The Evidence for Free Trade and Its Background Assumptions: How Well-Established Causal Generalisations Can Be Useless for Policy

Figures & data

Figure 1. Relevant contextual and disturbing causal factors that are controlled for by the so-called ‘standard specification’ used in growth cross-sectional regressions on the effects of TL.

Figure 2. Non-exhaustive set of causal factors and causal connections, based on the tenets of new international trade theory, as an illustration of nodes to be evaluated before a trade policy reform is implemented in a particular country.

Figure 3. Causal diagram including variables and interconnections that are relevant to the effectiveness of a trade policy reform (in accordance with the background assumptions of the empirical research reviewed in this article).