Market access for sale : Latin America's lobbying for U.S. tariff preferences

This paper assesses the foreign lobbying forces behind the tariff preferences that the United States grants to Latin American and Caribbean countries. The basic framework is the one developed that is extended to explain the relationship between foreign lobbying and tariff preferences. Results suggest that returns to Latin American and Caribbean exporters lobbying for tariff preferences in the United States are around 50 percent. The reason for these large returns is the relatively low estimated weight given to social welfare in the U.S. government's objective function when deciding whether or not to grant tariff preferences to Latin American and Caribbean exporters.National Governance,Export Competitiveness,Environmental Economics&Policies,Rules of Origin,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,National Governance,Export Competitiveness,Environmental Economics&Policies,Poverty and Trade

Substitutability and protectionism : Latin America's trade policy and imports from China and India

The authors examine the trade policy response of Latin American governments to the rapid growth of China and India in world markets. To explain higher protection in sectors where a large share is imported from these countries, they extend the"protection for sale"model to allow for different degrees of substitutability between domestically produced and imported varieties. The extension suggests that higher levels of protection toward Chinese goods can be explained by high substitutability between domestically produced goods and Chinese goods, whereas lower levels of protection toward goods imported from India can be explained by low substitutability with domestically produced goods. The data support the extension to the"protection for sale"model, which performs better than the original specification in terms of explaining Latin America's structure of protection.Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Free Trade,Globalization and Financial Integration,International Trade and Trade Rules

Substitutability and Protectionism: Latin America’s Trade Policy and Imports from China and India

This paper examines the trade policy response of Latin American governments to the rapid growth of China and India in world markets. To explain higher protection in sectors where a large share is imported from these countries, we extend the `protection for sale\' model to allow for di®erent degrees of substitutability between domestically produced and imported varieties. The extension suggests that higher levels of protection towards Chinese goods can be explained by high substitutability between domestically produced goods and Chinese goods, whereas lower levels of protection towards goods imported from India can be explained by low substitutability with domestically produced goods. The data supports the extension to the `protection for sale\' model, which performs better than the original speci¯cation in terms of explaining Latin America\'s structure of protection.Latin America, Protectionism