Preference Erosion and Multilateral Trade Liberalization

Because of concern that tariff reductions in Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries willtranslate into worsening export performance for the least developedcountries, the erosion of trade preferences may become a stumblingblock for multilateral trade liberalization. An econometricanalysis of actual preference use shows that preferences areunderused because of administrative burdens—estimatedto be equivalent to an average of 4 percent of the value ofgoods traded. To quantify the maximum scope for preference erosion,the compliance cost estimates are used in a model-based assessmentof the impact of full elimination of OECD tariffs. Taking intoaccount administrative costs eliminates erosion costs in theaggregate and greatly reduces the losses for countries mostaffected by preference erosion.     

Trade costs and multimarket collusion

Contrary to conventional wisdom, this article argues that trade liberalization may facilitate collusion and reduce welfare. With the help of a duopoly model in which firms interact repeatedly in multiple markets, we first show that, if trade costs (i.e., tariffs/transport costs) and discount factors are not too high, efficient cartel agreements necessitate the cross‐hauling of goods, as that entails lower deviation incentives. In this setting, we then demonstrate that reciprocal trade liberalization always raises total output when trade costs are within a range whose lower bound exceeds a threshold level, but may reduce total output (and thus be pro‐collusive) when trade costs are below that threshold level.     

Doha Merchandise Trade Reform: What Is at Stake for Developing Countries?

The LINKAGE model of the global economy and the latest GlobalTrade Analysis Project (GTAP) database (version 6.05) are usedto examine the impact of current merchandise trade barriersand agricultural subsidies and possible reform outcomes of theWorld Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Doha DevelopmentAgenda. The results suggest that moving to free global merchandisetrade would boost real incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa proportionatelymore than in other developing countries or in high-income countries,despite the terms of trade loss in parts of that region. Particularattention is given to agriculture, as farmers constitute thepoorest households in developing countries but the most assistedin rich countries. Net farm incomes would rise substantiallyin Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing country regions,alleviating rural poverty. Partial liberalization could movethe world some way toward those desirable outcomes, the moreso the more developing countries themselves cut applied tariffs,particularly on agricultural imports.     

Free trade agreements and market integration: Evidence from South Korea

We consider the effects of free trade agreements on market integration between South Korea and its solo and trade-bloc FTA partners. Free trade agreements should reduce tariffs and trade costs and lead to faster home-to-foreign price convergence. We investigate these ideas with a non-linear self-exciting threshold autoregressive (TAR) model, by introducing a threshold break at the effective FTA date. This strategy allows us to consider: (1) whether trade costs have declined after the free trade agreement; and (2) whether the speed of mean reversion in the home-foreign price differential is faster after the FTA. Our study includes nine of South Korea’s free trade agreements and covers twenty-eight partner countries. We find evidence that after free trade agreements, trade costs have been reduced for nine countries, providing evidence that greater market integration has been achieved on this score. However, evidence on whether the speed of home-to-foreign price convergence increases after free trade agreements is lacking.     

关税冲击与中国进口行为

在美国频繁发起贸易保护措施的背景下,中国加征反制关税予以还击。本文基于2017年1月至2020年6月中国海关月度贸易数据,采用双重差分模型考察了对美反制关税的实际效果,即是否抑制美国对华产品输出以及对中国总进口和产业链的影响。研究表明:(1)中国对美反制关税精准有力,中国自美进口额和进口数量显著下降;随着关税排除清单的实施,进口下降幅度有所减缓。(2)反制关税的影响总体可控。随着中国不断调低MFN关税税率,对美进口贸易转移至经济规模较大的贸易伙伴国,中国总进口以及国内产业链并未受到明显冲击。(3)尽管富有弹性产品、非燃料初级产品及高技术产品对美进口,以及民营企业对美进口均受到一定冲击,但这些产品和企业的总进口并未受到波及,总体外贸形势依然稳中向好。     

Trading Arrangements and Industrial Development

This article outlines a new approach for analyzing the roleof trade in promoting industrial development. It offers an explanationas to why firms are reluctant to move to countries with lowerlabor costs and shows how trade liberalization can change theincentives for firms to locate in developing countries. It modelseconomic development as the spread of concentrations of firmsfrom country to country. Different trading arrangements mayhave a major impact on this development process. By changingthe attractiveness of countries as a base for manufacturingproduction, they can potentially trigger—or postpone—industrialdevelopment. The analysis shows that unilaterally liberalizingimports of manufactures can promote industrialization but thatmembership in a preferential trading arrangement is likely tocreate larger gains. South-South preferential trading arrangementswill be sensitive to the market size of member states, whileNorth-South arrangements seem to offer better prospects forparticipating southern countries, if not for excluded countries.     

