The cost of rich (and poor) country protection to developing countries

Abstract

This study confirms that substantial barriers to market access will remain in both rich and poor countries following full implementation of the Uruguay Round agreement. The analysis finds that approximately 40% of the costs of these barriers to developing countries arise from barriers to market access in industrial countries and 60% from barriers in developing countries themselves. The results suggest that there would be large gains to almost all regions from a round of negotiations that increased market access in the North and South. In Africa, the potential static gains from multilateral reform appear to exceed those from preferential liberalisation, without the well-known disadvantages of a preferential approach.