The Doha Development Round and Africa: Partial and General Equilibrium Analyses of Tariff Preference Erosion

Erosion of trade preferences currently being enjoyed by LDCs and some developing countries remain an important area in the on-going trade negotiations. The different positions regarding the preference erosion question besides being informed by political economy considerations are also founded on empirical results of this particular question. But does the methodology used for the empirical analysis matter? In this paper, the importance of preference erosion question due to MFN liberalisation on agriculture is analyzed. Drawing from the potential complementary strengths in triangulation, the paper uses both partial and general equilibrium analyses. The paper shows that the ranking of preference erosion as an issue of policy concern is influenced by the empirical methodology adopted. However, irrespective of the rank, the paper concludes that preference erosion is an important issue not only in terms of welfare, but also as it has impacts on incomes for preference receiving countries.