Endogenous Tariff Formation: The Case of Mercosur

Mercosur appears as an interesting case study for analyzingthe determinants of exceptions in regional trade agreements.Its member countries—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, andUruguay—intended to make Mercosur a full customs unionby January 1995. This goal turned out to be too ambitious, andthe Protocol of Ouro Preto and other agreements signed in December1994 led to a hybrid solution. Overall, out of a total of 9,119tariff lines, around 30 percent are subject, in at least onemember country, to either external deviations from the commonexternal tariff or internal deviations from free trade. Thusan important set of holes remains under the existing agreement,leading some authors to consider Mercosur an incomplete customsunion. This article compares the results of the theoretical literatureon endogenous tariff formation with evidence from Mercosur.The results show that Mercosur's common external tariff andmember countries' deviations from it and from internal freetrade can be explained by sector or industry lobbying as predictedby the endogenous tariff literature. If a viable political economyis a key to success, then Mercosur is here to stay.     

Regional Integration and Economic Growth

The rapid economic growth of developing countries that openedtheir markets to free international trade during the past twodecades has stimulated a large empirical and theoretical literatureon the impact of trade on growth. This literature concludesthat free trade and growth were positively correlated duringthe 1970s and 1980s. However, most studies focus on nondiscriminatoryopenness. Does regional integration matter for economic growth?Do regional trade agreements have any impact on growth? This article presents empirical evidence that countries withopen, large, and more developed neighboring economies grow fasterthan those with closed, smaller, and less developed neighboringeconomies. The results are robust to different specificationsof the empirical model and different definitions of openness,suggesting that small economies should grow faster when theyform regional trade agreements with large and more developedeconomies. However, testing for the impact of five regionaltrade agreements during the 1970s and 1980s finds that noneled to faster growth. The main reason seems to be that mostof these agreements were among small, closed, and developingeconomies.     

Strategic Environmental Policies under International Duopolistic Competition

This paper examines the welfare implications of trade liberalization when governments behave strategically using pollution taxes and tariffs on imports. This competition leads to inefficiencies as each government seeks foreign rent and tries to transfer pollution to the other country. It is shown that banning tariffs leads to a higher level of pollution which decreases total welfare compared to the one obtained under restricted trade. As the rate of transboundary pollution transmission rises, the pollution-shifting motive is reduced and this leads to a too high pollution level. This problem is amplified when tariffs aren't available to governments.     

Economic Reform and Labor Unions: A General-Equilibrium Analysis Applied to Bangladesh and Indonesia

Noting the trend toward more independent trade unions in developingcountries, this article examines whether the presence of unionsstrengthens or weakens the benefits to be gained from economicpolicy reform. We show that the presence of "passive" unions—onesthat choose their wage-employment contract given the firm'scost-minimizing strategy—increases the welfare gains fromtrade liberalization, because trade reform lowers the wage premiumenjoyed by the unionized sector, reducing a distortion in thelabor market. These gains are amplified when the unions are"active", namely, when they negotiate a contract with the firmthat is off its labor demand curve. Such a contract resultsin featherbedding—paying workers more than their marginalproduct—and trade reform reduces the amount of featherbedding.The policy implication for Bangladesh—a country with strongtrade unions and a protected unionized sector—is thatthe benefits of further trade liberalization may be greaterthan otherwise predicted. In Indonesia, where both unionizationand import tariffs are low, allowing greater independence tounions may preserve flexibility and reward workers better thanthe current minimum-wage policy.     

Dynamics and Politics in Regional Integration Arrangements: An Introduction

Overwhelming evidence links openness and economic growth. Inrecent years many developing countries have attempted to liberalizetheir trade and investment regimes, mostly through autonomousunilateral liberalization. At the same time, a growing numberof governments have begun to explore and participate in regionaltrading agreements. The agreements grant reciprocal trade preferencesto participating countries, resulting in discrimination againstnonmembers. The causes and consequences of regional integration have givenrise to an extensive and vigorous debate among both scholarsand policymakers. However, the quality of this debate has beenseriously hampered by the absence of clear analytical modelsand empirical evidence on many of the factors under discussion.Few of the recent arguments in favor of regional integrationarrangements have been satisfactorily formalized or tested.To address some of these issues, a World Bank research programfocuses on new and developing country aspects of regionalism.The program explores lacunae in the traditional static analysisof regional integration arrangements; addresses the dynamiceffects of integration, the economics of deep integration, andthe politics and political economy of regional integration arrangements;and compares regionalism with multilateralism. The articlesin this symposium address the topics of dynamics, politics,and political economy in regional integration agreements.     

