Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/72405 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP04/23
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, Department of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
We show that the effects of tariff changes on welfare and import volume can be fully characterised by their effects on the generalised mean and variance of the tariff distribution. Using these tools, we derive new results for welfare- and market-access-improving tariff changes, which imply two cones of liberalisation in price space. Because welfare is negatively but import volume positively related to the generalised variance, the cones do not intersect, which poses a dilemma for trade policy reform. Finally, we show that generalised and trade-weighted moments are mutually proportional when the trade expenditure function is CES.
Subjects: 
Concertina rule
Market access
Piecemeal policy reform
Tariff moments
Uniform tariff reductions
JEL: 
F13
F15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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