IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_597.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Procompetitive Trade Policies

Author

Listed:
  • José Luis Moraga Gonzales
  • Jean-Marie Viaene

Abstract

We study the procompetitive effects of trade policies against a foreign oligopoly in a model of vertical product differentiation. We show that a uniform tariff policy like the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause is always welfare superior to free trade because of a pure rent-extraction effect. However, a nonuniform tariff policy is, in addition, procompetitive and thus yields a higher level of social welfare. The first best policy typically consists of giving a subsidy to the country producing low quality and levying a tariff on the country producing high quality. Regional Trade Agreements (RTYs) are examples of nonuniform tariff policies. We show that these arrangements yield higher welfare than free trade and, moreover, that a RTA with a low-quality producing country yields larger gains than a RTA with a high-quality producing country.

Suggested Citation

  • José Luis Moraga Gonzales & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2001. "Procompetitive Trade Policies," CESifo Working Paper Series 597, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo_wp597.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fershtman, C. & Gandal, N. & Markovich, S., 1997. "Estimating the Effect of Tax Reform in Differentiated Product Oligopolistic Markets," Papers 29-97, Tel Aviv.
    2. Das, Satya P. & Donnenfeld, Shabtai, 1989. "Oligopolistic competition and international trade : Quantity and quality restrictions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3-4), pages 299-318, November.
    3. Herguera, Inigo & Kujal, Praveen & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2002. "Tariffs, quality reversals and exit in vertically differentiated industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 467-492, December.
    4. John C. Ries, 1993. "Voluntary Export Restraints, Profits, and Quality Adjustment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(3), pages 688-706, August.
    5. James A. Brander & Barbara J. Spencer, 1981. "Tariffs and the Extraction of Foreign Monopoly Rents under Potential Entry," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 14(3), pages 371-389, August.
    6. Motta, Massimo, 1993. "Endogenous Quality Choice: Price vs. Quantity Competition," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 113-131, June.
    7. Ulrich Lehmann-Grube, 1997. "Strategic Choice of Quality When Quality is Costly: The Persistence of the High-Quality Advantage," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(2), pages 372-384, Summer.
    8. Robert C. Feenstra, 1988. "Quality Change Under Trade Restraints in Japanese Autos," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(1), pages 131-146.
    9. Collie, David, 1991. "Export subsidies and countervailing tariffs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3-4), pages 309-324, November.
    10. Motta, Massimo & Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Cabrales, Antonio, 1997. "On the Persistence of Leadership or Leapfrogging in International Trade," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(4), pages 809-824, November.
    11. Avner Shaked & John Sutton, 1982. "Relaxing Price Competition Through Product Differentiation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(1), pages 3-13.
    12. Herguera, Inigo & Kujal, Praveen & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2000. "Quantity restrictions and endogenous quality choice," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(8), pages 1259-1277, December.
    13. Cremer, Helmuth & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1994. "Commodity Taxation in a Differentiated Oligopoly," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(3), pages 613-633, August.
    14. Mussa, Michael & Rosen, Sherwin, 1978. "Monopoly and product quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-317, August.
    15. G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of International Economics," Handbook of International Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    16. Krishna, Kala, 1990. "Protection and the Product Line: Monopoly and Product Quality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(1), pages 87-102, February.
    17. Hertel, Thomas W., 1994. "The 'procompetitive' effects of trade policy reform in a small, open economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3-4), pages 391-411, May.
    18. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, April.
    19. Crampes, Claude & Hollander, Abraham, 1995. "Duopoly and quality standards," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 71-82, January.
    20. Donnenfeld, Shabtai & Weber, Shlomo, 1992. "Vertical product differentiation with entry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 449-472, September.
    21. Zhou, Dongsheng & Spencer, Barbara J. & Vertinsky, Ilan, 2002. "Strategic trade policy with endogenous choice of quality and asymmetric costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 205-232, January.
    22. Spence, Michael, 1976. "Product Differentiation and Welfare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 407-414, May.
    23. Jaskold Gabszewicz, J. & Thisse, J. -F., 1979. "Price competition, quality and income disparities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 340-359, June.
    24. Vousden,Neil, 1990. "The Economics of Trade Protection," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521346696, September.
    25. José Luis Moraga Gonzales & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2001. "Trade and Industrial Policy of Transition Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series 446, CESifo.
    26. Brander, James A., 1995. "Strategic trade policy," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1395-1455, Elsevier.
    27. Dermot Leahy & J. Peter Neary, 1994. "Learning by doing, precommitment and infant-industry protection," Working Papers 199405, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    28. Schweinberger, Albert G, 1996. "Procompetitive Gains from Trade and Comparative Advantage," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 361-375, May.
