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The article presents central findings from our book "Free Trade Is Finished," which discusses the trade-off between security and economic policy objectives that has become apparent in recent years. We analytically derive which goods are to be classified as "critical" and formulate three criteria for this: no substitutability in the short term; immediate relevance for consumption; forced rationing in the event of a crisis or the existence of external effects. If these criteria are met, state interventions such as concentration tariffs or capacity markets can solve the procurement problem. In terms of game theory, trade wars can also be avoided by understanding foreign dependencies as a potential weapon in such disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the third update/release of the Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB‐R3). The GSDB‐R3 extends the period of coverage from 1950–2019 to 1950–2022, which includes two special periods—COVID‐19 and the new sanctions against Russia. This update of the GSDB contains a total of 1325 cases. In response to multiple inquiries and requests, the GSDB‐R3 has been amended with a new variable that distinguishes between unilateral and multilateral sanctions. As before, the GSDB comes in two versions, case‐specific and dyadic, which are freely available upon request at GSDB@drexel.edu. To highlight one of the new features of the GSDB, we estimate the heterogeneous effects of unilateral and multilateral sanctions on trade. We also obtain estimates of the effects on trade of the 2014 sanctions on Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence, exploring concerns about the potential privatization of compliance costs in complex supply networks, especially in countries with weak enforcement mechanisms. It proposes options to enhance the directive's effectiveness, such as excluding countries with sufficient regulatory systems, focusing on supplier-buyer relationships, and implementing a private certification scheme.

Globalization, e.g. as measured by the ratio of global trade to global production (or GDP), has stopped advancing and may well recede in the years to come. Whether this is harmful for economic welfare depends on the precise reasons of this development. The effect of increasing border measures on GDP, however, is quite clearly negative. Because technological progress will continue to lower trade costs, globalization will bounce back forcefully when the geopolitical environment becomes more benign again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leading theories suggest that amongst continuing exporters, lower variable trade costs should boost exports of smaller firms by the same or greater percentage rate than larger firms. However, investigating the impact of the deep EU‐South Korea FTA with French customs data, we find robust evidence to the contrary. Applying a triple‐difference framework, we report that the FTA increased sales in the top quartile of continuous exporters by 71.5% points more than in the bottom quartile. More than 90% of that growth premium is driven by reductions in NTBs. These findings suggest an additional channel driving the distributional effects of FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]