The Costs and Benefits of Duty-Free, Quota-Free Market Access for Poor Countries: Who and What Matters

This paper examines the potential benefits and costs of providing duty-free, quota-free market access to the least developed countries (LDCs), and the effects of extending eligibility to other small and poor countries. Using the MIRAGE computable general equilibrium model, it assesses the impact of scenarios involving different levels of coverage for products, recipient countries, and preference-giving countries on participating countries, as well as competing developing countries that are excluded. The main goal of this paper is to highlight the role that rich and emerging countries could play in helping poor countries to improve their trade performance and to assess the distribution of costs and benefits for developing countries and whether the potential costs for domestic producers are in line with political feasibility in preference-giving countries.CGE modeling, trade policy, duty-free market access, technical barriers to trade,preference erosion

marchés mondiaux des produits agricoles à l'horizon 2020 : causes et conséquences de la hausse des prix.

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MIRAGRODEP 2.0: Documentation

MIRAGRODEP is a recursive-dynamic, multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium model, devoted to trade and agricultural policy analysis. It is developed for AGRODEP and draws upon the MIRAGE model built by CEPII. It incorporates specific features such as foreign direct investment and runs with a tariff aggregation module that allows the user to capture the exclusion effects at a detailed level and the variance of tariffs. The model also includes a submodule allowing to test different closures for the public sector as well as the inefficiency of the tax collection system. MIRAGRODEP 2.0 includes an improved demand system. Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and trade data in MIRAGRODEP are based on the GTAP database. Additional sources such as MacMap are used for protection data. This technical note presents an expanded documentation, with instructions on how to run the model and an illustrative application

The Potential Cost of Non-Doh

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Agricultural trade integration in ECOWAS

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional economic community (REC) composed of 15 member states and an associate country. Created in 1975 in Abuja, ECOWAS was established to pursue stability and regional integration in Africa and, over time, has expanded its mandate to include political dimensions. It is one of the largest RECs in Africa, covering a physical area of 5.1 million square kilometers with an estimated population of 424.3 million people as of 2022. The region’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 was estimated at US$758 billion, which represents a quarter of Africa’s GDP (World Bank 2024). As the ECOWAS region pursues a process of structural transformation, the region’s economy has shifted toward industry and services, and the share of agriculture in GDP in ECOWAS countries has been declining, as in many developing countries (Laborde et al. 2018). However, the agriculture sector still represents 26 percent of GDP2 on average across the region, although with a high degree of heterogeneity: the share of agriculture in total GDP ranges from 5 percent in Cabo Verde to 60 percent in Sierra Leone. The REC is a heterogenous bloc that encompasses economic and demographic giants like Nigeria and small states like Cabo Verde and Gambia. It also includes landlocked countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger), members with access to the sea (Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone), and island states (Cabo Verde). ECOWAS is often cited as a successful example of regional integration in Africa. Indeed, since its beginning, the integration process has moved forward continuously with key successes such as the free movement of people, which has been in effect since 1979. Among the eight RECs recognized by the African Union, ECOWAS ranks fifth for trade integration and first in terms of the free movement of people, according to the Regional Integration Index built by the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). However, when it comes to movement of goods, results are mixed, and serious challenges remain despite the formal processes of liberalization adopted by member states. The frictions affecting the free movement of goods are problematic, particularly for agricultural products, given that, in an environment marked by global crisis (notably the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020 and the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war), regional trade could mitigate the negative impacts and stabilize domestic markets. Furthermore, recent political tensions, marked by the intention of three member states (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) to withdraw from the organization, raise questions about the REC’s sustainability. This chapter assesses the level of agricultural trade integration in the ECOWAS area, progress made, and the challenges ahead. In the next section, we provide the historical background, reviewing early regional integration initiatives in Africa and the main steps in the construction of ECOWAS. The following section assesses trade costs within ECOWAS, including tariffs, nontariff measures, and logistics performance, with a special focus on costs arising from currency diversity as an impediment to trade. We then examine intraregional trade flows, including informal cross-border trade, which represents the bulk of these flows. Before concluding, the chapter presents key achievements and main challenges to greater integration.Markets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI); CP

The Potential Cost of Non-Doh

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La délégation de la politique commerciale dans une union douanière

Delegation of trade policy in a custom union Recent research has considered the case for delegation of trade policy in a customs union. In a strategic environment, the union members can increase their surplus by delegating trade policy to a country or an independant agency. These results are not very robust so that their implementation is difficult, especially in heteregenous unions.Cet article a pour objet d'établir un survey critique de la théorie de la délégation de politique commerciale dans une union douanière. Dans un cadre stratégique, lorsque des pays membres d'une telle zone sont différents, ils peuvent avoir tous intérêt à déléguer la responsabilité du tarif extérieur commun à un pays particulier ou à une agence indépendante. Mais, d'une part, de trop grandes différences dans les structures économiques nationales atténuent la portée opératoire de ce principe ; d'autre part, les résultats théoriques s'avèrent peu robustes.Bouët Antoine. La délégation de la politique commerciale dans une union douanière. In: Revue économique, volume 51, n°3, 2000. pp. 725-734

Biofuels: Global Trade and Environmental Impact Study

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