Does Regionalism Affect Trade Liberalization toward Nonmembers?

• Tác giả: Antoni Estevadeordal
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 324.24 The political process
• Thông tin xuất bản: 2012
• Bộ sưu tập: Tài liệu truy cập mở
• ID: 301511
• Chủ đề: 1. Economic Integration F150; 2. International Linkages to Development; 3. International Trade Organizations F130; 4. Role of International Organizations O190; 5. Trade Policy

Tóm tắt

We examine the effect of regionalism on unilateral trade liberalization using industry-level data on applied most-favored nation (MFN) tariffs and bilateral preferences for ten Latin American countries from 1990 to 2001. We find that preferential tariff reduction in a given sector leads to a reduction in the external (MFN) tariff in that sector. External liberalization is greater if preferences are granted to important suppliers. However, these "complementarity effects" of preferential liberalization on external liberalization do not arise in customs unions. Overall, our results suggest that concerns about a negative effect of preferential liberalization on external trade liberalization are unfounded.