IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/wotrrv/v11y2012i03p356-375_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Welfare costs and benefits of non-tariff measures in trade: a conceptual framework and application

Author

Listed:
  • BEGHIN, JOHN
  • DISDIER, ANNE-CÉLIA
  • MARETTE, STÉPHAN
  • VAN TONGEREN, FRANK

Abstract

This paper provides a systematic welfare-based approach to analyze the impact of non-tariff measures (NTMs) on trade and welfare in the presence of market imperfections. It focuses on standard-like measures such as technical barriers and sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. The approach overcomes the shortcomings of the mainstream approach based on the analysis of foregone trade caused by trade costs. The latter ignores market imperfections, and welfare is found to increases when NTMs are reduced and trade expands. We explain how to account for external effects and market failures in trade-focused welfare analysis, leading to a more balanced overall assessment of measures despite a potential reduction of trade flows. The relationships between trade, welfare, and NTMs are complex, and generalizations are best avoided. Very often, the optimum NTM is not the absence of regulation. An application to shrimp trade illustrates the feasibility of the proposed approach. The illustration shows that the reinforcement of a food safety standard can be socially preferable to the status-quo situation, both domestically and internationally.

Suggested Citation

  • Beghin, John & Disdier, Anne-Cã‰Lia & Marette, Stã‰Phan & Van Tongeren, Frank, 2012. "Welfare costs and benefits of non-tariff measures in trade: a conceptual framework and application," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 356-375, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:wotrrv:v:11:y:2012:i:03:p:356-375_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1474745612000201/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:wotrrv:v:11:y:2012:i:03:p:356-375_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/wtr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.