The price-wedge method yields a tariff-equivalent estimate of technical barriers to trade (TBT). An extension of this method accounts for imperfect substitution between domestic and imported goods and incorporates recent findings on trade costs. We explore the sensitivity of this revamped tariff equivalent estimate to its determinants (substitution elasticity, preference for home good, trade co...

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...

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...

The last technical barriers to trade(TBT) between countries are Non-Tariff Barriers(NTBs), meaning all trade barriers are possible other than Tariff Barriers. And the most typical examples are (TBT), which refer to measure Technical Regulation, Standards, Procedure for Conformity Assessment, Test & Certification etc. Therefore, in order to eliminate TBT, WTO has made all membership countries au...

Protection is defined broadly as government action or inaction that discriminates in favor of home producers against foreign producers. Measurement of protection has two aspects: observing or inferring protection at the product level and appropriately aggregating the highly differentiated product level protection to manageable indexes of protection. Better practice in each aspect makes a very s...

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.

IN 1995 when the WTO was established, it seemed to be final confirmation of the success of a system that had managed multilateral trade relations since 1947. It provided an institutional framework within which governments were not only able to negotiate reductions in trade barriers but also to bind themselves to rules of conduct that, in principle, were both universal and nondiscriminatory. Abo...

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...