Abstract
Because of concern that OECD tariff reductions will translate into worsening export performance for the least developed countries, trade preferences have proven a stumbling block to developing country support for multilateral liberalization. We examine the actual scope for preference erosion, including an econometric assessment of the actual utilization, and also the scope for erosion estimated by modeling full elimination of OECD tariffs and hence full MFN liberalization-based preference erosion. Preferences are underutilized due to administrative burden estimated to be at least 4% on average reducing the magnitude of erosion costs significantly. For those products where preferences are used (are of value), the primary negative impact follows from erosion of EU preferences. This suggests the erosion problem is primarily bilateral rather than a WTO-based concern.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 197-216 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | The World Bank Economic Review |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 |
Fields of science
- 405002 Agricultural economics
- 502 Economics
- 502001 Labour market policy
- 502002 Labour economics
- 502003 Foreign trade
- 502009 Corporate finance
- 502010 Public finance
- 502012 Industrial management
- 502013 Industrial economics
- 502018 Macroeconomics
- 502020 Market research
- 502021 Microeconomics
- 502025 Econometrics
- 502027 Political economy
- 502039 Structural policy
- 502042 Environmental economics
- 502046 Economic policy
- 502047 Economic theory
- 504014 Gender studies
- 506004 European integration
- 507016 Regional economy
- 303010 Health economics
