The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) restricts the access of developing country exporters to developed country markets. It is usually assumed that the exporting countries receive all of the economic rents that result from these import restrictions - making it unclear whether the developing...

Groundnut products are of central economic importance to millions of smallholders in Africa, India, and Southern China. The products generate 60 percent of rural cash income and account for about 70 percent of the rural labor force in Senegal and The Gambia. Groundnut trade is heavily distorted,...

The welfare effects of preferential trading agreements, are most directly linked to changes in trade prices - that is, the terms of trade. The authors use a simple strategic pricing game in segmented markets, to measure the effects of MERCOSUR on the pricing of"non-member"exports to the regional...

The Uruguay Round agreements on agriculture were intended to move member countries toward a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system. By progressively reducing domestic government support and export subsidies, converting nontariff barriers to tariffs, and reducing barriers to market...

The authors examine the effects on national welfare and market access of two public procurement practices-discrimination against foreign suppliers of goods and services and nontransparency of the procedures used to allocate government contracts to firms. Both types of policies have become...

Agricultural protection, particularly in high income countries, have induced overproduction, thereby depressing world commodity prices and reducing export shares of countries which do not support agriculture. One-and perhaps the only-effective way to bring a socially acceptable and politically...

Measures of long-term trends in world export prices for manufactured goods, and in the terms of trade between manufactured goods and primary products, are sensitive to many choices in methods for weighting indexes, base periods, and (most important) changes in quality. For example: 1) wieghting...

In considering whether to privatize a large state-owned steel enterprise in Argentina, the question arose: Would its sale to a consortium of large domestic enterprises, and the resulting increase in firm concentration, inevitably lead to cries for protection? To shed light on the question, the...

This paper reviews the most important changes, both in the economy and in the legal and institutional framework, to deal with unfair trade practices that Costa Rica has experienced during its trade liberalization process. It also evaluates whether the sectors that as a result of such a process...

This paper investigates the incentive system facing importers under a linking arrangement and their likely behavior. It analyzes the impact on imports, consumption, and domestic production and the social costs under the assumption that all the relevant"industries"(production of the product in...