Terms of trade and global efficiency effects of free trade agreements, 1990-2002

This paper infers the terms of trade effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) implemented in the 1990s. We estimate large FTA effects on bilateral trade volume in 2 digit manufacturing goods from 1990-2002, using panel data gravity methods to resolve two way causality. The terms of trade changes implied by these volume effects are deduced for 40 countries plus a rest-of-the-world aggregate using an endowments general equilibrium model. Some countries gain over 5% of real manufacturing income, some lose less than 0.3%. Global efficiency of manufactures trade rises 0.9% based on a distance function measure of iceberg melting.