The costs of non-tariff barriers to trade: Evidence from New Zealand

The Costs of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade: Evidence from New Zealand. — Recent work on trade policy with imperfect competition indicates that the adverse effects of non-tariff barriers to trade exceed those suggested by traditional theory. With market power in foreign supply, setting a restrictive non-tariff barrier will induce foreign exporters to raise their supply prices. The authors use the experiment provided by the comprehensive New Zealand economic reforms of the mid-1980s. Using panel data on export unit values from Germany and the United States to several destinations including New Zealand, they find some evidence for decreased export prices to New Zealand as a result of the dismantling of non-tariff barriers to trade.     

Market Access Asymmetry in Food Trade

Using a bilateral trade equation derived from a monopolistic competition model, we investigate market access reciprocity in food trade among the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan. We explore country- and industry-specific market access asymmetry through a border effect approach. Our findings reveal marked asymmetries in reciprocal border effects, both across countries and industries. Trade policy measures, particularly non-tariff barriers (NTBs), the degree of product differentiation and a ‘home bias’ in preferences, are important factors in explaining levels in border effects. Asymmetries in border effects are mainly explained by trade policies. JEL no.  F13, F14, Q17     

Trade policy and protection in the European Community

The European Community is the world's largest trading entity. As a result, trade policy in the EC has an important impact on the world economy. This paper evaluates the formulation of trade policy in the EC and assesses the key instruments, both by sector and by target. The relative importance of tariff and non-tariff barriers is emphasised as is the role of anti-dumping. Finally, the impact of the single market programme and the Uruguay Round are assessed. Both will have a crucial bearing on the evolution of policy.     

Protection and international stability

Summary Since World War II trade negotiations under GATT reduced tariff protection to one-eighth of its pre-war level. From the mid 1970s however, protection increased again, in particular non-tariff barriers were being used. Furthermore, strategic trade policies use subsidies and other non-border protective measures. Protection prevents the world economy from gaining full benefits from specialization combined with expansion of trade. Unlike tariffs, non-tariff barriers fragment the market and encourage a bilateral approach in negotiating trade agreements. Strategic trade policies are difficult to apply properly and may evoke retaliation. Nondiscrimination is the main principle of GATT, on which the present international trading system is based. In order to maintain it, trade negotiations under GATT will hopefully lead to international consensus on the proper use of non-tariff barriers and instruments of strategic trade policies.[/p]     

标准化战略与我国外贸增长方式转变

近年来国外技术性贸易壁垒已经取代反倾销,成为我国出口商品面临的最大非关税壁垒和贸易摩擦的根源。本文认为,我国出口商品频遭技术性贸易壁垒的根源,在于我国技术标准过低以及全球标准体系的竞争。实施标准化战略是实行我国外贸增长方式转变,以及化解国外技术性贸易壁垒的根本途径。     

Non-Europe: The magnitude and causes of market fragmentation in the EU

Non-Europe: The Magnitude and Causes of Market Fragmentation in the EU. — In 1985 the European Commission diagnosed its member states as suffering from excessive market fragmentation, later referred to as “Non-Europe.” The authors examine the empirical basis for the Commission’s diagnosis using a trade model derived from monopolistic competition. They then investigate the links between the initial size and subsequent evolution of border effects within the EU. The findings support the view that European consumers act as if imports from other members were subject to high nontariff barriers. However, there appears to be almost no relationship between market fragmentation and the barriers that were identified and removed by Europe’s Single Market Programme.     

