The Design of International Trade Agreements: Introducing a New Dataset

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have been proliferating for the last twenty years. A large literature has studied various aspects of this phenomenon. Until very recently, this literature has treated all PTAs as equal. However, PTAs differ significantly in terms of design. In this paper, we present a new dataset on the design of trade agreements (DESTA). We illustrate the usefulness of this dataset in re-visiting the literature on the PTA-trade nexus, that is, the questions if and to what extent PTAs impact trade flows.

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Dür, Andreas and Baccini, Leonardo and Elsig, Manfred, The Design of International Trade Agreements: Introducing a New Dataset (September 4, 2012). Forthcoming in the Review of International Organizations, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2141141 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2141141

Andreas Dür

University of Salzburg - Department of Political Science and Sociology ( email )

Akademiestraße 26
Salzburg, Salzburg 5020
Austria

Leonardo Baccini (Contact Author)

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St. W
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5
Canada

Manfred Elsig

University of Bern ( email )

Gesellschaftsstrasse 49
Bern, BERN 3001
Switzerland