Measuring the Restrictiveness of International Trade Policy

Measuring the Restrictiveness of International Trade Policy
Author: James E. Anderson
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Extending the standard theory of index numbers that apply to prices, output or productivity, Anderson and Neary develop index numbers that apply directly to policy variables. Their theoretical work builds on, and extends, the standard theory of policy reform in open economics.

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

Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices

Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices
Author: Hiau Looi Kee
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN:

The objective of this paper is to provide indicators of trade restrictiveness that include both measures of tariff and nontariff barriers for 91 developing and industrial countries. For each country, the authors estimate three trade restrictiveness indices. The first one summarizes the degree of trade distortions that each country imposes on itself through its own trade policies. The second one focuses on the trade distortions imposed by each country on its import bundle. The last index focuses on market access and summarizes the trade distortions imposed by the rest of the world on each country's export bundle. All indices are estimated for the broad aggregates of manufacturing and agriculture products. Results suggest that poor countries (and those with the highest poverty headcount) tend to be more restrictive, but they also face the highest trade barriers on their export bundle. This is partly explained by the fact that agriculture protection is generally larger than manufacturing protection. Nontariff barriers contribute more than 70 percent on average to world protection, underlying their importance for any study on trade protection.

Nontariff Measures and International Trade

Nontariff Measures and International Trade
Author: John Christopher Beghin
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2016-11-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9813144416

Nontariff Measures and International Trade includes 20 chapters authored by John Beghin and co-authors over the last 20 years on the economics of quality-standard like nontariff measures in the context of international trade. This book provides a coherent and comprehensive treatment of these nontariff measures, from their measurement to their effects on trade and welfare. In Part I, the authors use different perspectives to make the case that, unlike tariffs, quality-standard like nontariff measures are complex to measure and analyze and do not easily lead to general policy prescriptions. Then, Part II contains contributions on measurements of welfare and trade effects of nontariff measures, accounting for potential market imperfections. Part III presents chapters on the potential protectionism of nontariff measures when they are used to favor some economic agents over society. The last part presents cases studies of nontariff measures in different industries, markets, and countries.

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.

Measuring Restrictiveness of Bilateral Trade Policies

Measuring Restrictiveness of Bilateral Trade Policies
Author: Alessandro Antimiani
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper compares the degree of openness to trade of three developed countries markets-the European Union, Japan, the United States-with that of three middle-income countries, namely Brazil, India, and China. A theoretically consistent protection measure - the Mercantilistic Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI) - is employed to average tariffs at different levels of aggregation. The computation relies on a comparative static applied general equilibrium model (Global Trade Analysis Project-GTAP) featuring imperfect competition as well as on the bilateral applied tariffs included in the most recent version of the GTAP database. Results provide a different picture from what could have been expected given the widely publicized diffusion of preferential schemes supposedly favoring developing countries exports.

Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices

Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices
Author: Hiau Looi Kee
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2006
Genre: Protectionism
ISBN:

The objective of this paper is to provide indicators of trade restrictiveness that include both measures of tariff and nontariff barriers for 91 developing and industrial countries. For each country, the authors estimate three trade restrictiveness indices. The first one summarizes the degree of trade distortions that each country imposes on itself through its own trade policies. The second one focuses on the trade distortions imposed by each country on its import bundle. The last index focuses on market access and summarizes the trade distortions imposed by the rest of the world on each country's export bundle. All indices are estimated for the broad aggregates of manufacturing and agriculture products. Results suggest that poor countries (and those with the highest poverty headcount) tend to be more restrictive, but they also face the highest trade barriers on their export bundle. This is partly explained by the fact that agriculture protection is generally larger than manufacturing protection. Nontariff barriers contribute more than 70 percent on average to world protection, underlying their importance for any study on trade protection.