The Challenge of Reducing International Trade and Migration Barriers

While barriers to trade in most goods and some services including capital flows have been reduced considerably over the past two decades, many remain. Such policies harm most the economies imposing them, but the worst of the merchandise barriers (in agriculture and textiles) are particularly harmful to the world's poorest people, as are barriers to worker migration across borders. This paper focuses on how costly those anti-poor trade policies are, and examines possible strategies to reduce remaining distortions. Two opportunities in particular are addressed: completing the Doha Development Agenda process at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and freeing up the international movement of workers. A review of the economic benefits and adjustment costs associated with these opportunities provides the foundation to undertake benefit/cost analysis required to rank this set of opportunities against those aimed at addressing the world's other key challenges as part of the Copenhagen Consensus project. The paper concludes with key caveats and suggests that taking up these opportunities could generate huge social benefit/cost ratios that are considerably higher than the direct economic ones quantified in this study, even without factoring in their contribution to alleviating several of the other challenges identified by that project, including malnutrition, disease, poor education and air pollution.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Winters, L. Alan, Anderson, Kym
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2008-04
Subjects:	AGRICULTURAL EXPORTERS, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION, AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES, AGRICULTURE, AIR POLLUTION, ASSET VALUES, AVERAGE PRODUCTIVITY, AVERAGE TARIFFS, BENCHMARK, BILATERAL TARIFF, BOOST TO GROWTH, CAPITAL ACCUMULATION, CAPITAL FLOWS, CAPITAL GOODS, CAPITAL INFLOWS, CAPITAL MARKETS, CAPITAL STOCK, CAPITAL STOCKS, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES, CONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALE, CONSUMERS, COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, CURRENCY, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRY, DOMESTIC DISTORTIONS, DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES, DOMESTIC MARKETS, DUMPING, ECONOMIC BENEFITS, ECONOMIC COOPERATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, ECONOMIC RELATIONS, ECONOMIC WELFARE, ECONOMICS, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, ECONOMISTS, ELASTICITIES, EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE, EMPIRICAL STUDIES, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, EQUILIBRIUM, EQUIVALENT VARIATION, EXCHANGE RATE, EXCHANGE RATE FLUCTUATIONS, EXPLOITATION, EXPORT PRICE, EXPORT SUBSIDIES, EXPORTERS, EXPORTS, EXTERNALITIES, FACTOR MARKETS, FACTORS OF PRODUCTION, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, FINANCIAL MARKET, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FINANCIAL REFORM, FIXED COSTS, FOOD POLICIES, FOOD PRICES, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, FOREIGN FIRMS, FOREIGN GOODS, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, FOREIGN MARKETS, FREE ACCESS, FREE TRADE, FREE TRADE AREA, FULL LIBERALIZATION, GDP, GLOBAL ECONOMY, GLOBAL TRADE, GLOBALIZATION, GOVERNMENT BUDGET, GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES, GROWTH RATE, GROWTH RATES, HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, IMPERFECT COMPETITION, IMPORT PROTECTION, IMPORT QUOTAS, IMPORTS, INCOME, INCOMES, INCREASING RETURNS, INCREASING RETURNS TO SCALE, INDUSTRY TRADE, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERMEDIATE INPUTS, INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL, INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL FLOWS, INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL MARKETS, INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INVESTMENT FLOWS, INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES, KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MARKET, LABOR MARKETS, LABOR PRODUCTIVITY, LAISSEZ FAIRE, LDCS, LIBERALIZATIONS, LIVING STANDARDS, LOST TARIFF REVENUE, LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES, MACROECONOMIC POLICY, MACROECONOMIC STABILITY, MARKET ACCESS, MARKET POWER, MARKET PRICE, MARKET SHARE, MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES, MONOPOLIES, MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION, MONOPOLY, MULTILATERAL TRADE, MULTILATERAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION, MULTILATERAL TRADE REFORM, NATIONAL OUTPUT, NET EXPORTER, OPEN ECONOMIES, OPEN ECONOMY, OPENNESS, POLICY INSTRUMENTS, POLITICAL STABILITY, POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, PREFERENTIAL ACCESS, PREFERENTIAL AGREEMENT, PREFERENTIAL TRADE, PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS, PRESENT VALUE, PRICE CHANGES, PRICE DISTORTIONS, PRICE INDEX, PRIVATE COSTS, PRODUCT MARKETS, PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, PROPERTY RIGHTS, PROTECTION DATA, PROTECTION MEASURES, PROTECTIONISM, RATES OF PROTECTION, REAL GDP, REGIONAL INTEGRATION, REGULATORY STANDARDS, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, SAFETY NETS, SAVINGS, SHAREHOLDERS, SKILLED WORKERS, SMALL COUNTRIES, SOCIAL COSTS, SOCIAL SAFETY NET, SOCIAL SAFETY NETS, SPECIALIZATION, STATIC ANALYSIS, SYSTEMIC RISK, TARIFF PREFERENCES, TAX, TAX RATES, TAX REVENUE, TAX REVENUES, TAXATION, TERMS OF TRADE, TERMS OF TRADE EFFECTS, TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY, TRADE AGREEMENTS, TRADE BARRIERS, TRADE DIVERSION, TRADE INTEGRATION, TRADE LIBERALIZATION, TRADE LIBERALIZATIONS, TRADE MODELS, TRADE NEGOTIATIONS, TRADE OPENNESS, TRADE POLICIES, TRADE POLICY, TRADE REFORM, TRADE REFORMS, TRADE TAX, TRADE TAXES, TRADING SYSTEM, TRANSITION ECONOMIES, TRANSPARENCY, TREASURY, TURNOVER, UNEMPLOYMENT, UNILATERAL REFORMS, UNILATERAL TRADE, URUGUAY ROUND, VALUE ADDED, VARIABLE INPUTS, VOTERS, WAGE RATES, WAGES, WEALTH, WELFARE EFFECTS, WELFARE GAINS, WELFARE IMPACTS, WELFARE LOSS, WORLD ECONOMY, WORLD MARKETS, WORLD TRADE, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, WTO,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/04/9365241/challenge-reducing-international-trade-migration-barriers https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6753
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