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A Firm's-Eye View of Commercial Policy and Fiscal Reforms in Cameroon

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Author Info
Bernard Gauthier
Isidro Soloaga
James Tybout
Abstract

After decades of high trade restrictions, fiscal distortions, and currency overvaluation, Cameroon implemented important commercial and fiscal policy reforms in 1994. Almost simultaneously, a major devaluation cut the international price of Cameroon's currency in half. This article examines the effects of those reforms on the incentive structure faced by manufacturing firms. Did the reforms create a coherent new set of signals? Did they reduce dispersion in tax burdens? Was the net effect to stimulate the production of tradable goods? The results of applying a cost function decomposition to detailed firm-level panel data suggest that the reforms created clear new signals for manufacturers, as effective protection rates fell by 80 to 120 percentage points. In contrast, neither the tax reforms nor the devaluation had a major systematic effect on profit margins. The devaluation did shift relative prices dramatically in favor of exportable goods, causing exporters to grow relatively rapidly. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal The World Bank Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 16 (2002)
Issue (Month): 3 (December)
Pages: 449-472
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:16:y:2002:i:3:p:449-472

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  1. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Riccardo Faini & Bernard Gauthier, 2003. "The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Enterprises in Small Backward Economies: The Case of Chad and Gabon," Development Working Papers 176, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Bigsten, Arne & Soderbom, Mans, 2005. "What have we learned from a decade of manufacturing enterprise surveys in Africa ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3798, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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This page was last updated on 2009-10-23.


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