Alternative Quota and VER Allocation Schemes: A Welfare Comparison.

The authors employ a three-country equilibrium framework to compare the welfare effects of alternative methods of allocating import quotas or voluntary export restraints among sources of supply. They compare a scheme of allocating the quota or the voluntary expor t restraint in proportion to the preexisting free trade market shares, with a tariff-equivalent quota or voluntary export restraint allocat ion. A complete welfare ranking of alternative allocation schemes for eac h of the three countries is obtained. Copyright 1992 by The London School of Economics and Political Science.