Download or read book Preference Erosion and Multilateral Trade Liberalization written by Joseph F. Francois and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because of concern that OECD tariff reductions will translate into worsening export performance for the least developed countries, trade preferences have proven a stumbling block to developing country support for multilateral liberalization. The authors examine the actual scope for preference erosion, including an econometric assessment of the actual utilization and the scope for erosion estimated by modeling full elimination of OECD tariffs, and hence full most-favored-nation liberalization-based preference erosion. Preferences are underutilized due to administrative burden-estimated to be at least 4 percent on average-reducing the magnitude of erosion costs significantly. For those products where preferences are used (are of value), the primary negative impact follows from erosion of EU preferences. This suggests the erosion problem is primarily bilateral rather than a WTO-based concern.

Download or read book Preference Erosion and Multilateral Trade Liberalization written by Joseph Fran??ois and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because of concern that OECD tariff reductions will translate into worsening export performance for the least developed countries, trade preferences have proven a stumbling block to developing country support for multilateral liberalization. The authors examine the actual scope for preference erosion, including an econometric assessment of the actual utilization and the scope for erosion estimated by modeling full elimination of OECD tariffs, and hence full most-favored-nation liberalization-based preference erosion. Preferences are underutilized due to administrative burden-estimated to be at least 4 percent on average-reducing the magnitude of erosion costs significantly. For those products where preferences are used (are of value), the primary negative impact follows from erosion of EU preferences. This suggests the erosion problem is primarily bilateral rather than a WTO-based concern.

Download or read book Trade Preference Erosion written by Bernard M. Hoekman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The multilateral trade system rests on the principle of nondiscrimination. Unilateral trade preferences granted by developed countries can help beneficiary countries but can create tensions between 'preferred' developing countries typically beneficiaries from pre-existing colonial regimes and other developing countries. There is also concern about the potential erosion of these preferences through trade liberalization in the importing countries, an issue that has been important in the current negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization. 'Trade Preference Erosion' provides the information needed to make informed assessments of the benefits of trade preferences for developing countries, the risks associated with the erosion of these benefits, and policy options for dealing with these problems. The authors provide detailed analyses of specific preference programs and undertake cross-country, disaggregated analyses of the impact of preferences at the product level. Understanding the likely impacts of these programs and how those impacts are distributed is a precondition for formulating appropriate policy responses. The authors argue that such responses need to go beyond trade policies and need to include a focus on enhancing the competitiveness and supply-side capacity of developing countries. This book is a useful and informative guide for policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and others who wish to better understand the debate on the magnitude and impact of preference erosion.

Download or read book Economic Policy Responses to Preference Erosion written by Bernard M. Hoekman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trade preferences are a central issue in ongoing efforts to negotiate further multilateral trade liberalization. "Less preferred" countries are increasingly concerned about the discrimination they confront, while "more preferred" developing countries worry that WTO-based liberalization of trade will erode the value of current preferential access regimes. This tension suggests there is a political economy case for preference-granting countries to explicitly address erosion fears. The authors argue that the appropriate instrument for this is development assistance. The alternative of addressing erosion concerns through the trading system will generate additional discrimination and trade distortions, rather than moving the WTO toward a more liberal, non-discriminatory regime. They further argue that prospective losses generated by most-favored-nation liberalization should be quantified on a bilateral basis, using methods that estimate what the associated transfer should have been and ignoring the various factors that reduce their value in practice (such as compliance costs or the fact that part of the rents created by preference programs accrue to importers in OECD countries). Given that many poor countries have not been able to benefit much from preference programs, a case is also made that preference erosion should be considered as part of a broader response by OECD countries to calls to make the trading system more supportive of economic development. The focus should be on identifying actions and policy measures that will improve the ability of developing countries to use trade for development.

Download or read book Economic Policy Responses to Preference Erosion written by Bernard Hoekman and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trade preferences are a central issue in ongoing efforts to negotiate further multilateral trade liberalization. "Less preferred" countries are increasingly concerned about the discrimination they confront, while "more preferred" developing countries worry that WTO-based liberalization of trade will erode the value of current preferential access regimes. This tension suggests there is a political economy case for preference-granting countries to explicitly address erosion fears. The authors argue that the appropriate instrument for this is development assistance. The alternative of addressing erosion concerns through the trading system will generate additional discrimination and trade distortions, rather than moving the WTO toward a more liberal, non-discriminatory regime. They further argue that prospective losses generated by most-favored-nation liberalization should be quantified on a bilateral basis, using methods that estimate what the associated transfer should have been and ignoring the various factors that reduce their value in practice (such as compliance costs or the fact that part of the rents created by preference programs accrue to importers in OECD countries). Given that many poor countries have not been able to benefit much from preference programs, a case is also made that preference erosion should be considered as part of a broader response by OECD countries to calls to make the trading system more supportive of economic development. The focus should be on identifying actions and policy measures that will improve the ability of developing countries to use trade for development.

