Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/39956 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Frankfurt a.M. 2009 No. 39
Publisher: 
Verein für Socialpolitik, Ausschuss für Entwicklungsländer, Göttingen
Abstract: 
Since early 2008 interim trade agreements between the EU and six regions of ACP countries (respectively sub-groups within the region) are in force. These agreements could be stepping stones towards full Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and all ACP countries. We estimate the welfare effects of the interim agreements for nine African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Our analysis is based on highly disaggregated data for trade and tariffs (HS six digit level) and follows a simple analytical model by Milner et al. (2006) to quantify the welfare effects of trade liberalization. We extend the literature in two principal ways: First, we estimate elasticities of import demand for the nine African countries importing from the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa respectively. Second, we apply the actual tariff reduction rates recently negotiated between the EU and the African countries to estimate the agreement's welfare effects of trade liberalization for the African countries. Results indicate that Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Namibia will significantly profit from the interim agreements, while the trade effects for Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are close to zero. However, Tanzania and Uganda also have the potential to experience positive welfare effects, but predicted results of the liberalization based on the interim agreement's reduction rates fall short of the potential of a full liberalization.
Subjects: 
Economic Partnership Agreements
Africa
trade liberalization
tariff reduction
welfare analysis
ACP countries
JEL: 
F10
F16
O24
O11
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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