1,720,974 research outputs found
Trade Policy Determinants and Trade Reform in a Developing Country
Get PDFIn this paper, I start out with a standard political economy of trade policy model to guide the subsequent estimation of the determinants of trade policy in a developing country. I carefully test the model with Colombian data from 1983 to 1998 accounting for endogeneity and omitted variable bias concerns and then expand it empirically in several directions. I show that it is important to control for the impact of a drastic trade reform shock that affects all sectors and disentangle its effect from preferential trade agreements (PTAs). I find that protection is higher in sectors that are important exports for preferential partners which may be seen as a stumbling block effect of PTAs for Colombia. I also relax the assumption of fixed political weights that measure the extra importance of producers' welfare relative to consumers in the government objective. I measure the impact of sectoral characteristics on tariffs indirectly through political weights as a novel alternative to nonstructurally estimating them as determinants of protection. Accordingly, I obtain more realistic estimates for the political weights further contributing to the literature.Political economy of trade policy, trade liberalization, preferential trade agreements, empirical trade
Turkey: Temporary Trade Barriers as Resistance to Trade Liberalization with the European Union?
Get PDFTurkey has been an active user of antidumping since the 1990s and more recently added safeguards and countervailing duties to its temporary trade barriers (TTBs). Turkey is a founding member of the World Trade Organization and formed a customs union with the European Union (EU) in 1996. It has also signed numerous preferential trade agreements the EU has been involved in as part of its EU candidacy. The drastic intra and extra-group trade liberalization brought by the relations with the EU seems to be important determinants in the rise of Turkey’s contingent protection over the last decade. Moreover, apart from an increase in the number of initiations, the higher rate of initiations finding support and sluggishness in the removal of TTBs over time appear to have played a role in their build-up. Turkey has been significantly affected by the 2008-9 global economic crisis and at the same time kept increasing the use of TTBs. The increase as of 2009 was in line with the recent upward trend but the response to the crisis may come with a lag. In general, Turkey does not target established EU members with TTBs although there is no restriction. Turkey mainly targets developing countries, especially China, at rates disproportional to their import market share.Temporary trade barriers, antidumping, safeguards, countervailing duties, Turkey
Free Trade Agreements and External Tariffs
No full textThere has been a proliferation of preferential trade agreements within the last two decades. In this paper I analyze the effects of free trade agreements (FTAs) on external tariffs under a political economy setup. I extend the Grossman and Helpman (1995) model by determining tariff rates endogenously instead of assuming they are fixed during or after the formation of FTAs. I show that for an exogenously established FTA, the tariff rates that apply to non-members essentially decline once the FTA is formed. More importantly, I investigate the interaction between endogenous tariff determination and the feasibility of an FTA. I find that the expectation of tariff reductions under endogenous tariffs makes an otherwise feasible FTA under fixed tariffs become infeasible. However, if domestic import-competing sectors are relatively smaller, an FTA is more likely to be feasible as compared to fixed tariffs.Free trade agreements, political economy of trade policy, trade liberalization, feasibility
Resolution of failed banks by deposit insurers : cross-country evidence
Get PDFThere is a wide cross-country variation in the institutional structure of bank failure resolution, including the role of the deposit insurer. The authors use quantitative analysis for 57 countries and discuss specific country cases to illustrate this variation. Using data for over 1,700 banks across 57 countries, they show that banks in countries where the deposit insurer has the responsibility of intervening failed banks and the power to revoke membership in the deposit insurance scheme are more stable and less likely to become insolvent. Involvement of the deposit insurer in bank failure resolution thus dampens the negative effect that deposit insurance has on banks'risk taking.Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Financial Intermediation,Corporate Law,Insurance&Risk Mitigation
Productivity Matters for Trade Policy: Theory and Evidence
No full textThere is a growing literature where authors investigate the effect of trade liberalization on productivity. Nearly all such studies assume that trade policy is determined independently of productivity, hence it is exogenous. I show, both theoretically and empirically, that this assumption is not valid in general and that researchers may be underestimating the positive effect of liberalization on productivity when they do not account for the endogeneity bias. More productive sectors receive more protection and the sectors with a higher productivity gain are liberalized less even in the presence of a large unilateral liberalization shock that affects all sectors.Productivity, trade liberalization, endogeneity, political economy of trade policy, learning-by-doing
Financial institutions and markets across countries and over time - data and analysis
Get PDFThis paper introduces the updated and expanded version of the Financial Development and Structure Database and presents recent trends in structure and development of financial institutions and markets across countries. The authors add indicators on banking structure and financial globalization. They find a deepening of both financial markets and institutions, a trend concentrated in high-income countries and more pronounced for markets than for banks. Similarly, the recent increase in cross-border lending and debt issues has been concentrated in high-income countries, while low and lower-middle income countries have experienced an increase in remittance flows. Low net interest margins, rising profitability and declining stability in high-income countries’ banking sectors characterize the recent financial sector boom in high income countries leading up to the global financial crisis of 2007.,Debt Markets,Emerging Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research
Turkey: Temporary Trade Barriers as Resistance to Trade Liberalisation with the European Union?
No full textTurkey has been an active user of antidumping since the 1990s and more recently added safeguards and countervailing duties to its temporary trade barriers (TTBs). Turkey is a founding member of the World Trade Organization and formed a customs union with the European Union (EU) in 1996. It has also signed numerous preferential trade agreements the EU has been involved in as part of its EU candidacy. The drastic intra and extra-group trade liberalisation brought by the relations with the EU seems to be important determinants in the rise of Turkey's contingent protection over the last decade. Moreover, apart from an increase in the number of initiations, the higher rate of initiations finding support and sluggishness in the removal of TTBs over time appear to have played a role in their build-up. Turkey has been significantly affected by the 2008-9 global economic crisis and at the same time kept increasing the use of TTBs. The increase as of 2009 was in line with the recent upward trend but the response to the crisis may come with a lag. In general, Turkey does not target established EU members with TTBs although there is no restriction. Turkey mainly targets developing countries, especially China, at rates disproportional to their import market share.Temporary trade barriers, antidumping, safeguards, countervailing duties, Turkey
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