Au cœur de la controverse qui oppose actuellement les partisans de la mondialisation et les mouvements « alter-mondialistes » se trouve la question des effets de la libéralisation commerciale sur les pays en développement (PED), et donc en particulier sur l'un des problèmes majeurs de ces pays, à savoir la pauvreté. Le débat sur ce point est d'autant plus intense qu'il ne paraît pas possible de trancher la question par la simple observation des expériences passées. La réponse des économistes à ces problèmes s'est faite en faisant appel à la modélisation et l'évaluation empirique. En effet, étant donné que certaines interactions sont positives et d'autres négatives, il devient nécessaire de faire appel à des études quantitatives. C'est dans ce but que sont utilisés les modèles d'équilibre général calculable (MEGC). Ils visent à représenter de la manière la plus fidèle possible le fonctionnement de l'économie du pays étudié. En particulier ils permettent de tenir compte des nombreuses interactions (en particulier intersectorielles) et aussi d'isoler les effets de différents facteurs. Il s'agit ici de nuancer ces résultats en soulignant les nombreuses difficultés auxquelles se heurtent ces approches quantitatives. Les difficultés auxquelles s'expose l'évaluation quantitative des effets de la libéralisation commerciale sur la pauvreté relèvent principalement de trois catégories : celles relatives à la disponibilité et à la qualité des données, les difficultés concernant la définition et donc les mesures de la pauvreté, des inégalités et de la mondialisation, et enfin les difficultés méthodologiques liées aux méthodes de modélisation en équilibre général. In the debate between “pro” and “anti” globalization one of the main questions dealswith the effects of trade liberalization on developing countries, and especially on poverty. Theargumentation on this point is very controversial since it is impossible to answer this questionsimply by looking back to the past and observing what has happened to different countries:experiences are too diverse. Moreover some consequences of globalization may help to reducepoverty while some others clearly work against the poor. Economists recommend solving theseproblems by using models and empirical evaluation. Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelsare used in this way. They are designed to explain as accurately as possible the running of theeconomy of the country studied. They are able to take into account many interactions (inparticular between different economic activities) and to separate the effects of differentfactors. By highlighting the various difficulties inherent to such modeling, this paper tries tomake clear why the results of these models are questionable. The main difficulties faced byquantitative evaluations of the impacts of trade liberalization on poverty may be displayed inthree categories: those associated to data availability and quality; those regarding thedefinitions and thus the measures of poverty, inequality and globalization; and eventually themethodological difficulties linked to such modeling in general equilibrium. (Full text inFrench)
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Paper provided by Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV in its series Documents de travail with number
87.
Length: 5 pages Date of creation: Oct 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:mon:ceddtr:87
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models
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