DOC PREVIEW
Berkeley ENVECON 131 - The Cost of Rich and Poor Country Protection to Developing Countries

This preview shows page 1-2-3-19-20-38-39-40 out of 40 pages.

Save
View full document
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 40 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience

Unformatted text preview:

Discussion Paper No. 0136 Adelaide University Adelaide 5005 Australia The Cost of Rich (and Poor) Country Protection to Developing Countries Kym Anderson Betina Dimaranan Joe Francois Tom Hertel Bernard Hoekman Will Martin September 2001CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES The Centre was established in 1989 by the Economics Department of the Adelaide University to strengthen teaching and research in the field of international economics and closely related disciplines. Its specific objectives are: • to promote individual and group research by scholars within and outside the Adelaide University • to strengthen undergraduate and post-graduate education in this field • to provide shorter training programs in Australia and elsewhere • to conduct seminars, workshops and conferences for academics and for the wider community • to publish and promote research results • to provide specialised consulting services • to improve public understanding of international economic issues, especially among policy makers and shapers Both theoretical and empirical, policy-oriented studies are emphasised, with a particular focus on developments within, or of relevance to, the Asia-Pacific region. The Centre’s Director is Professor Kym Anderson ([email protected]) and Deputy Director is Dr Randy Stringer ([email protected]) Further details and a list of publications are available from: Executive Assistant CIES School of Economics Adelaide University SA 5005 AUSTRALIA Telephone: (+61 8) 8303 5672 Facsimile: (+61 8) 8223 1460 Email: [email protected] Most publications can be downloaded from our Home page: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/cies/CIES DISCUSSION PAPER 0136 The Cost of Rich (and Poor) Country Protection to Developing Countries Kym Anderson Betina Dimaranan Joe Francois Tom Hertel Bernard Hoekman Will Martin Centre for International Economic Studies University of Adelaide [email protected] September 2001The Cost of Rich (and Poor) Country Protection to Developing Countries Kym Anderson (University of Adelaide), Betina Dimaranan (Purdue University) Joe Francois (Erasmus University), Tom Hertel (Purdue University), Bernard Hoekman (World Bank), and Will Martin (World Bank) September 23, 2001 Abstract This study confirms that substantial barriers to market access will remain in both rich and poor countries following full implementation of the Uruguay Round agreement. The analysis finds that around 40 percent of the costs of these barriers to developing countries arise from barriers to market access in industrial countries, and 60 percent from barriers in developing countries themselves. The results suggest that there would be large gains to almost all regions from a round of negotiations that increased market access in North and South. In Africa, the potential static gains from multilateral reform appear to exceed those from preferential liberalization, without the well-known disadvantages of a preferential approach.The Cost of Rich (and Poor) Country Protection to Developing Countries Although rich country protection has, in general, fallen to very low levels, it remains important in many areas of particular interest to developing countries. Hoekman, Ng and Olarreaga (2001) have recently highlighted the importance of tariff peaks in areas of export interest to developing countries, such as sugar; cereals and fish; tobacco; certain alcoholic beverages; fruits and vegetables; clothing, and footwear. Protection in developing countries has fallen considerably in recent years. World Bank (2000, 2001ab) show that the average tariff rates imposed by developing countries have roughly halved since the early 1980s, and the variation in tariff rates measured by the standard deviation has also fallen considerably. Over the same period, the incidence of nontariff barriers has fallen dramatically (Michalopoulos 1999). The coverage of restrictions imposed for current account purposes, and the black market premia that reflect the protective impact of exchange rate distortions have also fallen dramatically. Developing countries have undertaken these reductions in their own protection, at considerable pain and effort, largely with a view to enhancing their own export performance. Accordingly, the persistence of export barriers in the industrial countries, and in the more advanced developing countries, is particularly galling. Concern about the barriers facing developing countries has fuelled pressures for relief, such as the European Union’s Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative for the LDCs. It is also highly relevant to the prospects for new multilateral trade negotiations, in which a major incentive for full participation by developing countrieswill be meaningful reductions in the barriers they face in their trading partners—both rich and poor. Despite major reforms in the recent past, the potential gains from further liberalization of tariff and nontariff barriers are still enormous. And they are becoming more important in relative terms over time, thanks to the fall in other barriers to international trade such as transport and communication costs. The relative contributions to those potential gains from the various sectoral policies in different country groups are also important and poorly understood. Reducing such misunderstandings is a necessary part of building support for launching a new WTO round, and can help trade negotiators prioritize their efforts. As emphasized by Rodrik (2000), trade reform is only one element of successful development policy, and many other institutional reforms are required if a country is to successfully develop and reduce poverty. This paper focuses on the direct implications of trade liberalization for developing countries. The broader dimensions of multilateral trade reform, including the relationship between trade liberalization and rule-making are considered in related papers, including Hertel, Hoekman and Martin (2001), Martin (2001) and World Bank (2001ab). As emphasized by Hoekman (2001), trade liberalization has an important advantage over positive forms of integration that require the development of institutions (Tinbergen 1965) because such institutional development can be extremely costly in developing countries (Finger and Schuler 2001). The key purpose of the present study is to estimate (a) the extent of


View Full Document

Berkeley ENVECON 131 - The Cost of Rich and Poor Country Protection to Developing Countries

Documents in this Course
Notes

Notes

9 pages

Load more
Download The Cost of Rich and Poor Country Protection to Developing Countries
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view The Cost of Rich and Poor Country Protection to Developing Countries and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view The Cost of Rich and Poor Country Protection to Developing Countries 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?