Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80058 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERSD-2012-07
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
Natural resources account for 20% of world trade, and dominate the exports of many countries. Policy is used to manipulate both international and domestic prices of resources, yet this policy is largely outside the disciplines of the WTO. The instruments used include export taxes, price controls, production quotas, and domestic producer and consumer taxes (equivalent to trade taxes if no domestic production is possible). We review the literature, and argue that the policy equilibrium is inefficient. This inefficiency is exacerbated by market failure in long run contracts for exploration and development of natural resources. Properly coordinated policy reforms offer an avenue to resource exporting and importing countries to overcome these inefficiencies and obtain mutual gains.
Subjects: 
natural resources
trade
export tax
tariff escalation
OPEC
WTO
terms of trade
JEL: 
F1
F13
Q3
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
229.29 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.