A Framework For Analyzing Technical Trade Barriers In Agricultural Markets

"Technical trade barriers are increasingly important in the international trade of agricultural products. Designing technical trade measures that can satisfy the growing demand for food safety, product differentiation, environmental amenities, and product information at the lowest cost to the consumer and to the international trading system requires an understanding of the complex economics of regulatory import barriers. This report proposes a definition and classification scheme to frame discussion and evaluation of such measures. Open-economy models that complement the classification scheme are developed graphically to highlight the basic elements that affect the economic impacts of changes in technical trade barriers."--Publisher.

Excerpt from A Framework for Analyzing Technical Trade Barriers in Agricultural Markets Provide policymakers and analysts with an organizing framework for dis cussing and possibly negotiating international guidelines for their use. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Professor Hillman's Technical Barriers to Agricultural Trade is both timely and important. It is timely because the GATT negotiations are proceeding slowly in the agricultural arena partly due to a lack of agreement on technical barriers to agricultural trade. The book is important since it highlights many of the nontariff barriers which exist and concludes that they are significant impediments to international agricultural trade.

A discussion of the increasingly contentious debates over national regulations of safety and health in the international trade system

December 2000 The application of product regulations and standards is becoming increasingly contentious as an implicit nontariff barrier to trade. This overview of the policy debate and methodological issues surrounding product standards and technical barriers to trade proposes concrete steps to move forward empirical analysis of regulations and trade. There has been increasing use of technical regulations as instruments of commercial policy in the context of multilateral, regional, and global trade. These nontariff barriers are of special concern to developing countries, which may bear additional costs in meeting mandatory standards. Many industrial and developing countries express frustration with regulations that vary across their export markets, require duplicative conformity procedures, and are continually revised to exclude imports. Maskus, Wilson, and Otsuki provide a comprehensive overview of the policy debate and methodological issues surrounding product standards and technical barriers to trade. They begin with a review of the policy context driving demand for empirical analysis of standards in trade, then provide an analytical overview of the role of standards and their relationship to trade. They then review methodological approaches that have been used to analyze standards and their impact on trade. Their main interest lies in advancing techniques that are practical and may be fruitfully extended to the empirical analysis of regulations and trade. They discuss concrete steps that could be taken to move forward a practical, policy-relevant program of empirical research. Such steps would include: * Administering firm-level surveys in developing countries. * Devising methods for assessing how much standards restrict trade. * Establishing econometric approaches that could be applied to survey and microeconomic data, to improve understanding of the role of standards in exports. This paper--a product of Trade, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to study new issues in international trade. The authors may be contacted at [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].

Provides an analytical framework for examining economic issues which arise in international trade negotiations. This framework is developed using examples from current contentious issues in the international trade in agricultural products, including market access, subsidies, non-tariff barriers, health regulations, and biotechnology. There is special emphasis on the issue of genetically modified products. Material is accessible to readers with a solid grasp of basic economic principles. Of interest to academics specializing in international trade, international relations, agri-business, and international business. Gaisford teaches economics at the University of Calgary. Kerr teaches at the University of Saskatchewan. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The application of product regulations and standards is becoming increasingly contentious as an implicit nontariff barrier to trade. This overview of the policy debate and methodological issues surrounding product standards and technical barriers to trade proposes concrete steps to move forward empirical analysis of regulations and trade.There has been increasing use of technical regulations as instruments of commercial policy in the context of multilateral, regional, and global trade. These nontariff barriers are of special concern to developing countries, which may bear additional costs in meeting mandatory standards. Many industrial and developing countries express frustration with regulations that vary across their export markets, require duplicative conformity procedures, and are continually revised to exclude imports.Maskus, Wilson, and Otsuki provide a comprehensive overview of the policy debate and methodological issues surrounding product standards and technical barriers to trade. They begin with a review of the policy context driving demand for empirical analysis of standards in trade, then provide an analytical overview of the role of standards and their relationship to trade. They then review methodological approaches that have been used to analyze standards and their impact on trade.Their main interest lies in advancing techniques that are practical and may be fruitfully extended to the empirical analysis of regulations and trade. They discuss concrete steps that could be taken to move forward a practical, policy-relevant program of empirical research. Such steps would include:- Administering firm-level surveys in developing countries.- Devising methods for assessing how much standards restrict trade.- Establishing econometric approaches that could be applied to survey and microeconomic data, to improve understanding of the role of standards in exports.This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study new issues in international trade. The authors may be contacted at [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].