Effects Of Trade Restrictions Research Articles

Systematic review of the impact of restrictive wildlife trade measures on conservation of iconic species in southern Africa.

Trade restrictions are often advocated and implemented as measures to protect wild species threatened by overexploitation. However, in some instances, their efficacy has been questioned, notably by governments in the southern African (SADC) region, which tend to favor a sustainable use approach to wildlife management. We conducted a systematic review of published literature guided by the PRISMA process to examine the effectiveness of trade restrictions and directly related control measures in addressing threats to species conservation in the SADC region, with a focus on elephants (Loxodonta sp.), rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum, Diceros bicornis), lions (Panthera leo), and pangolins (Manis sp.). We focused in particular on the direct conservation impact of trade restrictions at species or population level, indirect conservation impact at human behavior or attitude level, and socioeconomic impact on rural livelihoods and well-being and on national economies. Research on these topics was uneven and focused strongly on the effects of trade restrictions and law enforcement on crime-related behavior. Research gaps include socioeconomic impacts of trade restrictions, including effects of international restrictions on local livelihoods and consequent secondary conservation impacts, and evaluations of attempts to disrupt criminal networks. Based on the reviewed impact evidence, the effectiveness of international trade restrictions depends on a range of fully aligned measures in countries of origin, transit, and consumption. For example, our results suggest positive ecological short-term but negative or unknown long-term socioeconomic impacts of domestic restrictions. Based on these findings, key policy requirements include more nuanced approaches to incorporate a range of appropriate measures in range, transit, and consumer countries, that focus on capacity development for early detection and apprehension of incursions inside protected areas; measures for constructive engagement with relevant local communities outside protected areas; and future research to improve understanding of the socioeconomic contribution of wildlife.

ICT Standards Bodies and International Trade: What Role For The WTO?

Standardization of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become essential for the global economic activity. ICT standards provide for coordination between devices, interfaces, and networks; they support technical infrastructure, bolster e-commerce and rule digital markets. ICT standards also have a profound effect on global trade regulation since they serve both as enablers and barriers for transboundary commercial transactions. Because ICT standards are generally produced by the private sector, their trade-restrictive effects have so far largely managed to escape the purview of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, due to their growing normative consequences, the status quo of ICT standards and ICT standards bodies in multilateral trade cannot be maintained any longer. This Article argues that the WTO has powerful tools to address trade-restrictive effects of ICT standards, at the very least by giving a normative account to institutional characteristics of ICT standards bodies, but that these tools are not effectively used by Members. Conversely, the current application of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) instruments privileges powerful economic actors, expanding the gap between the developed and developing countries. A new, rule-based approach is required to re-establish the WTO’s relevance in standard setting and address power imbalances brought by technological convergence. ICT standards, TBT Agreement, TBT Committee Decision, TBT Code of Good Practice, technical standardization

Impacts of import restrictions on poultry producers in Ghana

Abstract This paper investigates the potential effects of trade restrictions and alternative tariff policies, including a tariff wedge between feed and final products on the Ghanaian poultry producers. We apply a hybrid approach that uses qualitative results of a Delphi study to define scenarios for a modified global general equilibrium model. The projected production changes are then used as inputs into a typical farm analysis that disentangles the effects for broiler farm types in Ghana. The effect of expanding a tariff wedge between final and feed products by 5 per cent, either through increasing the tariff rates of the final product or through abolishing the tariffs on feed products, is small in our case. However, increasing the tariff rate of the final product to the maximum level of bound tariff (i.e. 99 per cent) or a complete ban has a larger effect on domestic production. It increases the production by 104 per cent and up to 254 per cent, respectively. The typical farm analysis reveals that large-scale farms are better positioned to increase production than small and medium farm types.

Corn trade simulations of China: reduction in tariffs versus expansion in tariff-rate quotas

PurposeCorn, which has the highest domestic production, planting area and consumption, is the top cereal in relation to demand and supply in China. However, the comparative advantage of China in corn has continuously deteriorated in recent years and based on the recent situation and possible supply and demand trends, it is widely accepted that a corn self-sufficiency rate of 95% is difficult to achieve. Under current import-restriction policies, corn may stand at the crossroads of reforms to solve its predicted insufficient supply. In this study, the authors analyse the necessity of relaxing trade restrictions on corn in China and explore the effects of trade restrictions by reducing tariffs and expanding tariff-rate quotas on corn and related industries and the welfare change caused by possible relaxations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors construct a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and design nine scenarios for the analysis.FindingsThe results show that relaxations of import restrictions are probable methods to meet the aim of sufficient corn supply during shortages. They are simulated to reduce corn's domestic production and price, increase import and import prices and lead to a decline in self-sufficiency but benefit the production of corn-related industries of corn. The results also imply that expanding the quota is a better method for releasing trade restrictions in China.Originality/valueThe comparative advantage of China in corn deteriorated with an increase in prices. Based on the current situation and possible trends of supply and demand, the referenced goal of achieving 95% corn self-sufficiency appears difficult, implying that reliance on imports is probably imminent and vital. This study provides simulation results in future scenarios and offers policy implications for China's corn trade policies.

