The Qualitative and Quantitative Significance of Non-Tariff Barriers: An ERP study of Norway

Along with a de-escalation of tariffsin most industrialized countries, a wide range of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) has been developed. NTBs are more challenging to study than tariffsbecause they are more difficult to detect and measure, and because the qualitative functioning of NTBs varies according to their design. In particular, equivalent tariff rate estimates on import quantity restrictions will endogenously react to domestic market shifts, for instance as a result of shifts in other commercial policy measures. Besides emphasizing the quantitative dominance of NTBs to tariffs in the Norwegian trade policy system, this study of Effective Rates of Protection clearly illustrates that it may be critical for trade policy studies to model qualitatively the interdependency between different policy measures.