Browsing by Subject "Free trade agreement"

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Assessment of non-tariff barriers in food and agricultural trade
an empirical approach
(2015) Engelbert, Tanja; Brockmeier, Martina
Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) substantially govern and influence trade outcomes. They include a diverse range of policy and non-policy measures that directly or indirectly divert trade and are predominantly implemented on food and agricultural products. While multilateral negotiations of NTBs within the World Trade Organization (WTO) are a slow process, countries are more confident in accelerating the reduction and regulation of NTBs within free trade agreements (FTAs). Thus, considering NTBs might be of importance in analyzing potential effects of FTAs. This cumulative dissertation includes six articles addressing current research questions in agricultural economics on the identification of NTBs and their effects on trade and the evaluation of FTAs that explicitly consider NTBs. In all empirical analyses, the focus is on the agro-food sector. The first two articles serve as the foundation for policy analysis. The following articles draw on a two-step empirical approach to thoroughly assess regional trade liberalization by integrating econometric results from the theory-consistent gravity model into the computational general equilibrium (CGE) model Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) given a perfect match of data. The empirical analyses illustrate and reaffirm the high relevance of NTBs in the agro-food sector that by far exceeds tariffs. The use of different specifications of the gravity model and alternative identification strategies supports the stability of results. The joint econometric-CGE approach offers an appropriate and comprehensive framework for analyzing the effects of the reduction of NTBs in the process of economic integration. Extending the CGE model and augmenting the database with econometrically estimated parameters increase the quality and confidence of CGE-based assessments of deep FTAs. The reliability of the results is further increased by considering the most disaggregated level of data. Future research analyses might apply even more disaggregated data and rely on direct measures of NTBs by employing information from newly emerging databases on NTBs. To conduct CGE policy analyses, theory-consistent aggregation methods could be applied to obtain ad-valorem equivalents (AVEs) of NTBs at the CGE sector level. The composite-method approach that was selected for this thesis could be transferred to other case studies of regional trade liberalization. In addition, the method could be used to construct a detailed database of AVEs of NTBs for the CGE framework. This would enable one to conduct reliable and precise plurilateral and multilateral liberalization scenarios by considering NTBs.
Trade and welfare effects of a potential free trade agreement between Japan and the United States
(2022) Walter, Timo
This paper addresses the trade and welfare implications of a bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and Japan. In 2019, the two countries signed a “stage one” trade agreement, with the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement as two small trade agreements. A comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) is currently under discussion between Washington and Tokyo, with the U.S. government alternatively joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Based on the theoretical model of Caliendo and Parro (Rev Econ Stud, 82(1):1–44, 2015) , I analyze the welfare gains of such a bilateral FTA in the style of Aichele et al. (Where is the value added? China’s WTO entry, trade and value chains, ZBW-Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz, 2014). I simulate trade and welfare impacts for the USJTA and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement, as well as for a deep bilateral FTA. In addition, I examine and compare the welfare implications of the established CPTPP with the scenario of the U.S. or China joining CPTPP. My findings show that Japan’s welfare increases by 0.3% and U.S. welfare increases by 0.14% as a result of the FTA. Welfare of both countries would increase if the U.S. entered CPTPP, with Japanese welfare being even higher if China acceded to CPTPP.
Trade effects of the Europe agreements
(2006) Spies, Julia; Marques, Helena
The eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU) brought and will bring full membership to countries whose trade barriers with the EU had to a large extent already been removed under Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) during the 1990s. We employ a theory-based new version of a gravity equation, whose specification allows for an assessment of the impact of the arrangements on extra- and intra-group imports. We find robust evidence that the agreements have substantially increased intra-group trade, in the case of the Czech and Slovak Republic at the expense of the Rest of the World (ROW).