The Impacts of Trade Restrictions on World Agricultural Price Volatility during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, countries applied trade restrictions to insulate their domestic markets from the world market. However, these trade policies could have amplified international market price fluctuations. This paper explores the effects of trade restrictions on international agricultural price volatility. A theoretical model is developed to quantify how trade policies amplify the initial shock. Using panel data covering 71 countries from January 2020 to July 2021, we examine empirically the effects of trade policies on world agricultural price volatility. The results show that trade distortions further induced volatility of world agricultural prices by around 22 percent during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The multiplier effects are much more substantial in agricultural exporting countries than in importing countries. Large countries like China and the US could make significant contributions to stabilizing world prices by limiting the extent of unilateral trade policy interventions.

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the World Trade Organization: Debunking Its Reliance on Scientific Evidence and Reluctance to Endorse Potential Biotechnology Risks

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) relies on scientific evidence as a conclusive risk assessment criterion, which ignores the inherent limitations of science. This article highlights certain trade-restrictive effects of scientific evidence and comments on the Agreement’s aversions to precautionary measures and the consumer concern of the harmful effects of biotech products that may be necessary to protect public health and biosecurity in many WTO Member States. These measures and concerns have become pressing issues due to surging consumer awareness and vigilance concerning environmental protection and food safety. The Agreement is yet to overcome the weaknesses of its endorsed international standardising bodies, the problematic definition of scientific evidence and treatment of justification for scientific risk assessment methods and the implementation difficulties faced by most developing states. This article analyses these issues under the provisions of the Agreement and the interpretations of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in disputes involving SPS matters, which fall short of addressing scientific uncertainty surrounding biotech products and their associated risks.

Coercive Diplomacy and Foreign Supply of Essential Goods: Effects of Trade Restrictions and Foreign Aid Suspension on Food Imports

ABSTRACT Economic sanctions constrain targets’ capacity to maintain essential goods imports from foreign suppliers. This research points out that target states may respond to this adverse effect of sanctions by redirecting the resources invested to secondary goods imports to essential goods imports. In addition, I suggest that the availability of this strategy significantly varies across sanctions instruments. When facing foreign aid sanctions, targets may be able to effectively reallocate their import funding to sustain foreign supply of essential items. However, when they are subject to trade sanctions, such a response is not readily available. In the data analysis with 150 countries from 1974 to 2006, I utilize foodstuffs as a proxy of essential goods and provide evidence that targets under foreign aid sanctions transfer their import funding to maintain adequate amount of food aid. Yet, I find no evidence that targets subject to trade sanctions also respond with the same manner.

What use is an unloaded gun? The substantive discipline of the WTO TBT Code of Good Practice and its application to private standards pursuing public objectives

The proliferation and diffusion of private standards in the domain of social and environmental sustainability has raised a host of complex questions concerning the role that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the WTO Agreements should play vis-a-vis private standards affecting trade. While a common approach has been the claim of regulatory space for such private standards, this article attempts to take stock of the underdevelopment of the provisions of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement addressing standards, and in particular the TBT Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards. It clarifies the scope of application of the TBT Code and the extent of the obligation imposed on WTO Members to ensure that private standards are in compliance with its requirements. It subsequently attempts to interpret the TBT Code’s crucial provisions of non-discrimination, necessity and to base standards on international standards, in a manner that mediates between private autonomy, and the need to ensure that the most serious trade restrictive effects of private standards pursuing public policy objectives are remedied.

