A Brief Backdrop

International trade or movements of goods across countries are not always free. In reality, free mobility of goods, be it final or intermediate, is most of the time constrained by trade barriers, regional blocks, international transaction costs, cultural difference, geographical distance, etc. These factors influence the gains from trade which comprises volume of trade gain and terms of trade gain. However, existing literature usually does not consider any institutional and distributional factors as the plausible detrimental causes to these concerns. Domestic trading cost or retailing cost, corruption costs associated with inefficient and unscrupulous bureaucratic red-tapeism, extortion, political (in)stability allied undesired delaying costs are, in fact, some other important elements that can equally harm absolute volume and value of production in general and free movements of goods and welfare in particular. Transparency International’s statistics confirm the ramification of corruption and related factors in all developing nations. Developed nations are also not free from these maladies. Hence, it is imperative to focus on as to how these phenomena could impede trade and associated welfare gain. This chapter, therefore, supplies a fleeting background literature to motivate on the importance of the topic of the book.