区域一体化、环境污染与社会福利

如何在区域协调发展中实现减排和社会福利的双增进已成为中国绿色高质量发展所面临的重大现实问题。本文在空间经济模型框架下探讨了区域一体化的环境和社会福利效应。基于1995-2016年中国30个省级行政区的数据,运用动态空间面板杜宾模型和广义空间二阶段最小二乘模型验证了区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响。研究发现:(1)区域一体化对不同类型污染物的影响存在差异,区域一体化显著抑制了本地性污染物排放,但同时促进了全域性污染物的排放。(2)区域一体化与社会福利间呈现倒“U”形关系。在临界水平内,区域一体化有利于增进社会福利。(3)区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响存在地区交互影响,即邻近地区的区域一体化促进了本地工业粉尘的排放,同时抑制了本地二氧化碳的排放,邻近地区的区域一体化有利于增进本地的社会福利。(4)区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响存在显著的空间边界。本研究认为应对不同类型的污染物制定差异化环境政策,通过强化空间管理以充分利用区域一体化促进地区协同减排和增进社会福利的双重红利。     

区域一体化、环境污染与社会福利

如何在区域协调发展中实现减排和社会福利的双增进已成为中国绿色高质量发展所面临的重大现实问题。本文在空间经济模型框架下探讨了区域一体化的环境和社会福利效应。基于1995-2016年中国30个省级行政区的数据,运用动态空间面板杜宾模型和广义空间二阶段最小二乘模型验证了区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响。研究发现:(1)区域一体化对不同类型污染物的影响存在差异,区域一体化显著抑制了本地性污染物排放,但同时促进了全域性污染物的排放。(2)区域一体化与社会福利间呈现倒“U”形关系。在临界水平内,区域一体化有利于增进社会福利。(3)区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响存在地区交互影响,即邻近地区的区域一体化促进了本地工业粉尘的排放,同时抑制了本地二氧化碳的排放,邻近地区的区域一体化有利于增进本地的社会福利。(4)区域一体化对环境污染和社会福利的影响存在显著的空间边界。本研究认为应对不同类型的污染物制定差异化环境政策,通过强化空间管理以充分利用区域一体化促进地区协同减排和增进社会福利的双重红利。     

Has Rural Infrastructure Rehabilitation in Georgia Helped the Poor?

This article proposes a research strategy to deal with the scarcityof data on beneficiaries for conducting impact assessments ofcommunity-level projects. Community-level panel data from aregular household survey augmented with a special communitymodule are used to measure the impact of projects. Propensityscore–matched difference-in-difference comparisons areused to control for time-invariant unobservable factors. Thismethodology takes into consideration the purposeful placementof projects and their interactions at the community level. Thisempirical approach is applied to infrastructure rehabilitationprojects—for schools, roads, and water supply systems—inrural Georgia between 1998 and 2001. The analysis produces plausibleresults regarding the size of welfare gains from a particularproject at the village level and allows for differentiationof benefits between the poor and the nonpoor. The findings ofthis study can contribute to evaluations of the impact of infrastructureinterventions on poverty by bringing new empirical evidenceto bear on the welfare and equity implications.     

Trade Policy Options for Chile: The Importance of Market Access

This article uses a multisector, multicountry, computable generalequilibrium model to examine Chile's strategy of "additive regionalism"—negotiatingbilateral free trade agreements with all of its significanttrading partners. Taking Chile's regional arrangements bilaterally,only its agreements with Northern partners provide sufficientmarket access to overcome trade diversion costs. Due to preferentialmarket access, however, additive regionalism is likely to provideChile with gains that are many multiples of the static welfaregains from unilateral free trade. At least one partner countryloses from each of the regional agreements considered, and excludedcountries as a group always lose. Gains to the world from globalfree trade are estimated to be vastly larger than gains fromany of the regional arrangements.     

