A General Equilibrium Analysis of U.S. Foreign Trade Policy

Using applied general equilibrium methods to analyze recent debates about the conduct of U.S. foreign trade policy, de Melo and Tarr show that in terms of costs to the economy and to consumers, nontariff barriers in textiles, automobiles, and steel have more than reversed the benefits of cumulative tariff liberalization achieved in successive postwar GATT rounds.  The authors' model is the first large-scale computer simulation of the effects of changes in U.S. import quotas. It begins with perfect competition, proceeds to imperfect factor markets, and then introduces increasing returns to scale and imperfect product markets. The basic model and its variants are carefully explained to show how valuable and sensible a tool the model is for analyzing trade policy and to facilitate understanding of the construction of a general equilibrium model. Tables and figures are used extensively to illustrate the principles involved.  A detailed introduction takes up trade policy issues, argues for the superiority of a general equilibrium approach over the more traditional partial equilibrium approach, and surveys previous studies of the cost of protection. The chapters that follow describe the basic general equilibrium model and its extensions and application to specific policies and industries. The authors summarize their results by explaining the costs per job protected by quotas, the estimated costs of all quantitative restrictions, and the computation of tariffs with a welfare cost equivalent to that of quotas.

Business & Money

De Melo, Jaime

TARR, DAVID G

Economics

Mit Pr

Using applied general equilibrium methods to analyze recent debates about the conduct of U.S. foreign trade policy, de Melo and Tarr show that in terms of costs to the economy and to consumers, nontariff barriers in textiles, automobiles, and steel have more than reversed the benefits of cumulative tariff liberalization achieved in successive postwar GATT rounds.The authors' model is the first large-scale computer simulation of the effects of changes in U.S. import quotas. It begins with perfect competition, proceeds to imperfect factor markets, and then introduces increasing returns to scale and imperfect product markets. The basic model and its variants are carefully explained to show how valuable and sensible a tool the model is for analyzing trade policy and to facilitate understanding of the construction of a general equilibrium model. Tables and figures are used extensively to illustrate the principles involved.A detailed introduction takes up trade policy issues, argues for the superiority of a general equilibrium approach over the more traditional partial equilibrium approach, and surveys previous studies of the cost of protection. The chapters that follow describe the basic general equilibrium model and its extentions and application to specific policies and industries. The authors summarize their results by explaining the costs per job protected by quotas, the estimated costs of all quantitative restrictions, and the computation of tariffs with a welfare cost equivalent to that of quotas.Jaime de Melo is Professor at the University of Geneva and Senior Economist at the World Bank. David Tarr is a Senior Economist at The World Bank.

Tarr, David

MIT Press]

The New Regionalism in Trade Policy

This is an examination of new regionalism in trade policy.

Panagariya, Arvind

World Bank

<p>Differences in the choices of trade and macro policies, both by developing countries and by developed countries towards developing countries, have been critical in determining the overall performance of developing countries. All too often, the performance of developing countries has not been assessed using appropriately conducted studies. The papers in this book are chosen to bridge this gap and show how a quantitative approach to policy evaluation can help resolve controversies and explain the choice of observed policies.The book brings together carefully selected papers that assess the impacts of various trade and macro policies, by quantifying the policies of developing countries at the macro level (exchange rate, investment, savings) and at the sector level (trade and industrial policies), in addition to policies of developed countries towards developing countries (trade preferences, quotas, VERs and migration policies). Facets of the political economy of trade, migration, and climate policies are explored (such as the enlargement of the EU, the rise of regionalism and how it can ease the pains of adjustment to trade liberalization, openness and inequality). Growing tensions between trade and the environment are also investigated. In short, this book covers a wide area of events ranging from external and internal shocks to external and internal policies, showing how the consequences of these events can be brought to rigorous quantitative analysis.</p>

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY (World Scientific Studies in International Economics, 42)

World Scientific Pub Co Inc

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Books by De Melo, Jaime

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by De Melo, Jaime. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A General Equilibrium Analysis of U.S. Foreign Trade Policy

A General Equilibrium Analysis of U.S. Foreign Trade Policy

The New Regionalism in Trade Policy

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY (World Scientific Studies in International Economics, 42)