绿色贸易壁垒对我国外贸的影响及对策

随着经济全球化的不断推进,各国的保护措施从关税壁垒转向了非关税壁垒,面绿色贸易壁垒更是我国所遭遇的主要阻碍之一。因此,本文就绿色贸易壁垒的内涵和形式进行了认真研究,并分析其对我国外贸发展的不利影响,提出相应的对策建议。     

正视技术性贸易壁垒对我国中小企业出口的不利影响

在当前的国际贸易领域，技术性贸易壁垒作为一种既具有合理性又具有歧视性和隐蔽性的强大的非关税壁垒，客观上已成为我国出口贸易的巨大障碍。积极探究我国遭受技术性贸易壁垒的原因，中小企业如何利用合理的措施冲破国外的技术性贸易壁垒以保护我国出口市场是当前迫切需要解决的问题。     

International specialization and structural change in the Swedish Manufacturing Industry, 1969–1992

International Specialization and Structural Change in the Swedish Manufacturing Industry, 1969–1992. — The increasing trade orientation of Swedish manufacturing 1969–1992 was mainly caused by increasing intraindustry specialization with most industries. Intraindustry specialization was found to be related positively to the skill intensity of the industry and negatively to average plant size and the incidence of trade barriers. The paper evaluates the links between specialization and inter-as well as intraindustry structure. It was found that changing patterns of relative international competitiveness among industries accounted for more than half of the total interindustry structural change in employment in 1969–1992. The mean plant size tends to increase with intraindustry specialization.     

THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GENERAL INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA TO 1973

The development of the insurance industry in Australia in the twentieth century was fundamentally shaped by a collusive code of conduct called the tariff. This arrangement, established to overcome problems of uncertainty, initially benefited both tariff and non-tariff firms by enhancing market stability. It also reduced competition. The collusive agreements gradually broke down, however, as new entrants and products entered the market in the 1950s. Self-regulation gradually gave way as the 'rules of the game' changed. The result was a period of instability before new competitive practices, and more direct and specific regulatory requirements emerged in the 1970s.     

Can bribes buy protection against international competition?

This paper explores the association between corruption and trade policy. A non-technical theoretical framework first outlines the effects of corruption on non-tariff barriers at the political and bureaucratic level. Both parts have incentives to accept bribes in exchange for increasing barriers. These considerations include politicians’ re-election motives, implying that free information may weaken the association between corruption and trade barriers. I employ panel data on corruption and non-tariff barriers in three periods 1995–2005. The results show that corruption tends to lead to higher non-tariff barriers. The effectiveness of corruption in buying barriers varies with the degree of press freedom and GDP per capita.     

循环经济对我国对外贸易的影响

在经济全球化的发展过程中,关税壁垒作用日趋削弱,包括"绿色壁垒"在内的非关税壁垒日益凸显.这些非关税壁垒,对中国发展对外贸易,特别是扩大出口产生了很大的影响.面对日益严峻的非关税壁垒,中国要高度重视,积极应对,尤其是要全面推进清洁生产,大力发展循环经济,逐步使中国产品符合资源、环保等方面的国际标准.     

Effects of Tariffication: Tariffs and Quotas under Monopolistic Competition

Recent rounds of GATT and later WTO have advocated widespread tariffication, meaning that existing non-tariff barriers be converted into import equivalent tariffs. From an economic point of view, the effects of such tariffication are not entirely clear. The paper presents a trade model with monopolistic competition to examine the welfare effects of tariffication. The ranking of pre- and post-tariffication welfare crucially depends on the nature of the initial trade barrier and the tariff tool applied. Tariffication using a specific (ad valorem) tariff results in the same (reduced) welfare level compared to an initial sold quota, whereas welfare is increased (the same) compared to an initial shared quota.     

