Implementation of trade reform in sub-Saharan Africa : how much heat and how much light?

Adjustment programs in sub-Saharan Africa have been somewhat less intensive in trade reform than programs in other countries have been. Implementation of trade reform overall, however (but not the most important reforms), has been better in sub-Saharan Africa. Retrogression has also been more frequent. As a group, the intensive adjustment lending countries made significant progress in the 1980s and early 1990s, but there was significant variation among them. For sub-Saharan Africa, progress has been more impressive in recent years then in earlier years. In many countries, adjustment did not begin until the mid-1980s and relatively few measures were implemented up front. For the franc-zone countries, underimplementation rates are lower in the most recent data, and by some - but not all - measures their openness has improved more in recent years. By virtually all measures, however, improvements over earlier periods have not been as great for non-franc zone countries. Reduced protectionwas largely offset by real devaluation in most country groups and, by most measures, incentives to produce import substitutes actually improved in the years immediately after the first adjustment loan. In more recent years, the incentives have fallen modestly. Using a new method for quantifying nontariff protection in terms of tariff equivalence, the author argues that, in general, countries are not in danger of de-industrialization from the rapid disprotection of import-substituting industry. However, franc-zone countries showed greater declines in incentives for import substitution because of their lower rate of real devaluation. One implication may be that their ability to reduce tariffs and nontariff barriers is impeded by their inability to offset them with devaluations as other countries did. Non-franc-zone countries reduced tariff-equivilant protection in recent years by 15 to 49 percentage points more than franc-zone countries. How open are the trade regimes at this point? The decline in tariff-equivalent protection, although not trivial, is insufficient to reduce the protection to moderate levels relative to deep reformers in East Asia and Latin America. The biggest problem is with foreign exchange allocation. Mauritius may be the only non-franc zone sub-Saharan country in which the currency is essentially convertible and has been for some time. This basic reform has not begun in most countries or has only recently been completed (Ghana).Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,Trade Policy,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT

Have trade policy reforms led to greater openness in developing countries : evidence from readily available trade data

Developing countries experienced a revolution in trade policy in the 1980s and 1990s, but it is unclear how much real openness increased. After all, they had started with multiple, often redundant, trade restrictions. And it is unclear how changes in openness should be measured. The most appropriate measure of openness is based on imports of consumer goods, argue the authors, since these imports commonly face the biggest trade barriers. After developing several such measures, including a measure of the change in tariff equivalent protection, they explore the recent evolution of trade policy, using readily available trade data. Openness has developed incrementally rather than overnight. In the early adjustment stages, barriers to imports tended not to be reduced much. At first, the net reduction of incentives to produce import substitutes was minor, especially when currency depreciation is considered. Recently import barriers have been reduced more substantially, and since there has been little currency depreciation, incentives to produce import substitutes have declined. Shock therapy was uncommon. A few countries moved quickly to eliminate nontariff barriers to imports and to adopt low, fairly uniform tariffs. But most countries tended to peel away redundant layers of trade barriers, one at a time. They usually began with the barriers embodied in rationing and exchange controls, proceeded to nontariff measures, and finally reduced tariffs. Each step may have reduced protection a bit but the big reductions apparently came only in later stages. Still, even gradual reform helped open up those economies. The Asian countries tended to be most open both early and late. They were also above-average in reform efforts, by some measures, so their strong growth performance (based on exports) was unsurprising. The African countries, whose trade policies were probably worst to begin with, made relatively modest progress initially. In recent years their progress has been substantial; whether they have improved as much as other countries depends on which measure is used. Countries tied to the French franc (for whom real devaluation was more difficult) showed less progress than nonfranc countries, illustrating the importance of the connection between devaluation and trade reform. There is no evidence that rapid trade reform resulted in Africa's de-industrialization.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Rules of Origin,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Achieving Shared Growth

Resource management and the effects of trade on vulnerable places and people : lessons from six case studies

Lessons from six case studies illustrate the complex relationships between international trade, vulnerable ecologies and the poor. The studies, taken from Africa, Asia and Latin America and conducted by local researchers, are set in places where the poor live in close proximity to ecologies that are important to global conservation efforts, and focus on the cascading consequences of trade policy for local livelihoods and environmental services. Collectively, the studies show how under-valued common resources are often poorly protected and consequently subject to shifting economic incentives, including those that arise from trade. The studies provide examples where trade works to accelerate the use of natural resources and to exacerbate unsustainable dependencies by the poor, and other examples where trade has the opposite effect. An important conclusion is that local livelihood and technology choices have important consequences for how environmental resources are used and should be taken into account when designing policies to safeguard fragile ecologies.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Labor Policies,Population Policies

New species of Parmeliaceae (lichenized Ascomycotina) from South America

The species Flavoparmelia quichuaensis Elix & T. H. Nash, Hypotrachyna divaricatica Elix & T. H. Nash, Hypotrachyna goiasii Elix & Nash, Hypotrachyna hypoalectorialica Elix & T. H. Nash and Relicina xanthoparmeliformis Elix & T. H. Nash are described as new to science

Adjustment and poverty in Mexican agriculture : how farmers'wealth affects supply response

The authors report the results of a study of Mexican farm households using 1991 survey data and a smaller resurvey of some of the same households in 1993. One study goal was to empirically examine the relationship between assets and the output supply function. Using a production model focusing on capital as a productive input, they found that both the supply level and the responsiveness (elasticities) to changing input and output prices tend to depend on the farmer's net assets and on how productive assets are used. Regression analysis using data from the surveys shows that farmers who use productive assets such as machinery tend to be positively responsive to price changes, while those with no access to such assets are not. Another study goal was to monitor the condition of Mexican farmers in a rapidly changing policy environment. The 1991 survey data suggest that farmers with more limited use of capital inputs (low-CI) to grow principally corn and to grow fewer crops, on average, than the others. They aso had more problems getting credit and were less likely to use purchased inputs, such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, or to use a tractor to prepare the soil. They tended to be less well-educated, and their land tended to be of lower quality. Results from the panel data showed conditions generally improving for the average farmer in the sample area between 1991 and 1993, during a period when agricultural reforms were implemented. Cropping patterns were more diversified, the average size of landholdings increased, the average farmer received more credit (in real terms), more farm households earned income from off-farm work, and more farmers used purchased inputs. Asset ownership and educational attainment also improved modestly. The very small low-CI group in this sample fared as well as, or better than, the other goroups. True, their level of educational achievement fell, and fewer of them had off-farm income than in 1991. But their use of credit, irrigation, machinery, and purchased inputs increased more than for other groups. The limited data are not proof of a causal link, but the fact that the goals are being met should at least ensure that adverse conditions are not undermining reform. Farmers that lacked access to productive assets did not respond as well to incentives or take advantage of the opportunities presented by reform and may need assistance, particularly to get access to credit markets. There may be a good argument for decoupling income supports from pricesupports for farmers, since income payments that are independent of the vagaries of production could provide a more stable signal of creditworthiness than price supports do. Possibly reorienting research and extension services more to the needs of low-CI producers could also improve the efficiency with which the sector ajdusts to new incentives. Hypotheses and tentative conclusions from this study will be explored further when more data are collected in 1995.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Water Conservation,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Research,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems