Poverty Effects from Trade Liberalisation in Argentina

This paper aims at analyzing the linkages between international trade openness and poverty in Argentina. Under a specific-factors setting, a two-step procedure is presented. In the first stage the change in prices of goods and factors in both tradable and non-tradable sectors, after a trade liberalization episode, is considered. In a second step, these variations are applied to assess the changes in poverty and households’ welfare. A micro simulation approach, using households’ survey data, is applied in this last stage. Poverty is reduced as a result of the policy, and the households that benefit from this reduction are those linked to the nontradable sectors.