Alternative measures for trade restrictiveness

Alternative measures for trade restrictiveness
Author: Carmen Fillat Castejón
Publisher:
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

We show that it is possible to estimate the cost of protection in terms of the trade loss for the protected country using a widely accepted and theory-based specification of the gravity model in combination with descriptive trade policy indicators. Data and implementation requirements are lower than in CGE models and this permits estimations with wider samples of countries and years. The outcome can be interpreted as the uniform tariff that synthesizes both the direct effect of trade barriers and the indirect effect of import substitution. The estimated tariff equivalents confirm the underestimation of protection costs by more than 40% when using weighted average tariffs, in accordance with previous literature, with a greater measurement error for less developed countries. Furthermore, substitution elasticities are shown to be a key mechanism for the restrictiveness of tariff policies.

A Measurement of Aggregate Trade Restrictions and Their Economic Effects

A Measurement of Aggregate Trade Restrictions and Their Economic Effects
Author: Julia Estefania-Flores
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2022-01-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1616359641

We develop a new Measure of Aggregate Trade Restrictions (MATR) using data from the IMF’s Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions. MATR is an empirical measure of how restrictive official government policy is towards the international flow of goods and services. MATR is simple, ad hoc, plausible, quantitative, easily updated, based solely on policy-relevant measures of trade policy, and covers an unbalanced sample of up to 157 countries annually between 1949 and 2019. MATR is strongly correlated with, but more comprehensive than, existing measures of openness and trade policy existing measures. We use MATR to show that trade restrictions are harmful for the economy and lead to significant contractions in output.

Review of the IMF's Trade Restrictiveness Index

Review of the IMF's Trade Restrictiveness Index
Author: International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2005-02-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498331858

This paper examines the construction of the index and its use over the past seven years, identifies its limitations, examines several alternative measures of trade policy, and highlights some options for improving the Fund’s use of trade policy indicators.

Review of the IMF's Trade Restrictiveness Index

Review of the IMF's Trade Restrictiveness Index
Author: Internationaler Währungsfonds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper examines the construction of the index and its use over the past seven years, identifies its limitations, examines several alternative measures of trade policy, and highlights some options for improving the Fund's use of trade policy indicators.

Exploring the Meaning of Trade-Restrictiveness in the WTO.

Exploring the Meaning of Trade-Restrictiveness in the WTO.
Author: Tania Voon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Trade-restrictiveness is a familiar concept across various provisions and agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but its precise meaning remains vague. In many WTO disputes, the existence or degree of trade-restrictiveness of a challenged measure is simply assumed or addressed in a few brief sentences. Yet whether a measure is more trade-restrictive than necessary, or more trade-restrictive than a proposed alternative measure, is crucial to the legality of a range of measures currently in place around the world, some under challenge in the WTO. A careful analysis of the existing caselaw and treaty text -- focusing on Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the general exceptions in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the General Agreement on Trade in Services -- demonstrates that while the existence of discrimination is likely to restrict trade, discrimination is not necessary to establish trade-restrictiveness, which also necessarily arises from direct barriers to market access such as import bans. In the absence of an explicit barrier to imports, a WTO panel is likely to focus on the extent to which a challenged measure negatively affects the competitive opportunities of imported products vis à vis domestic products.

A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis

A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis
Author: Marc Bacchetta
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789287038128

Trade flows and trade policies need to be properly quantified to describe, compare, or follow the evolution of policies between sectors or countries or over time. This is essential to ensure that policy choices are made with an appropriate knowledge of the real conditions. This practical guide introduces the main techniques of trade and trade policy data analysis. It shows how to develop the main indexes used to analyze trade flows, tariff structures, and non-tariff measures. It presents the databases needed to construct these indexes as well as the challenges faced in collecting and processing these data, such as measurement errors or aggregation bias. Written by experts with practical experience in the field, A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis has been developed to contribute to enhance developing countries' capacity to analyze and implement trade policy. It offers a hands-on introduction on how to estimate the distributional effects of trade policies on welfare, in particular on inequality and poverty. The guide is aimed at government experts engaged in trade negotiations, as well as students and researchers involved in trade-related study or research. An accompanying DVD contains data sets and program command files required for the exercises. Copublished by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development