IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inteco/v156y2018icp31-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The causal effect of reducing trade policy uncertainty: A comparative case study of Bangladesh's textile exports to Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Ritzel, Christian
  • Kohler, Andreas
  • Mann, Stefan
  • Beciu, Silviu

Abstract

Swiss duty-free and quota-free market access (DFQFMA) for the least-developed countries (LDCs) within the industrial sector, including textiles, was introduced in 1997. However, a binding legal basis providing a secured and predictable DFQFMA did not come into force until 2007. In this context, the DFQFMA for LDCs was extended for an unlimited period. Additionally, four years later, Switzerland revised and improved its rules of origins for LDCs significantly with the objective of increasing the utilization of DFQFMA for LDCs. Accordingly, this paper challenges the effectiveness of reduced trade policy uncertainty by granting a legally secured and improved DFQFMA for LDCs. Using the Human Development Index as a proxy for United Nations LDC status criteria, we can provide unbiased causal average treatment effects. In a comparative case study, we compare Bangladesh's preferential textile and clothing exports under the legally secured and improved DFQFMA with those of its major competitors from Asia. Applying methods of causal inference, namely an interrupted time series analysis, we find that Bangladesh's preferential textile and clothing exports increased by 29 percent on average due to the first intervention in 2007 and by 17 percent due to the second intervention in 2011.

Suggested Citation

  • Ritzel, Christian & Kohler, Andreas & Mann, Stefan & Beciu, Silviu, 2018. "The causal effect of reducing trade policy uncertainty: A comparative case study of Bangladesh's textile exports to Switzerland," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 31-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inteco:v:156:y:2018:i:c:p:31-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.inteco.2017.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2110701717300719
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.inteco.2017.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian Ritzel & Andreas Kohler & Stefan Mann, 2018. "Good governance and preferential trade: evidence from the Swiss generalized system of preferences," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(2), pages 259-274, February.
    2. Redwanur Rahman & Saleh Shahriar & Sokvibol Kea, 2019. "Determinants of Exports: A Gravity Model Analysis of the Bangladeshi Textile and Clothing Industries," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 8(3), pages 229-244, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade policy uncertainty; Causal effect; Free trade; Least-developed countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    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:eee:inteco:v:156:y:2018:i:c:p:31-44. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/21107017 .

    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.