Do Trade Agreements Reduce the Volatility of Agricultural Distortions?

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which trade agreements affect agricultural trade policy volatility. Using a new panel database compiled as part of the World Bank's agricultural distortions research project, the author estimate the effect of regionalism on the volatility of price distortions measured by the absolute value of their first differences, averaged, for each country and year, over all agricultural goods. Using an instrumental-variable approach to correct for the endogeneity of regional trade agreements, (RTAs), the author fined that participation in RTAs has a significantly negative effect on agricultural trade-policy volatility. The author find that the World Trade Organization (WTO) agricultural agreement also contributed to reducing agricultural trade-policy volatility, in spite of the weak disciplines involved, but the effect is only weakly identified. The results are robust to a variety of robustness checks and hold, in particular, for the Latin American sub-sample.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Cadot, Olivier, Olarreaga, Marcelo, Tschopp, Jeanne
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2009-05
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE VALUE, ACCORDS, AGRICULTURAL AGREEMENT, AGRICULTURAL INCENTIVES, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AGRICULTURAL TRADE, AGRICULTURE, AVERAGE TRADE, BILATERAL TRADE, BILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS, BORDER MEASURES, BORDER POLICY, CHANGES IN TRADE, COMMODITY, COMMON MARKET, CONCESSIONS, CONSUMERS, COUNTRY DUMMIES, COUNTRY FIXED EFFECTS, CUSTOMS, CUSTOMS UNION, DEMAND ELASTICITIES, DEMAND ELASTICITY, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRY, DEVELOPING REGIONS, DIVIDENDS, DOMESTIC LAW, DOMESTIC MARKETS, DOMESTIC PRICE, DOMESTIC PRODUCTION, DUMPING, ECONOMIC POLICY, ECONOMIC SIZE, ECONOMIC THEORY, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, EQUILIBRIUM, EUROPEAN UNION, EXPORT DEMAND, EXPORT TAX, EXPORT TAXES, EXPORTS, FOOD PRICES, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, FREE ACCESS, FREE TRADE, FREE TRADE AREAS, FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS, GDP, GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS, GRAVITY EQUATION, IMPACT OF TRADE, IMPORT TAXES, IMPORTS, INCOME, INSURANCE, INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, MACROECONOMIC SHOCKS, MARKET ACCESS, MEASURE OF TRADE, MEASURES OF VOLATILITY, MULTILATERAL LIBERALIZATION, MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS, NON-TARIFF BARRIERS, OPEN ECONOMIES, OUTPUT, PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACIES, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL REGIMES, PREFERENTIAL AGREEMENT, PREFERENTIAL AGREEMENTS, PREFERENTIAL TRADE, PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS, PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT, PRICE DISTORTIONS, PRICE VOLATILITY, PROTECTION MEASURES, REGIONAL AGREEMENTS, REGIONAL INTEGRATION, REGIONAL INTEGRATION AGREEMENTS, REGIONAL TRADE, REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS, REGIONALISM, REGIONALIZATION, RULES OF ORIGIN, SECURITY CONCERNS, SOCIAL WELFARE, TARIFF CHANGES, TAX, TERMS OF TRADE, TRADE AGREEMENT, TRADE AGREEMENTS, TRADE BARRIERS, TRADE DISTORTIONS, TRADE EXTERNALITIES, TRADE FLOWS, TRADE IN SERVICES, TRADE OBJECTIVES, TRADE POLICIES, TRADE POLICY, TRADE PROMOTION, TRADE PROTECTION, TRADE REGIME, TRADE REGIMES, TRADE RULES, TRADE SHOCKS, TRADING SYSTEM, TREATIES, URUGUAY ROUND, VALUE OF TRADE, VOTERS, WORLD ECONOMY, WORLD PRICES, WORLD TRADE, WTO,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/904201468336324013/Do-trade-agreeements-reduce-the-volatility-of-agricultural-distortions https://hdl.handle.net/10986/28165
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!