The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?

This paper studies the effects of trade policy uncertainty on the extensive and intensive margins of trade for a sample of 65 exporters at the Harmonized System six-digit level. The paper measures trade policy uncertainty as the gap between binding...

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Main Authors: Osnago, Alberto, Piermartini, Roberta, Rocha, Nadia
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/907341535379025233/The-Heterogeneous-Effects-of-Trade-Policy-Uncertainty-How-Much-Do-Trade-Commitments-Boost-Trade
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30319
id okr-10986-30319
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-303192021-06-08T14:42:47Z The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade? Osnago, Alberto Piermartini, Roberta Rocha, Nadia TARIFFS BINDING OVERHANG POLICY SPACE NON-TARIFF BARRIERS NTBs WTO WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION This paper studies the effects of trade policy uncertainty on the extensive and intensive margins of trade for a sample of 65 exporters at the Harmonized System six-digit level. The paper measures trade policy uncertainty as the gap between binding tariff commitments under trade agreements (multilateral and regional agreements) and applied tariffs -- what is also known as tariffs' water. The results show that trade policy uncertainty is an important barrier to exports and its effects are heterogeneous. On average and at the current level of tariff commitments, the paper estimates that the elimination of water, without any change of the applied tariff, would increase the probability of exporting by 6 percent and trade volumes by 1.3 percent. The negative impact of trade policy uncertainty on export participation is higher for countries with low-quality institutions and in the presence of global value chains. For a sample of new acceding countries, the analysis finds that removing water would boost the probability of trading by 50 percent and exports by 16 percent. The paper also estimates that the current system of commitments boosts trade by between 10 and 30 percent, compared with a world where at any moment tariffs could be raised to an arbitrarily high level. 2018-09-04T16:56:22Z 2018-09-04T16:56:22Z 2018-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/907341535379025233/The-Heterogeneous-Effects-of-Trade-Policy-Uncertainty-How-Much-Do-Trade-Commitments-Boost-Trade http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30319 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8567 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TARIFFS
BINDING OVERHANG
POLICY SPACE
NON-TARIFF BARRIERS
NTBs
WTO
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
spellingShingle TARIFFS
BINDING OVERHANG
POLICY SPACE
NON-TARIFF BARRIERS
NTBs
WTO
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
Osnago, Alberto
Piermartini, Roberta
Rocha, Nadia
The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8567
description This paper studies the effects of trade policy uncertainty on the extensive and intensive margins of trade for a sample of 65 exporters at the Harmonized System six-digit level. The paper measures trade policy uncertainty as the gap between binding tariff commitments under trade agreements (multilateral and regional agreements) and applied tariffs -- what is also known as tariffs' water. The results show that trade policy uncertainty is an important barrier to exports and its effects are heterogeneous. On average and at the current level of tariff commitments, the paper estimates that the elimination of water, without any change of the applied tariff, would increase the probability of exporting by 6 percent and trade volumes by 1.3 percent. The negative impact of trade policy uncertainty on export participation is higher for countries with low-quality institutions and in the presence of global value chains. For a sample of new acceding countries, the analysis finds that removing water would boost the probability of trading by 50 percent and exports by 16 percent. The paper also estimates that the current system of commitments boosts trade by between 10 and 30 percent, compared with a world where at any moment tariffs could be raised to an arbitrarily high level.
format Working Paper
author Osnago, Alberto
Piermartini, Roberta
Rocha, Nadia
author_facet Osnago, Alberto
Piermartini, Roberta
Rocha, Nadia
author_sort Osnago, Alberto
title The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
title_short The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
title_full The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
title_fullStr The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
title_full_unstemmed The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty : How Much Do Trade Commitments Boost Trade?
title_sort heterogeneous effects of trade policy uncertainty : how much do trade commitments boost trade?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/907341535379025233/The-Heterogeneous-Effects-of-Trade-Policy-Uncertainty-How-Much-Do-Trade-Commitments-Boost-Trade
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30319
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