Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty

Increased globalization and widespread trade liberalization in developing countries since the 1980s has inspired considerable debate on the impact of globalization in general, and trade liberalization in particular, on growth, incomes and poverty. This chapter provides an overview of the issues and...

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Main Authors: Ackah, Charles, Leyaro, Vincent, Morrissey, Oliver
Format: Book Section
Published: Edward Elgar Publishing 2015
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29899/
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author Ackah, Charles
Leyaro, Vincent
Morrissey, Oliver
author2 Morrissey, Oliver
author_facet Morrissey, Oliver
Ackah, Charles
Leyaro, Vincent
Morrissey, Oliver
author_sort Ackah, Charles
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Increased globalization and widespread trade liberalization in developing countries since the 1980s has inspired considerable debate on the impact of globalization in general, and trade liberalization in particular, on growth, incomes and poverty. This chapter provides an overview of the issues and evidence in a selective literature review. After considering why trade is important and arguments for and against protection in the remainder of this section, we focus on three issues. Section 2.2 provides an overview of the literature on the relationship between trade and growth, noting that whilst a positive correlation is well established it is difficult to assert ‘causality’ (whether trade drives growth or growth leads to increased trade). Section 2.3 addresses the related issue of how trade liberalization (trade policy reforms reducing barriers to trade, especially on imports) affects growth, for which the evidence is less clear. Section 2.4 considers the broader issue of how trade relates to poverty, especially in low-income countries (LICs) or sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Section 2.5 provides a very brief conclusion. Economists disagree about many things, but one proposition that attracts widespread agreement is that high barriers to trade damage the economy, especially if there is considerable variation across sectors and products in the extent of barriers (as this induces prices distortions that generate inefficiency).
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spelling nottingham-298992020-05-04T17:07:49Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29899/ Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty Ackah, Charles Leyaro, Vincent Morrissey, Oliver Increased globalization and widespread trade liberalization in developing countries since the 1980s has inspired considerable debate on the impact of globalization in general, and trade liberalization in particular, on growth, incomes and poverty. This chapter provides an overview of the issues and evidence in a selective literature review. After considering why trade is important and arguments for and against protection in the remainder of this section, we focus on three issues. Section 2.2 provides an overview of the literature on the relationship between trade and growth, noting that whilst a positive correlation is well established it is difficult to assert ‘causality’ (whether trade drives growth or growth leads to increased trade). Section 2.3 addresses the related issue of how trade liberalization (trade policy reforms reducing barriers to trade, especially on imports) affects growth, for which the evidence is less clear. Section 2.4 considers the broader issue of how trade relates to poverty, especially in low-income countries (LICs) or sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Section 2.5 provides a very brief conclusion. Economists disagree about many things, but one proposition that attracts widespread agreement is that high barriers to trade damage the economy, especially if there is considerable variation across sectors and products in the extent of barriers (as this induces prices distortions that generate inefficiency). Edward Elgar Publishing Morrissey, Oliver Lopez, Ricardo Sharma, Kishor 2015-05-29 Book Section PeerReviewed Ackah, Charles, Leyaro, Vincent and Morrissey, Oliver (2015) Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty. In: Handbook on trade and development. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, pp. 19-37. ISBN 9781781005309 http://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781781005309.00007.xml doi:10.4337/9781781005316.00007 doi:10.4337/9781781005316.00007
spellingShingle Ackah, Charles
Leyaro, Vincent
Morrissey, Oliver
Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title_full Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title_fullStr Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title_full_unstemmed Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title_short Trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
title_sort trade, tariffs, growth and poverty
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29899/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29899/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29899/