WHO WINS AND WHO LOSES FROM VOLUNTARY EXPORT RESTRAINTS?:The Case of Footwear

Voluntary export restraints have been a popular resort of industrialcountries faced with increasing competition from exports ofdeveloping countries. As a strategy for circumventing the rulesof the GATT (whose regulations preclude increases in tariffs),these nontariff barriers have been rather successful; whetherthey have been as successful in their aim of protecting andstimulating the industry concerned is another matter. This article looks at what happened when industrial countriesimposed—and then removed—voluntary export restraintson the footwear industry during the 1970s and 1980s. Why didprotectionism spread so fast and then dissipate almost as rapidly,and what effects did this coming and going have on the exportingcountries We suggest that industrial countries removed the restraintsbecause they found ?them either superfluous (the expected employmenteffect failed to materialize) or ineffective (the principalexporters maintained their market share during the height ofthe restrictions), or else because the industry was able toadjust by importing footwear at a profit. Predicting the effect of VERs, and determining how best to managethem, are critical questions for developing countries strugglingto improve their export performance in the 1990s. The resultsof detailed study of a representative industry, summarized here,may assist in the prediction and determination.      

Corporate Tax Consolidation and Enhanced Cooperation in the European Union*

We assess the economic impact of introducing consolidation with formula apportionment in the European Union and consider alternative enhanced cooperation agreements. We find that the consolidation is likely to yield a small aggregate welfare gain in Europe. However, not all countries benefit. A coalition of winning countries reduces the welfare gain and may induce a process of adverse selection which destroys the possibility of cooperation. We find that a coalition of similar countries (in terms of the size of their multinational sector) is more feasible in achieving agreement and is actually preferred by those countries over a Europe‐wide reform.     

Trade Policies and the Highly Indebted Countries

In the early 1980s, faced with a mounting debt crisis, mosthighly indebted developing countries increased trade barriersto save foreign exchange—but in the last three to fouryears, they have reversed course. Almost all of these countrieshave undergone real devaluations, and many have undertaken significantliberalizations, so much so that some (Bolivia, Costa Rica,Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, and Uruguay) are less protectionistthan before the debt crisis. But industrial countries have imposed new nontariff barriersagainst imports from highly indebted countries. Canada, Australia,the European Community, and the United States have greatly increasedthe use of countervailing duties and antidumping actions. Thismakes it more difficult for highly indebted countries to payoff their debts, and ultimately rebounds on creditor governmentsand banks.     

Fuel taxation,emissions policy,and competitive advantage in the diffusion of European diesel automobiles

Economic integration agreements have significantly decreased import tariffs. We investigate whether national policies can be an effective replacement for tariffs to protect domestic industry. We show that (a) European fuel taxes and vehicle emissions policy favored diesel vehicles, a technology popular with European consumers but largely offered only by domestic automakers; (b) European automakers benefited from pro‐diesel fuel taxes and a lenient NO_x emissions policy to earn significant profits from diesel cars; and (c) that both policies amounted to significant nontariff trade policies equivalent to an import tariff between two to three times the official rate.     

Endogenous pricing to market and financing costs

This paper explains why relative PPP should hold more tightly in emerging markets, and why pricing to market would be observed more frequently in the OECD countries. It studies the endogenous determination of pricing to market, in a real option model with time-dependent transportation costs, where the future terms of trade are random. Allowing time-dependent transportation costs adds a dimension of investment to the pre-buying of imports, implying that financial considerations determine the frequency of pricing to market, and the deviations from relative PPP. If the expected discounted cost of last minute delivery is higher than pre-buying, one exercises the option of spot market imports if the realized terms of trade are favorable enough. Pricing to market is observed in countries characterized by low terms of trade volatility and low financing costs. In these circumstances, imports are pre-bought, and the spot market for imports is inactive. In countries where the financing costs and the terms of trade volatility are high, few imports are pre-bought, the price of imports is determined by the realized real exchange rate, and a version of relative PPP holds. With an intermediate level of terms of trade volatility and of financing costs, a mixed regime is observed. If the realized real exchange rate is weak, pricing to market would prevail, increasing consumers’ welfare by shielding them from the adverse purchasing power consequences of weak terms of trade. If the realized real exchange rate is favorable enough, more imports are purchased in the spot market, and the relative PPP would hold. Higher financing costs increase the cost of pre-buying imports, reducing thereby the frequency of pricing to market, increasing the expected relative price of imports, reducing the expected deviations from relative PPP, and reducing welfare.