Download or read book Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization written by Nuno Limão and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proliferation of preferential trade liberalization over the last 20 years has raised the question of whether it slows down multilateral trade liberalization. Recent theoretical and empirical evidence indicates this is the case even for unilateral preferences that developed countries provide to small and poor countries but there is no estimate of the resulting welfare costs. To avoid this stumbling block effect we suggest replacing unilateral preferences by a fixed import subsidy. We argue that this scheme would reduce the drag of preferences on multilateral liberalization and generate a Pareto improvement. More importantly, we provide the first estimates of the welfare cost of preferential liberalization as a stumbling block to multilateral liberalization. By combining recent estimates of the stumbling block effect of preferences with data for 170 countries and over 5,000 products we calculate the welfare effects of the United States, European Union and Japan switching from unilateral preferences to Least Developed Countries to the import subsidy scheme. Even in a model with no dynamic gains to trade we find that the switch produces an annual net welfare gain for the 170 countries ($4,354 million) and for each group: the United States, European Union and Japan ($2,934 million), Least Developed Countries ($520 million) and the rest of the world ($900 million).

Download or read book The Impact of Preference Erosionon Middle Income Developing Countries written by Mr.Hans P. Lankes and published by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. This book was released on 2004-09-01 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preference erosion has become an obstacle to multilateral trade liberalization, as beneficiaries of trade preferences have an incentive to resist reductions in mostfavored- nation (MFN) tariffs. This study identifies middle-income developing countries that are vulnerable to export revenue loss from preference erosion. It concludes that the problem is heavily concentrated in a sub-set of preference beneficiaries-primarily small island economies dependent on sugar, banana, and-to a lesser extent-textile exports. Accordingly, measures to help mitigate the impact of preference erosion can be closely targeted at the countries at risk.

Download or read book The Impact of Preference Erosion on Middle Income Developing Countries written by Katerina Alexandraki and published by . This book was released on 2004-09-01 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preference erosion has become an obstacle to multilateral trade liberalization, as beneficiaries of trade preferences have an incentive to resist reductions in mostfavored- nation (MFN) tariffs. This study identifies middle-income developing countries that are vulnerable to export revenue loss from preference erosion. It concludes that the problem is heavily concentrated in a sub-set of preference beneficiaries-primarily small island economies dependent on sugar, banana, and-to a lesser extent-textile exports. Accordingly, measures to help mitigate the impact of preference erosion can be closely targeted at the countries at risk.

Download or read book Trade Preferences and Differential Treatment of Developing Countries written by Bernard M. Hoekman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue of SDT has become very topical again, following a period during which it was viewed as an outdated concept for the multilateral trading system. We therefore devote attention as well to a number of recent contributions that discuss (i) whether there is a continued need for SDT, and (ii) how this might be designed from both a development (recipient) objective and from the perspective of the trading system more generally. A major theme of the survey is that most of the issues that are debated today were already being discussed in the 1960s. We conclude that those who questioned the value of unilateral preferences have proven to be prescient.

Download or read book The Clash of Liberalizations Preferential Versus Multilateral Trade Liberalization in the European Union written by Nuno Limão, Baybars Karacaovali and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: "There has been an explosion in the number of preferential trade agreements in the past decade. Preferential trade agreements are characterized by liberalization with respect to only a few partners and thus they can potentially clash with and retard multilateral trade liberalization. Despite this important concern with preferential trade agreements, there is almost no systematic evidence on whether they actually affect multilateral trade liberalization. Karacaovali and Limô model the effect of preferential trade agreements on multilateral trade liberalization and show that preferential trade agreements slow down multilateral trade liberalization unless they have a common external tariff and allow for internal transfers. Next, they use detailed data on product-level tariffs negotiated by the European Union in the past two multilateral trade rounds to structurally estimate their model. The authors confirm the main prediction--the European Union's preferential trade agreements have clashed with its multilateral trade liberalization--and find that the effect is quantitatively significant. Moreover, they also confirm several auxiliary predictions of the model and provide new evidence on the political economy determinants of multilateral liberalization in the European Union. This paper--a product of the Trade Team, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the interaction between preferential and multilateral liberalization"--World Bank web site.

