Valdes, A. and Zietz, J.
(1980)
Agricultural protection in OECD countries: its cost to less-developed countries.
Other.
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, USA.
Abstract
The report assesses the effects of agricultural protectionism in developed countries on the annual export earnings and concomitant welfare gains of less-developed countries (LDCs). It measures the results of a hypothetical 50% reduction across the board in tariffs and other trade barriers for 99 commodities in 17 developed countries belonging to the OECD. Such a reduction would increase world trade by about $8500 million per year. Approximately 36% of this expansion would accrue to the selected LDCs, 20% to OECD exporters, and 44% to the remaining countries. The study analyzes the geographic distribution of the benefits accruing to LDCs from trade liberalization and identifies the products with the most potential for export growth for Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America. For LDCs as a whole, raw sugar, refined sugar, and beef and veal are the three most significant commodities, followed by green coffee, wine, tobacco, and maize. When the commodities are formed into the groups used in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, sugar and derivatives and meats capture 47% of the total increase in export revenues expected for the LDCs. In most commodities LDCs capture 50 to 80% of the increase in world trade. Wheat, pork and mutton and lamb, however, play a significant part in world agricultural trade, and most of the benefits from liberalization in these commodities accrue to developed countries. Among the OECD members the major increases in the cost of imports would occur in Japan, Germany, the UK, and Italy. Major increases in exports would be experienced in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden. French and Italian exports would be substantially decreased
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