国际劳工标准对中国对外贸易的影响及对策

随着金融危机导致贸易保护主义的抬头,非关税壁垒成为限制进口的主要手段,其中国际劳工标准与国际贸易挂钩已演变成必然的趋势。由于中国劳动力成本低,出口主要集中在劳动密集型产品上。短期内会提高中国出口商品的成本和降低国际竞争力,从长期看会促进企业参与全球性的战略决策,把企业目标同社会责任、短期利益和长远发展结合起来。对此,文章提出了相应的对策措施和建议。     

Trade Diversion Effects of the New EU Arrangements on ASEAN

paper identifies the product groups of the ASEAN exports to Europe that will experience trade diversion effects from the enlargement of the EU (EU 12) with Austria, Finland and Sweden (EFTA 3) and the European association agreements with the Eastern European countries (EACs) using the methodology of Kreinin and Plummer. This methodology establishes for each sufficiently important ASEAN export product group to the EU 12, the EFTA 3 or the EACs whether or not competition is felt from one of the three groups of European countries, after which the tariff and non-tariff preferences towards European products and against the ASEAN exports are analysed.
The share of the exports in ASEAN's external trade with the EU 12, the EFTA 3 and the EACs that is affected by the trade diversion of these recent European integration initiatives, is calculated. It appears that the ASEAN exports to the EU 12 are affected by the accession of the EFTA3 only to a limited extent, but that the trade diversion effect on the EU 12 and the EFTA 3 markets to be expepected from the European association agreements with the EACs is considerable.     

Trade protection and the role of non-tariff barriers

Review of World Economics - A growing share of modern trade policy instruments is shaped by non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Based on a structural gravity equation and the recently updated Global Trade...     

Neutrality and free trade: Sweden and trade liberalisation, 1948–1958

Abstract

This article discusses the Swedish attitude to European economic cooperation, an attitude that has been described as reluctant. The traditional explanation for this has been Sweden's neutrality. This explanation has been challenged by researchers, who have claimed that a nationally self-sufficient social democracy was responsible for the reluctance towards Europe. In this article, neutrality is still seen as the main explanatory factor. Swedish strategies for dealing with European integration linked the concepts of neutrality and global free trade. Nordic cooperation was also seen as a strategy to meet demands for European integration. Swedish activities within the European organisations were limited by neutrality concerns. Within these limits Sweden worked for economic policy solutions, which might be called social democratic.     

Red Holocaust

ABSTRACT

Reduced transport costs and income growth in industrialising European countries changed the market conditions for European farmers in the late nineteenth century. Grain prices fell while dairy prices rose. It has been claimed that these price changes hit large grain farmers with vested interests in grain trade particularly hard, while owner-occupiers and smallholders fared better and with help of developing cooperative associations, came out as successful commercial agriculturalists by switching to intensive branches, foremost dairying. Recent research on the Danish case, shows, however, that change was initiated on large elite estates with long-term dairy traditions. The literature on the Swedish case indicates, that larger farms switched to intensified fodder production quicker than smaller farms did, while in the early twentieth century smaller farms played an un-proportionally large role on the dairy market. Using individual farm data from two East-central Swedish parishes in 1878/80, 1895/96 and 1910/11, it is shown, that larger farms tended to modernise crop rotations and switch towards dairy production earlier than small farms did. Smaller farms caught up, and by 1910 their land use was about as strongly adapted to commercial dairy production as larger farms’ land use was.     

源于地方保护的市场分割对市场结构的影响

根据SCP范式,市场结构对企业的经营行为和市场绩效具有决定性的影响力,而市场结构的形成又受到很多因素的作用,在我国的现阶段,源于地方保护的市场分割对市场结构具有重要的影响力,在市场分割的环境下市场集中度、进入壁垒、竞争强度和规模经济都表现出独特的特征。这些市场结构上的特征可能可以用来解释我国企业偏爱多元化经营的行为。     

技术性贸易壁垒的保护绩效及影响因素

随着关税等传统贸易保护措施逐渐的淡化,技术性贸易壁垒以其自身保护手段的合法和隐蔽性,受到了各国的欢迎和广泛运用。这时,技术性贸易壁垒的保护绩效及其影响因素就成为需要明确和研究的重点问题。相关的研究文献为本文的研究提供了框架和基础,由此出发,论文分析了国内市场规模、产品替代程度、市场竞争程度以及产品的供需弹性与技术性贸易壁垒保护绩效之间的相关关系。