Electronic Commerce, Trade and Tariff Revenue: A Quantitative Assessment

This paper assesses the quantitative importance of electronic commerce in trade and tariff revenue, in light of the WTO decision on 'duty-free cyberspace'. Electronic commerce is likely to boost international trade in software, digitizable media products (music, books) and many services sectors significantly. However, despite the growing importance of electronic commerce for trade, tariff revenue loss from duty-free electronic commerce is unlikely to be significant. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.