Abstract: After lengthy and tough negotiations, China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, which is widely considered as a landmark economic event in modern world history. The WTO accession marked a milestone of China’s…
We study the effect of the labor clauses (LCs) in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on the informal economy. Using a sample comprising 112 countries for the period 2000-2017, we show that PTAs increase informality in low- and middle-income…