This dissertation involves two set of papers. The first chapter contains a brief introduction of the issues covered in this thesis. In the first set of papers (chapters 2 and 3) I investigate the use of product standards in international trade. Product standards relate to restrictions on the attributes of a product that must be satisfied before the product becomes eligible to be sold in a particular market. The World Trade Organization ruling on product standards requires member countries to apply equal standards on the home produced good and the imported good. This is called the national treatment rule. In the first part of the dissertation (Chapters 2 and 3) I analyze the role of national treatment rule in the case of product standards.

Chapter 4 evaluates the growth experience of Mauritius in the light of the explanations put forward in the empirical growth literature. As an African country Mauritius stands out as an exception, not only having a much higher growth rate than an average African country but also maintaining growth as a sustained phenomenon. I demonstrate that this exceptional growth performance of Mauritius has occurred because of some unique institutional features of Mauritius, making it different from the rest of Africa.