Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/77418 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Working Paper No. 12/2010
Publisher: 
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
Abstract: 
This paper provides an empirical assessment of race-to-the-bottom unilateralism. It suggests that decades of unilateral tariff cutting in Asia's emerging economies have been driven by a competition to attract FDI from Japan. Using spatial econometrics, I show that tariffs on parts and components, a crucial locational determinant for Japanese firms, converged across countries following a contagion pattern. Tariffs followed those of competing countries if the latter were lower, if FDI jealousy was high, and when competing countries were at a similar level of development.
Subjects: 
trade policy
political economy
unilateralism
JEL: 
F13
F15
N75
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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