Traditional trade policy tools like tariffs and quotas are being actively replaced with non-tariff policy tools (NTB) by governments throughout the world. In this paper we investigate how introduction of two types of non-tariff measures, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, affects exporters in different countries. According to the heterogeneous firms...

In this paper the trade restrictiveness of agricultural policies in Iran was measured by the TRIindex for the nine major agricultural products including wheat, rice, barely, maize, soybean,meat (beef meat), soybean oil, sugar and banana over the period 1981 to 2007. The main resultsindicate that there is no trend in above index and high volatility especially in 2006 and 2007years due to conside...

3. In the fifty years preceding the Doha ministerial conference, there have been eight rounds of negotiations. After the establishment of the GATT in 1948, there were six rounds of tariff-cutting negotiations. This was followed by the first successful attack on non-tariff barriers in the Tokyo Round negotiations, launched in 1973, and in 1993, by the completion of the Uruguay Round, launched in...

This paper surveys recent developments in the literature on trade facilitation, defined broadly as reform of non-tariff barriers. The paper looks at what trade facilitation is, why it matters, how to measure it, the gains from reform, and ways to implement it at the global, regional and unilateral level. JEL Classification: F13, F15.

Sub Saharan African agriculture is currently facing challenges in international trade with respect to external market access conditions and competition in world markets as a result of trade liberalization efforts under the world trade organization (WTO) agreements and in particular the agreement on agriculture (AoA). This paper presents the performance of agricultural exports for selected count...