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Trade Reform with a Government Budget Constraint

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Author Info
James E. Anderson

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Abstract

The standard theory of trade reform uses a passive government budget constraint, in which changes in tariff revenue are offset by changes in lump sum transfers. This paper offers a general framework for the analysis of trade reform when the government budget constraint is active, meaning that tariff revenue cuts must be offset by distortionary fiscal policy changes --- public good supply cuts or alternative tax increases. Useful and simple new expressions characterizing welfare improving trade reform compare the Marginal Cost of Funds (MCF) of trade taxes with the MCF of consumption taxes. The MCF expressions provide an intuitive index number which is operational with Computable General Equilibrium models. The theoretical analysis and an application to Korean data in 1963 both cast doubt on the desirability of tariff cuts in convex competitive economies with active government budget constraints.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5827.

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Date of creation: Nov 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5827

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Lloyd, P. J., 1974. "A more general theory of price distortions in open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 365-386, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Diewert, W E & Turunen-Red, A H & Woodland, A D, 1989. "Productivity- and Pareto-Improving Changes in Taxes and Tariffs," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(2), pages 199-215, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Ballard, Charles L & Shoven, John B & Whalley, John, 1985. "General Equilibrium Computations of the Marginal Welfare Costs of Taxes in the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 128-38, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-50, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Squire, Lyn, 1989. "Project evaluation in theory and practice," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 21, pages 1093-1137 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. James E. Anderson & Will Martin, 1996. "The Welfare Analysis of Fiscal Policy: A Simple Unified Account," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 316., Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Peter A. Diamond & J. A. Mirrlees, 1968. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production," Working papers 22, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
  8. Bertrand, Trent J & Vanek, Jaroslav, 1971. "The Theory of Tariffs, Taxes, and Subsidies: Some Aspects of the Second Best," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(5), pages 925-31, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Abe, Kenzo, 1992. "Tariff Reform in a Small Open Economy with Public Production," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(1), pages 209-22, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lopez, Ramon & Panagariya, Arvind, 1992. "On the Theory of Piecemeal Tariff Reform: The Case of Pure Imported Intermediate Inputs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 615-25, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Bruno, Michael, 1972. "Market Distortions and Gradual Reform," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(3), pages 373-83, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Anderson, James E. & Young, Leslie, 1992. "Optimal taxation and debt in an open economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 27-57, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Squire, Lyn & Suthiwart-Narueput, Sethaput, 1995. "Reviving project appraisal at the World Bank," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1496, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  14. Hatta, Tatsuo, 1977. "A Theory of Piecemeal Policy Recommendations," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 1-21, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Foster, Edward & Sonnenschein, Hugo, 1970. "Price Distortion and Economic Welfare," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(2), pages 281-97, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Rajaraman, Indira, 2004. "Fiscal restructuring in the context of trade reform," Working Papers 04/7, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Anderson, James E., 1997. "Revenue Neutral Trade Reform with Many Households, Quotas and Tariffs," Seminar Papers 626, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. M. Shahe Emran & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2002. "On Selective Indirect Tax Reform in Developing Countries," International Trade 0210003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. James E. Anderson, 1999. "Trade Reform Diagnostics with Many Households, Quotas, and Tariffs," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 417, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 03 May 2000. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Anderson, James E. & Martin, Will, 1998. "Evaluating public expenditures when governments must rely on distortionary taxation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1981, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Can Erbil, 2004. "Trade Taxes Are Expensive," International Trade 0409002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  7. Rajaraman, Indira, 2004. "Fiscal developments and outlook in India," Working Papers 04/15, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. [Downloadable!]
  8. Michael Keen, 2007. "VAT, Tariffs, and Withholding: Border Taxes and Informality in Developing Countries," IMF Working Papers 07/174, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Joseph E. Stiglitz & M. Shahe Emran, 2004. "Price Neutral Tax reform With an Informal Economy," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 493, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Kubota, Keiko, 2000. "Fiscal constraints, collection costs, and trade policies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2366, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Michael Keen, 2007. "VAT Attacks!," IMF Working Papers 07/142, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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