of North American Free Trade

Description

Applied general equilibrium (AGE) models have received considerable attention and scrutiny in the public debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This collection brings together the leading AGE models that have been constructed to analyse NAFTA. A variety of approaches to modelling trade liberalization are taken in these studies, including multi-country and multi-sectoral models, models that focus on institutional features of particular sectors (agricultural, autos, steel, textiles and apparel) affecting multinational firms and rules of origin, and models with some inter-temporal structure. Further, by constructing stylized models, theoretical linkages have been identified that drive numerical results in the larger AGE models. The volume also assesses what can be learned about the likely economic effects of NAFTA from the collection of studies taken as a whole. Areas in need of further study have been highlighted.

"This is an excellent reference on a large number of important AGE modelling issues and a large body of respected modelling work on NAFTA." Journal of Economic Literature "...provides an opportunity to assess, in the context of a closely related set of policy experiments, the current status and direction of research on applied general equilibrium modeling of trade policy." Journal of Economic Literature