The Chapeau of the General Exceptions in the WTO GATT and GATS Agreements

This article presents a new interpretation of the Chapeau of Article XX of the GATT. The basis for this interpretation is a structural analysis of Article XX according to which this provision establishes a right to adopt measures for specific purposes that is subject to specific conditions set out in the subparagraphs of Article XX and horizontal conditions set out in the Chapeau. The article argues that the conditions in the subparagraphs are focused on the trade restrictive effects of these measures. The horizontal conditions in the Chapeau, on the other hand, are focused on two different aspects of these measures. One condition is focused on the discriminatory effects of these measures, which can be justified, and which in practice result from the non-application of the restrictive effects of these measures (these restrictive effects being justified under the subparagraphs) to competitive products from other origins. The second condition is focused on any protectionist purpose of these measures that is 'disguised' by a legitimate purpose, and this cannot be justified. The article goes on to interpret these conditions, based on a fundamentally economic conception of the discrimination conditions.

The Losses from Trade Restrictions: Policy Dynamics with Firm Selection and Endogenous Markup

AbstractIn this paper, I explore the aggregate effects of trade restrictions in a two‐country, dynamic, general equilibrium (DGE) model with firm selection and variable adjustment of markup. As a response to the trade collapse in the global crisis of 2008 and 2009, temporary trade restrictions have emerged in several countries. With analyzing the dynamics of a negative macroeconomic shock in the home economy first, and the subsequent introduction of trade restrictions in the foreign economy second, I show that both economies are in a worse position than they were during the economic downturn. The follow‐ups to the recession and trade restrictions are investigated through three mechanisms: (1) variable markup as a new avenue of increasing competitive pressure for producers (e.g. more competitive firms lower their markups); (2) average individual firms' specific productivity cut‐off, which induces their optimum export choice (e.g. an increase in the export productivity cut‐off means exporting becomes more difficult than before.); and (3) the movement of international relative prices (e.g. the real exchange rate and terms of trade).

Do people really support trade restrictions? Cross-country evidence

We investigate the effect of trade restrictions on the perception of well-being. Using combined cross-sectional micro data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey of individuals in 89 countries, we find that citizens of a country with a lower degree of trade restrictions are more satisfied with their lives. The results are also robust across different measures of well-being, different definitions of trade restrictions, different estimation methods, and different sample sizes.

The Chapeau of Article XX GATT: A New Interpretation

This article presents a new interpretation of the Chapeau of Article XX of the GATT. The basis for this interpretation is a structural analysis of Article XX according to which this provision establishes a right to adopt measures for specific purposes that is subject to specific conditions set out in the subparagraphs of Article XX and horizontal conditions set out in the Chapeau. The article argues that the conditions in the subparagraphs are focused on the trade restrictive effects of these measures. The horizontal conditions in the Chapeau, on the other hand, are focused on two different aspects of these measures. One condition is focused on the discriminatory effects of these measures, which can be justified, and which in practice result from the non-application of the restrictive effects of these measures (these restrictive effects being justified under the subparagraphs) to competitive products from other origins. The second condition is focused on any protectionist purpose of these measures that is 'disguised' by a legitimate purpose, and this cannot be justified. The article goes on to interpret these conditions, based on a fundamentally economic conception of the discrimination conditions, and concludes by drawing some analogies between Article XX and Articles 2.1 and 2.2 of the TBT Agreement.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, and the World Trade Organization

The notion of 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR) has become a recurrent theme for businesses, governments, and international organizations. Under the banner of CSR, most major corporations have endorsed principles to ensure that their operations, as well as those of suppliers and subcontractors along the supply chain, are respectful of human rights standards. Yet, CSR initiatives, while pursuing laudable objectives, may create restrictions on international trade. This occurs where producers in exporting countries are compelled to adjust their business operations to meet CSR substantive and reporting requirements as a precondition for securing contracts or maintaining existing commercial relations. This article explores whether the World Trade Organization (WTO) should participate in the elaboration of disciplines in relation to the trade-restrictive effects of CSR schemes adopted by private entities. It is submitted that under Articles 2 and 3 of the TBT Agreement there may be room to consider that WTO Members are responsible for the observance of Article 2 in respect of at least certain CSR codes of conduct. This analysis concludes that although the WTO is not best equipped to address CSR measures, it should actively engage with other international organizations in the development of CSR disciplines in order to ensure that the rights and obligations of WTO Members are not affected by the proliferation of CSR codes of conduct. The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

How Trade Restrictions Disperse: Policy Dynamics with Firm Selection

In this paper, I explore the aggregate effects of trade restrictions in a two-country, dynamic, stochastic, general equilibrium (DSGE) model with firm selection and variable adjustment of markup. As a response to the trade collapse in the global crisis of 2008 and 2009, trade restrictions have emerged in several countries. With analyzing the dynamics of an economic slump in the home economy first, and the subsequent introduction of trade restrictions in the foreign economy second, I show that both economies are in a worse position than they were during the economic downturn. The follow-ups to the recession and trade restrictions are investigated through three mechanisms: a) variable markup as a new avenue of increasing competitive pressure for producers (e.g. more competitive firms lower their markups.); b) average individual firms' specific productivity cut-off, which induces their optimum export choice (e.g. an increase in the export productivity cut-off means exporting becomes more difficult than before.); and c) the movement of international relative prices (e.g. the real exchange rate and terms of trade).

