| Abstract: | With a new wave of regional blocs, there is a heightened worry that they may impede the process of global free trade. This paper demonstrates, contrary to the pessimistic views, regional blocs may work as a stepping stone to multilateral liberalization. In our model, global free trade is not politically feasible initially, because too many people think that they will lose from the liberalization. Regional blocs as an intermediate step could divide the original opposition force so that a sequence of liberalization now becomes feasible. |
