Is Protectionism on the Rise? Assessing National Trade Policies during the Crisis of 2008
To understand the role of trade policies in the crisis of 2008, this paper constructs the overall trade restrictiveness indices for a wide range of countries using their tariff schedules in 2008 and 2009. The index summarizes the trade policy stanc...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20100419121819 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3761 |
| Summary: | To understand the role of trade policies
in the crisis of 2008, this paper constructs the overall
trade restrictiveness indices for a wide range of countries
using their tariff schedules in 2008 and 2009. The index
summarizes the trade policy stance of a country, taking into
account the share of each good in trade as well as its
corresponding import demand elasticity. Results show that
there is no widespread increase in protectionism via tariff
policies since the global financial crisis has unfolded.
While many countries have adjusted tariffs upward on
selected products, only a handful of countries, such as
Malawi, Russia, Argentina, Turkey and China focus on
products that have significant impacts on trade flows. The
United States and the European Union, by contrast, rely
mainly on anti-dumping duties to shield domestic industries.
Overall, while the rise in tariffs and anti-dumping duties
in these countries may have jointly caused global trade to
drop by as much as US$43 billion during the crisis period,
it explains less than 2 percent of the collapse in world trade. |
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