Using a comprehensive World Bank - UNCTAD data base on tariff barriers NTBs), the authors examine the incidence of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trade barriers to exports of the former Soviet Union (FSU). OECD markets have grown steadily in importance in the past...

For a single tariff, the height of the tariff is an unambiguous measure of the policy's restrictiveness. With more than one tariff, theory has not provided an extension that captures the idea of the tariff's height, so analysts have used index numbers such as the mean and the coefficient of...

Tariff reform aimed at reducing domestic protection and the bias against exports holds the threat of widening the fiscal deficit by causing tariff revenue to decline. Because the success of an adjustment program depends critically on the correction of fiscal imbalances to achieve stabilization,...

During the 1980s the Bank aggressively promoted greater uniformity in tariffs in developing countries. The Bank's structural adjustment and trade reform programs have often recommended abolition of quantitative import restrictions and increased uniformity in tariffs. This report is a formal...

Many developing countries use preshipment inspection (PSI) firms to counter the adverse effects on their foreign trade of certain pricing and business practices. These firms may also perform some national customs functions, but their key responsibility is normally to verify that imports (and...

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of raising tariffs on inputs, complemented by duty drawbacks on exports, in a small open economy. The main findings of the paper are as follows. First, a tariff on the input unaccompanied by duty drawbacks on exports works like a production tax at...

Tariff exemptions for exporters are widely used by many countries as aninstrument for providing export incentives. This author argues that when tariff exemptions are granted as a means of industrial regional promotion to an industry independently of its export performance, the tariff exemptions...

In the course of trade-policy reforms, countries must confront at least two important questions with respect to tariffs. First, what is the optimal structure of tariffs? In particular, is it optimal to tax all imports at a uniform rate? Second, should intermediate inputs be subject to import...

Sub - Sahran African (SSA) countries have seen sharp declines in their shares of agricultural export markets. But their export dependence on the most important crops - coffee and cocoa - has increased. Comparisons in the region and with countries outside the region show the importance of...