Protective Trade Policies 'Reduce' Employment: A Dynamic Optimization Approach

Using a competitive two-country two-commodity monetary model with optimizing agents in which persistent unemployment arises, this paper examines the effects of trade restrictions on consumption and employment in the two countries. When facing unemployment, a country tends to impose an import restriction so that domestic firms will increase production and raise employment. However, this policy improves the current account and hence its currency appreciates, causing its products to lose international competitiveness. Therefore, employment and consumption eventually decrease in the country while in the foreign country its currency depreciates and hence employment and consumption increase.

EFFECT OF MULTI‐FIBER ARRANGEMENT TRADE RESTRICTIONS ON TEXTILE INDUSTRY PROFIT MARGINS

This article tests the anti‐competitive effect of trade restrictions under the Multi‐Fiber Arrangement in the U.S. textile industry. The modeling approach differs from that of traditional empirical studies. That is, it allows for non‐competitive behavior by domestic firms and therefore permits estimating the effect of trade policy on domestic firms' conduct, market power, and profit margins. The model is estimated for several selected product categories of the U.S. textile industry. Empirical results indicate that trade restrictions enabled domestic producers to behave less competitively and raise their profit margins. The empirical evidence is significant in the man‐made fiber sub‐sectors. The anti‐competitive effect, however, tended to taper off over time, suggesting that higher profits might have induced new entry and hence boosted competition.

The effects of policies on farming households' decisions: economic evidence and environmental implications in northern Nigeria

There is increasing concern that the intensification of cereal production in northern Nigeria is threatening the sustainability of the agricultural environment. This article describes the effects of trade restrictions on grain imports and of fertilizer subsidy on households' decisions, and draws implications for degradation of the agricultural environment. It develops social accounting matrices (SAMs) for two household types as the basis for capturing the structure of resource allocation, cropping choices, and input use, and then uses the SAM to simulate household responses to changes in relative grain prices and fertilizer prices. Both simulations, but particularly the fertilizer price change, favour the shift from cereals to legumes. A third simulation reflecting technical change in legumes results in the largest shifts from cereals to legumes. It is concluded that appropriate policy reforms complemented by technical change will increase diversification of the cropping system and reduce inefficient fertilizer use. The cumulative effects of these changes will improve soil nitrogen and organic matter and help break the pest and disease complex, thereby improving the agricultural environment.

Measuring protection in agriculture: The producer subsidy equivalent revisited

Abstract In the 1980s, the producer subsidy equivalent (PSE) became the dominant measure of protection in applied studies of international agricultural trade. This paper analyses potential biases in the ratio form of the PSE introduced by using actual domestic prices rather than social opportunity costs in the denominator. It is shown that doing so introduces a consistent under‐estimation of the effects of trade restrictions and other price‐support policies, relative to deficiency payments and other income‐support policies. It is found that under plausible conditions this bias leads the PSE to rank protection levels across countries or crops incorrectly. In a sample of 250 activities across 33 countries, such errors were found to occur in 5% of crop comparisons and 8% of country comparisons, including a number of politically sensitive cases. An improved formula would therefore provide significantly more accurate results than the conventional PSE, with no additional data or more restrictive assumptions.

Market structure and the effects of trade restrictions with endogenous import quality

This article examines the role of market structure in analyzing the effects of various trade restrictions in an industry supplied only by imports. It is shown that the effects of an ad valorem or a specific tariff and a minimum important quality requirement are dependent on market structure, but the effects of a quota are not.

Implications of Restrictions on Imports of Canadian Softwood Lumber to the Southern Softwood Lumber Industry

A number of policy options for the U.S. softwood industry are under consideration and there are indications that some form of restriction of the Canadian imports is imminent. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of trade restrictions and domestic subsidy on the southern softwood lumber industry. It specifically examines the effect of import tariffs and quotas on Canadian softwood lumber and domestic subsidy of the U.S. softwood lumber industry.