Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda on China : The Role of Labor Markets and Complementary Education Reforms

This paper offers an assessment of the implications of multilateral trade reforms for poverty in China. We do so by combining results from a global modeling exercise with a national CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model that features disaggregated households in both the rural and urban sectors. We examine two trade reform scenarios: one involving global trade liberalization, and one involving possible Doha Development Agenda reforms. Using the World Bank's $2/day poverty line, we find that multilateral trade reforms do in fact reduce poverty in China. The biggest reductions occur in the rural areas - largely as a result of higher prices for farm products