A 'New Trade' Theory of GATT/WTO Negotiations

I develop a novel theory of GATT/WTO negotiations. This theory provides new answers to two prominent questions in the trade policy literature: first, what is the purpose of trade negotiations? And second, what is the role played by the fundamental GATT/WTO principles of reciprocity and nondiscrimination? Relative to the standard terms-of-trade theory of GATT/WTO negotiations, my theory makes two main contributions: first, it builds on a 'new trade' model rather than the neoclassical trade model and therefore sheds new light on GATT/WTO negotiations between similar countries. Second, it relies on a production relocation externality rather than the terms-of-trade externality and therefore demonstrates that the terms-of-trade externality is not the only trade policy externality which can be internalized in GATT/WTO negotiations.Trade negotiations, GATT/WTO, New trade theory

Trade Wars and Trade Talks with Data

How large are optimal tariffs? What tariffs would prevail in a worldwide trade war? How costly would be a breakdown of international trade policy cooperation? And what is the scope for future multilateral trade negotiations? I address these and other questions using a unified framework which nests traditional, new trade, and political economy motives for protection. I find that optimal tariffs average 62 percent, world trade war tariffs average 63 percent, the government welfare losses from a breakdown of international trade policy cooperation average 2.9 percent, and the possible government welfare gains from future multilateral trade negotiations average 0.5 percent. Optimal tariffs are tariffs which maximize a political economy augmented measure of real income.

A Gold Rush Theory of Economic Development

This paper presents a model of social learning about the suitability of local conditions for new business ventures and explores its implications for the microeconomic patterns of economic development. I show that: i) firms tend to 'rush' into business ventures with which other firms have had surprising success thus causing development to be 'lumpy'; ii) sufficient business confidence is crucial for fostering economic growth; iii) development may involve wave-like patterns of growth where successive business ventures are first pursued and then given up; iv) there is, nevertheless, no guarantee that firms pursue the best venture even in the long-run.Economic Development, Social Learning, Lumpiness

Trade Liberalization, Outsourcing, and Firm Productivity

Empirical evidence suggests that trade liberalization increases firm productivity. This paper offers a novel explanation for this finding. I develop a simple general equilibrium model of trade in which trade liberalization leads to outsourcing as firms focus on their core competencies in response to tougher competition. Since firms are the better at performing tasks the closer they are to their core competencies, this outsourcing increases firm productivity. Moreover, I also investigate the links between various technological parameters and outsourcing. In particular, I analyze how technological progress, changes in fixed costs, and changes in internal governance costs affect firms' integration decisions.Trade Liberalization, Outsourcing, Productivity

The Heterotic Superpotential and Moduli

We study the four-dimensional effective theory arising from ten-dimensional heterotic supergravity compactified on manifolds with torsion. In particular, given the heterotic superpotential appropriately corrected at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha')$ to account for the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism, we investigate properties of four-dimensional Minkowski vacua of this theory. Considering the restrictions arising from F-terms and D-terms we identify the infinitesimal massless moduli space of the theory. We show that it agrees with the results that have recently been obtained from a ten-dimensional perspective where supersymmetric Minkowski solutions including the Bianchi identity correspond to an integrable holomorphic structure, with infinitesimal moduli calculated by its first cohomology. As has recently been noted, interplay of complex structure and bundle deformations through holomorphic and anomaly constraints can lead to fewer moduli than may have been expected. We derive a relation between the number of complex structure and bundle moduli removed from the low energy theory in this way, and give conditions for there to be no complex structure moduli or bundle moduli remaining in the low energy theory. The link between Yukawa couplings and obstruction theory is also briefly discussed.Comment: 35 pages, minor correction

Recent developments in non-Abelian T-duality in string theory

We briefly review the essential points of our recent work in non-Abelian T-duality. In particular, we show how non-abelian T-duals can effectively describe infinitely high spin sectors of a parent theory and how to implement the transformation in the presence of non-vanishing Ramond fields in type-II supergravity.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings contribution to the 10th Hellenic School on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity, Corfu, Greece, September 201

Julio Pinto, Daniel Palma, Karen Donoso y Roberto Pizarro, El orden y el bajo pueblo. Los regímenes de Portales y Rosas frente al mundo popular, 1829-1852

Julio Pinto, Daniel Palma, Karen Donoso y Roberto Pizarro, El orden y el bajo pueblo. Los regímenes de Portales y Rosas frente al mundo popular, 1829-1852