| The purpose of this dissertation is to address some of the issues that arise from the globalization process. The main engine of globalization is probably trade. Globalization implies an increase in trade and more trade implies faster globalization. Hence, all three papers of this two-part dissertation are directly related to trade.;Part I of this dissertation stems from the fact that globalization, through trade, gives all individuals access to technologies, values, and consumer goods developed by other individuals in any part of the world. Part I consists of a single paper studying the diffusion of food products that are deemed traditional in some countries to countries or markets where those products are new to consumers. We discuss ways to model demand for these products in non-traditional markets. In Part II, it is argued that globalization and the resulting trade dependencies between the world economies may affect domestic policies. Part II consists of two papers, In the first paper, the traditional Cournot-Nash duopoly trade framework is revisited and extended to model the incentives free-trading countries may have to modify their domestic input policies. In the second paper, an innovative environmental damage function is developed to examine optimal environmental tax policies in free trade areas (FTAs), unions and federations within the new trade framework developed in the first paper. |
