Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/259926 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2006:4
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
Since the 1960's, the EU has offered trade preferences to developing countries in a complex set of systems. Broadly these systems can be divided into preferences for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, Mediterranean preferences and the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). We construct a detailed database over these trade preferences and use it to assess whether they have had an effect on developing countries' exports and whether the systems have had different impact on exports. To achieve this we also estimate the effect of the successive EU enlargements on exports from developing countries. A gravity model taking into account the evolution of developing countries' exports is estimated on a large sample of EU importers and developing country exporters over the period 1960-2002. The main findings are that certain preference systems have had large effects—the largest are found for the ACP countries, where the preferences increase exports by about 30 %, followed by Mediterranean countries—and that, countries joining the EU, ceteris paribus, import less from developing countries as they become members.
Subjects: 
EU trade preferences
Trade
Developing Countries
Gravity model
JEL: 
C23
F13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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