Trade Policy Reform and the Missing Revenue: A Gendered Analysis for Mozambique

In this paper, we identify potential efficiency and equity gains from trade policy reforms in Mozambique. Particular attention is paid to reducing the observed high level of duty free importation and to studying whether differential gender specific impacts exist. Accordingly, the CGE model applied involves the simultaneous capturing of average and marginal tariff rates, and simulations include both a standard (nongender) set of experiments as well as a set where returns to male and female labor are distinguished. Policy reforms benefit nearly everyone with the main exception being those who benefit from duty free imports in the base. On the gender side, it turns out that the impact of reforms is basically neutral across factors, suggesting that, at the level of aggregation used here, it is difficult to uncover any major differential gender impacts.