Does Regionalism Affect Trade Liberalization toward Non-Members?

Estevadeordal, Antoni ; Freund, Caroline ; Ornelas, Emanuel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BALANCE OF PAYMENTS;    BARGAINING POWER;    BILATERAL AGREEMENTS;    BILATERAL TRADE;    BILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4751
RP-ID  :  WPS4751

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines the effect ofregionalism on unilateral trade liberalization usingindustry-level data on applied most-favored nation tariffsand bilateral preferences for ten Latin American countriesfrom 1990 to 2001. The findings show that preferentialtariff reduction in a given sector leads to a reduction inthe external (most-favored nation) tariff in that sector.External liberalization is greater if preferences aregranted to important suppliers. However, these"complementarity effects" of preferentialliberalization on external liberalization do not arise incustoms unions. Overall, the results suggest that concernsabout a negative effect of preferential liberalization onexternal trade liberalization are unfounded.