The Challenge of Reducing International Trade and Migration Barriers

Anderson, Kym ; Winters, L. Alan

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURAL EXPORTERS;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS;    AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION;    AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4598
RP-ID  :  WPS4598

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

While barriers to trade in most goodsand some services including capital flows have been reducedconsiderably over the past two decades, many remain. Suchpolicies harm most the economies imposing them, but theworst of the merchandise barriers (in agriculture andtextiles) are particularly harmful to the world'spoorest people, as are barriers to worker migration acrossborders. This paper focuses on how costly those anti-poortrade policies are, and examines possible strategies toreduce remaining distortions. Two opportunities inparticular are addressed: completing the Doha DevelopmentAgenda process at the World Trade Organization (WTO), andfreeing up the international movement of workers. A reviewof the economic benefits and adjustment costs associatedwith these opportunities provides the foundation toundertake benefit/cost analysis required to rank this set ofopportunities against those aimed at addressing theworld's other key challenges as part of the CopenhagenConsensus project. The paper concludes with key caveats andsuggests that taking up these opportunities could generatehuge social benefit/cost ratios that are considerably higherthan the direct economic ones quantified in this study, evenwithout factoring in their contribution to alleviatingseveral of the other challenges identified by that project,including malnutrition, disease, poor education and air pollution.