    29. Krishna, Kala, 1987. "Tariffs versus quotas with endogenous quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 97-112, August.
    30. Analysis, A Welfare & Das, Satya P. & Donnenfeld, Shabtai, 1987. "Trade policy and its impact on quality of imports," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 77-95, August.
    31. Reitzes, James D, 1992. "Quality Choice, Trade Policy, and Firm Incentives," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(4), pages 817-835, November.
    32. David G. Raboy & Teri Simpson, 1992. "A Methodology for Tariffication of Commodity Trade In the Presence of Quality Differences-The Case of Peanuts," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 271-281, March.
    33. repec:bla:econom:v:43:y:1976:i:17:p:127-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Fontagné, Lionel & Freudenberg, Michael & Péridy, Nicolas, 1998. "Intra-Industry Trade and the Single Market: Quality Matters," CEPR Discussion Papers 1959, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    35. Uri Ronnen, 1991. "Minimum Quality Standards, Fixed Costs, and Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(4), pages 490-504, Winter.
    36. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, 1995. "Strategic Export Promotion in the Absence of Government Precommitment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 36(2), pages 407-426, May.
    37. Greenaway, David & Hine, Robert C & Milner, Chris, 1995. "Vertical and Horizontal Intra-industry Trade: A Cross Industry Analysis for the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1505-1518, November.
    38. A. Michael Spence, 1975. "Monopoly, Quality, and Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(2), pages 417-429, Autumn.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Hernán, Roberto, 2005. "Import tariffs, quality investment and welfare," UC3M Working papers. Economics we056116, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    2. Moraga-Gonzalez, Jose Luis & Viaene, Jean-Marie, 2005. "Trade policy and quality leadership in transition economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 359-385, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moraga-Gonzalez, Jose Luis & Viaene, Jean-Marie, 2005. "Trade policy and quality leadership in transition economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 359-385, February.
    2. José Luis Moraga Gonzales & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2001. "Trade and Industrial Policy of Transition Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series 446, CESifo.
    3. Jose Luis Moraga-Gonzalez & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2003. "An Example of Procompetitive Trade Policies," Working Papers 504, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    4. Zhou, Dongsheng & Spencer, Barbara J. & Vertinsky, Ilan, 2002. "Strategic trade policy with endogenous choice of quality and asymmetric costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 205-232, January.
    5. Lutz, Stefan H., 2002. "The Effects of Quotas on Vertical Intra-Industry Trade," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-61, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. S Lutz, 2005. "Can a Tariff on Foreign Competition Harm the Domestic Industry?," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0510, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. Werner Smolny, 2003. "Determinants of innovation behaviour and investment estimates for west-german manufacturing firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 449-463.
    8. Pei‐Cheng Liao, 2008. "A Note On Market Coverage In Vertical Differentiation Models With Fixed Costs," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 27-44, January.
    9. Herguera, Iñigo & Lutz, Stefan, 1997. "Trade policy and leapfrogging," UC3M Working papers. Economics 7214, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    10. Emanuele Bacchiega & Antonio Minniti & Arsen Palestini, 2016. "Quality, distance and trade: A strategic approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95, pages 165-191, March.
    11. Morita, Hodaka & Nguyen, Xuan, 2021. "FDI and quality-enhancing technology spillovers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Chang, Yang-Ming & Raza, Mian F., 2018. "Import competition, product quality reversal, and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 162-166.
    13. José Luis Moraga-González & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2004. "Anti-Dumping, Intra-Industry Trade and Quality Reversals," CESifo Working Paper Series 1365, CESifo.
    14. Buehler, Benno & Schuett, Florian, 2014. "Certification and minimum quality standards when some consumers are uninformed," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 493-511.
    15. Stefan Lutz & Mario Pezzino, 2012. "International Strategic Choice of Minimum Quality Standards and Welfare," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 594-613, July.
    16. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz & Stefan Lutz, 2010. "Pre-emption, Predation, and Minimum Quality Standards," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 111-123.
    17. Jinji, Naoto & Toshimitsu, Tsuyoshi, 2013. "Strategic R&D policy in a quality-differentiated industry with three exporting countries," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 132-142.
    18. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2015. "On the Economics of Labels: How Their Introduction Affects the Functioning of Markets and the Welfare of All Participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 239-259.
    19. Carter, Colin A. & Chalfant, James A. & Yavapolkul, Navin & Carroll, Christine L., 2016. "International commodity trade, transport costs, and product differentiation," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 65-76.
    20. repec:gbl:wpaper:2013-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Ya‐chin Wang & Leonard F.s. Wang, 2009. "Equivalence Of Competition Mode In A Vertically Differentiated Duopoly With Delegation," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(4), pages 577-590, December.

    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:ces:ceswps:_597. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.