Trade flows are significantly affected by the trade agreements both with respect to impacts on pre-existing trade flows, (intensive margin) and on new, previously non-existent trade flows (extensive margin). The effect of the Regional Trade Agreements on pre-existing trade flows are found to be...

This report analyses policies along the agricultural supply chain, in particular support measures for fertilisers and for biofuels. It uses the OECD Fertiliser and Biofuel Support Policies Database that covers polices in 48 countries (including the EU and its Members) and assesses the market...

Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is one of the most contagious animal diseases. Because of the easy transfer between animals, FMD is of importance to the domestic market, but also to international agricultural trade. Infected countries are often confronted with rigorous measures implemented by their...

This report applies a cost-benefit analysis to quantify the economic effects of non-tariff measures in the agri-food sector. Three case studies are presented to demonstrate how such analysis can help identify least-cost solutions of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) designed to ensure that imported...

Barriers to trade come in a variety of forms. This paper examines one such barrier, export restrictions, and how it impacts trade and global supply in selected strategic metals and minerals. The metals and minerals examined in the paper are of particular interest for a number of reasons: they...

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) present opportunities for controlling technical barriers to trade (TBTs). Using key principles and provisions of the WTO Agreement on TBT as a yardstick for analysis, this paper examines whether and how eight major regional integration agreements within the...

Prices for commodities such as minerals and metals have increased significantly over the past few years. At the same time, there has also been an increase in restrictions on the export of raw materials which has led policy makers and business people to address free trade of raw materials. This...

To what extent are governments drawing on relevant international standards in their technical regulations, as mandated by the WTO TBT Agreement? A number of sources of data exist, including electronic databases maintained by governments, but they cannot be used to obtain systematic,...