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NON‐TARIFF DISTORTIONS AND TRADE PREFERENCES for DEVELOPING COUNTRIES *
Author(s) -
Walter Ingo,
Chung Jae W.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.1971.tb00630.x
Subject(s) - tariff , preference , product (mathematics) , economics , revealed preference , safeguard , market access , international economics , international trade , econometrics , microeconomics , geography , mathematics , agriculture , geometry , archaeology
SUMMARY Recent studies have shown that non‐tariff barriers (NTBs) may significantly affect the pattern of international trade, and it follows that they may have substantial bearing on trade preferences for developing countries as well. The a priori impact of NTBs and related empirical studies on the subjcct, as well as the theoretical effects of the generalized preferences, are discussed briefly. The study goes on to explore the pattern of non‐tariff distortions among the developed marketeconomy countries (DMECs) in the form of product frequency‐of‐application distributions, and relates them to the corresponding profiles of national and regional preference offers. In addition to indicating the sensitivity of various industrial sectors to the possibility of preferences‐induced market disruption, the paper focuses on the degree of commonality of NTB profiles and the pattern of preference offers. A great deal of correspondence is found in the product‐distributions of both NTB and preference patterns, although there is virtually no evidence that the same product groups heavily subject to NTBs also tend to be incorporated in the preference offers. This however does not preclude the possibility of serious NTB‐neutralization of preferences applied to individual manufactured and semi‐manufactured products, nor does it deny the likelihood that built‐in safeguard mechanisms attending individual preference offers may lead to significant uncertainty‐induced trade distortions.