Free Trade Agreements as Protectionist Devices: Rules of Origin / Anne O. Krueger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krueger, Anne O.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w4352.

NBER working paper series no. w4352

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Free Trade Agreements as Protectionist Devices

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1993.

Summary:

In this paper it is argued that there is an important protectionist bias inherent in free trade agreements which is not present in custom unions. In any customs union or free trade agreement, one of the critical issues concerns "rules of origin." In a free trade agreement rules of origin have an important function because, without one, each imported commodity would enter through the country with the lowest tariff on each commodity. The criterion for duty-free treatment is important in determining the economic effects of the rule of origin. It is shown that rules of origin in fact extend the protection accorded by each country to producers in other free trade agreement member countries. As such, rules of origin can constitute a source of bias toward economic inefficiency in free trade agreements in a way they cannot do with customs unions.

Notes:

Print version record

April 1993.