Tariff negotiations in Rubinstein bargaining model

Abstract

This paper applies Rubinstein bargaining model to tariff negotiations in order to predict the outcome of the bargaining. Following Dixit (1987) and Mayer (1981), we are able to express tariff strategies in the form of reaction functions. This results in a strategy space much larger than that considered in the literature and also in a smooth welfare frontier. Having applied Rubinstein Bargaining model, we have characterized the outcome of the tariff negotiations and given an example, which indicates that the negotiations will lead to free trade when countries are symmetric.