This policy note summarises the main findings of our recent research on the effects of labour and corporate taxation on international trade, and discusses their policy implications. The first major finding is that labour taxes do not seem to affect imports, while their effect on exports is...

While China was reducing tariffs as part of the WTO accession process, it was also effectively restricting exports in some sectors by reducing the rebates of the value added tax (VAT) for exporters. We use a multi-sector multi-country Ricardian model to examine the extent to which these de facto...

The United States produced about 80 percent of the world's cotton in the decades prior to the Civil War. How much monopoly power did the United States possess in the world cotton market and what would have been the effect of an optimal export tax? This paper estimates the elasticity of foreign...

An increasing number of tropical timber producing nations have enacted bans on export of logs. Proponents argue that a log export ban is a second-best policy tool for addressing environmental externalities; it also creates more jobs and improves scale efficiencies domestically. Theoretical...

The paper analyses the gains from trade in distortionary tax revenue between countries, focusing on the case where lump-sum revenue transfers are restricted. In this case, trade taxes can be used to transfer government revenue between countries, and such taxes will typically be used in...

Using perfectly competitive, general equilibrium models of international trade, specific import tariffs, specific export taxes, and ad valorem trade taxes are compared in a trade war. A trade war is modelled as a NE in trade policies, where each country can choose to use ad valorem trade taxes...

In this paper we investigate the introduction of an export tax on steam coal levied by an individual country (Australia), or a group of major exporting countries. The policy motivation would be twofold: generating tax revenues against the background of improved terms-of-trade, while CO2...

Export taxes, despite being applied by several countries, have not received the same scrutiny in multilateral trade negotiations as other trade barriers. This work seeks to provide more detail into the linkages between export taxes, trade, food prices, and poverty in the agriculture sector. We...

At the turn of the last century, the Argentine economy was on a path to prosperity that never fully developed. International trade and trade policies are often identified as a major culprit. In this paper, we review the history of Argentine trade policy to uncover its exceptional features and to...

Groundnuts are the most common cash crop and the main source of income for farmers in Senegal. Previously marginal, groundnut exports surged between 2011 and 2013. This new dynamic motivated the Government of Senegal to introduce a tax on groundnut exports in 2017. Senegal is a price-taker in...

Export taxes, despite being applied by several countries, have not received the same scrutiny in multilateral trade negotiations as other trade barriers. This work seeks to provide more detail into the linkages between export taxes, trade, food prices, and poverty in the agriculture sector. We...

The Lerner Symmetry Theorem (Lerner, 1936) establishes the equivalence between import tariffs and export taxes in a simple neoclassical economy with two countries, two final goods, and no trade costs. In this paper we provide a number of generalizations and qualifications of this well-known...

The export tax rebate (ETR) policy is one of the most frequently used policy instruments by Chinese policy makers. This paper therefore provides a vital analysis of its allocation effects. To motivate our empirical analysis for the allocation effects of the ETR policy, we first add a tax rebate...

The original goal of the Motor Industry Development Program was to help the automotive industry in South Africa adjust to trade liberalization and become internationally competitive. In simple terms, it consists of an import/export complementation arrangement, whereby the local value-added of...

The Lerner Symmetry Theorem (Lerner, 1936) establishes the equivalence between import tariffs and export taxes in a simple neoclassical economy with two countries, two final goods, and no trade costs. In this paper we provide a number of generalizations and qualifications of this well-known...

The authors review the arguments for taxing imports, considering two cases: one in which a country has market power in the export commodity, and one in which it does not. They conclude that for countries having market share there are strong analytical and practical arguments for an export tax....

The Russian government implemented a wheat export tax in February 2015 to reduce food inflationary pressures resulting from the rouble’s dramatic devaluation. This article discusses the causes of the rouble’s instability and volatility, and the effects of the export controls on domestic...

Seit dem 1. Februar 2015 werden russische Weizenexporte zusätzlich besteuert, um die jüngst stark angestiegenen Weizenexporte zu reduzieren. Ziel ist es, dem weiteren Ansteigen der bereits hohen inländischen Weizenpreise entgegenzuwirken und die Brotpreise zu stabilisieren. Erfahrungen der...

Since 1 February 2015, an additional tax has been levied on Russian wheat exports to reduce the recently strongly rising wheat exports. The aim is to dampen further increases in the already high domestic wheat prices and to stabilise bread prices. However, recent experiences in various countries...