Trade Policy Versus Trade Facilitation: An Application Using Good Old OLS

40 Pages Posted: 13 May 2012

See all articles by Laura Marquez-Ramos

Laura Marquez-Ramos

Jaume I University - Department of Economics

Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

University of Goettingen (Göttingen) - School of Law, Economics, Social Sciences; Jaume I University - Department of Economics

Celestino Suárez-Burguet

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

Trade policy barriers are only one element of overall trade costs. Among these, and due to the decrease in the influence of tariff barriers on trade over time, institutional barriers might increase in relative importance and become a key obstacle to the movements of goods across countries. This paper quantifies and compares the impact that a number of trade facilitation and trade policy barriers have on bilateral trade flows. A theoretically justified gravity model of trade is estimated by using the methodology proposed in Baier and Bergstrand (Bonus vetus OLS: A simple method for approximating international trade-cost effects using the gravity equation, 2009) for a cross-section of countries in the year 2000. Results indicate that institutional trade barriers have a greater impact on trade flows than tariff barriers. According to these findings, trade policy negotiation efforts should focus on facilitating trade processes and should be at the forefront of multilateral negotiations.

Keywords: tariff barriers, trade facilitation, sectoral trade

JEL Classification: F14

Suggested Citation

Marquez-Ramos, Laura and Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada and Suárez-Burguet, Celestino, Trade Policy Versus Trade Facilitation: An Application Using Good Old OLS (2012). Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Vol. 6, 2012-11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2056942 or http://dx.doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2012-11

Laura Marquez-Ramos (Contact Author)

Jaume I University - Department of Economics ( email )

Campus del Riu Sec.
E-12071 Castellon
Spain

Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

University of Goettingen (Göttingen) - School of Law, Economics, Social Sciences ( email )

Germany

Jaume I University - Department of Economics ( email )

Campus del Riu Sec.
E-12071 Castellon
Spain

Celestino Suárez-Burguet

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

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