Download or read book Trade Liberalization And Trade Preferences Revised Edition written by Michael Michaely and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2009-08-07 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trade liberalization is arguably a major issue in the conduct of commercial policy. As a component of it, the relationship between universal, multilateral trade liberalization and the conclusion of preferential trade agreements — that is, a process of liberalization which discriminates between trading partners — has been a focus of analysis and debate. This book is designed to enhance understanding of the salient elements of these issues.The book searches for answers to significant questions that have not been raised before, and elaborates those discussed earlier in the literature but not yet settled. Some parts of the book are purely analytical, while others focus on general principles and comprehension of concrete instances and developments. The book formulates a variety of new methods, including the construction of new instruments of measurement, to enable both ex-ante predictions and ex-post assessments of the impact of liberalization and trade preferences. The revised edition incorporates the outcome of two important studies, exploring the impact of liberalization on trade structure and the pattern of regional trade relationships.

Download or read book The United States and the New Regionalism Bilateralism written by Yongzheng Yang and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-10-01 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current U.S. trade policy stresses establishing free trade areas (FTAs) with partners spanning the globe. Motivations include enhancing goods and services trade; stimulating investment flows; extending standards on intellectual property rights, labor, and the environment; and addressing geopolitical concerns. Simulations of FTAs with the United States highlight the importance of trade complementarity, trade diversion, and welfare losses for nonmembers. Agriculture and textiles play a central role in determining welfare outcomes. Initial improvement in market access enjoyed by participants could be eroded progressively as global liberalization proceeds, and this preference erosion might act as a disincentive to participate in multilateral liberalization.

Download or read book Agricultural Trade Liberalization and the Least Developed Countries written by Niek Koning and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-07 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing countries as a group stand to gain very substantially from trade reform in agricultural commodities. Agricultural Trade Liberalization and the Least Developed Countries is the first book to address important questions relating to this subject. The authors are world renowned experts on international trade and development and they address a very important and timely issue.

Download or read book The Choice Between Unilateral and Multilateral Trade Liberalization Strategies written by Julio J. Nogués and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1989 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing countries would gain far more from unilateral trade liberalization than from multilateral trade liberalization negotiated over many years. Industrial countries could increase both economic and political incentives for reform by granting credit when developing countries undertake unilateral trade liberalization.

Download or read book Trade Preference Erosion written by Bernard M. Hoekman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume introduces the gender dimension in the empirical analyses on the links between trade and poverty. Gender disparities, an important component of overall inequality, may limit the gains from trade and the potential benefits to poor people. This view is supported by the robust finding that while growth (as well as the gains from trade) is the major vehicle of lifting people out of poverty, it is more likely to be pro-poor when initial inequality is low. High inequality directly lowers the rate of poverty reduction by hindering growth.Ample evidence shows that, in spite of recent impro.

Download or read book Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization written by Nuno Lim??o and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proliferation of preferential trade liberalization over the past 20 years has raised the question of whether it slows down multilateral trade liberalization. Recent theoretical and empirical evidence indicates this is the case even for unilateral preferences that industrial countries provide to small and poor countries but there is no estimate of the resulting welfare costs. To avoid this stumbling block effect the authors suggest replacing unilateral preferences by a fixed import subsidy. They argue that this scheme would reduce the drag of preferences on multilateral liberalization and generate a Pareto improvement. More important, the authors provide the first estimates of the welfare cost of preferential liberalization as a stumbling block to multilateral liberalization. By combining recent estimates of the stumbling block effect of preferences with data for 170 countries and over 5,000 products they calculate the welfare effects of the United States, European Union, and Japan switching from unilateral preferences to the developing countries to the import subsidy scheme. Even in a model with no dynamic gains to trade the authors find that the switch produces an annual net welfare gain for the 170 countries ($4,354 million) and for each group: the United States, European Union, and Japan ($2,934 million), the developing countries ($520 million), and the rest of the world ($900 million).

Download or read book Trade Issues in the Doha Round written by Mr. Stephen Tokarick and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current round of multilateral trade negotiations-the Doha Round-presents an opportunity for countries to reap the benefits of trade liberalization. Unfortunately, a number of misconceptions about the likely impact of trade reforms has, in part, impeded more rapid progress toward completion of the Round. This paper addresses some of the most egregious of these misconceptions and presents results from IMF research that sheds light on these issues. In particular, this paper argues that: (i) developing countries have much to gain from their own trade liberalization; (ii) preference erosion could be significant for some countries, but it is not a justification for postponing tariff reductions; (iii) tariffs applied against agricultural products in rich countries actually harm developing countries more than subsidies; and (iv) a disproportionate share of agricultural subsidies in rich countries goes to large wealthy farmers.