BILATERALISM AND FREE TRADE*
研究多国背景下，各国通过签署双边自由贸易协定降低关税、促进贸易，发现对称条件下双边主义可实现全球自由贸易，并探讨了国家不对称性和政治经济因素对协定形成的影响。
We study a setting with many countries; in each country there are firms that can sell in the domestic as well as foreign markets. Countries can sign bilateral free‐trade agreements that lower import tariffs and thereby facilitate trade. We allow a country to sign any number of bilateral free‐trade agreements. A profile of free‐trade agreements defines the trading regime. Our principal finding is that, in symmetric settings, bilateralism is consistent with global free trade. We also explore the effects of asymmetries across countries and political economy considerations on the incentives to form trade agreements.