Trade policy, trade costs, and developing country trade / Bernard Hoekman, Alessandro Nicita.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Hoekman, Bernard M., 1959-

Contributor:

World Bank.

Nicita, Alessandro.

Series:

Policy research working papers ; 4797.

World Bank e-Library.

Policy research working paper ; 4797

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Free trade--Developing countries.

Free trade.

Developing countries--Commercial policy.

Developing countries.

Other Title:

Policy research working paper vol. 4797

Place of Publication:

[Washington, D.C. : World Bank, 2008]

System Details:

data file

Summary:

"This paper briefly reviews new indices of trade restrictiveness and trade facilitation that have been developed at the World Bank. The paper also compares the trade impact of different types of trade restrictions applied at the border with the effects of domestic policies that affect trade costs. Based on a gravity regression framework, the analysis suggests that tariffs and non-tariff measures continue to be a significant source of trade restrictiveness for low-income countries despite preferential access programs. This is because the value of trade preferences is quite limited: a new measure of the relative preference margin developed in the paper reveals that this is very low for most country-pairs. Most countries with very good (duty-free) access to a market generally have competitors that have the same degree of access. The empirical analysis suggests that measures to improve logistics performance and facilitate trade are likely to have the greatest positive effects in expanding developing country trade, increasing the trade impacts of lowering remaining border barriers by a factor of two or more. "--World Bank web site.

Notes:

Title from PDF file as viewed on 5/8/2009.

Includes bibliographical references.

Publisher Number:

10.1596/1813-9450-4797