MAcMap-HS6 2007, an Exhaustive and Consistent Measure of Applied Protection in 2007

The third version of the MAcMap-HS6 database, built as a result of a joint effort of CEPII (Centre d'Études Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales, Paris) and ITC (International Trade Centre, Geneva), based on ITC’s MAcMap raw data, proposes an exhaustive and consistent measure of applied, preferential tariff protection in 2007. The methodology, similar to the one used for previous versions, relies on reference groups of countries to limit the endogeneity bias faced when computing ad valorem equivalents of tariff protection, and when computing averages at aggregate levels. The world average applied protection level in 2007 is estimated to be 4.4%. Compared to 2004, this is a decline by nearly 0.7 percentage point, mainly due to unilateral liberalizations and to new preferential trade agreements. The decline in the ad valorem equivalent of specific tariffs of some agricultural products, linked to the surge in world prices, lowers the average protection. In the opposite way, the increasing share of developing countries, where protection is higher, tends to raise the world average.