Milk is one of the most supported agricultural commodities, and world dairy markets are characterised by a high degree of distortion. Although there is a strong case for dairy policy reform, a clear understanding of the dairy sector's specific characteristics and of policy measures' operational features is necessary for any reform process to be successful. This report is an attempt to improve such understanding through an analysis of the trade and economic effects of the main policy measures applied to the dairy sector. In particular, it examines the effects of both milk price support measures and milk quota systems. The removal of individual policy measures is modelled in order to assess the impact of international dairy trade liberalisation on production, consumption, trade, prices, income, and welfare. The primary focus of this report is the impact of policies and reform in the OECD area, although the consequences for other economies are also examined. In addition, this report offers economic insights into the workings of complex dairy policy measures and provides a discussion of the potential of the dairy sector -- globally and in individual countries -- as it adjusts to liberal trading conditions

A partial-equilibrium, multiple-commodity, multiregion model of agricultural policy and trade is used to simulate the effects of changes in domestic and trade policy on dairy production, consumption, prices, and trade. Simulations using the ERS-Penn State Trade model analyze the effects of separately and concurrently relaxing domestic income and price supports, and import restrictions and export subsidies, with special attention to tariff-rate and milk production quotas. Modeling results indicate that liberalization would reduce world dairy product supplies and increase the value of dairy trade.

This compelling two-volume collection presents the major literary contributions to the economic analysis of the consequences of trade liberalization on growth, productivity, labor market outcomes and economic inequality. Examining the classical theories that stress gains from trade stemming from comparative advantage, the selection also comprises more recent theories of imperfect competition, where any potential gains from trade can stem from competitive effects or the international transmission of knowledge. Empirical contributions provide evidence regarding the explanatory power of these various theories, including work on the effects of trade openness on economic growth, wages, and income inequality, as well as evidence on the effects of trade on firm productivity, entry and exit. Prefaced by an original introduction from the editor, the collection will to be an invaluable research resource for academics, practitioners and those drawn to this fascinating topic.

Trade in services, far more than trade in goods, is affected by a variety of domestic regulations, ranging from qualification and licensing requirements in professional services to pro-competitive regulation in telecommunications services. Experience shows that the quality of regulation strongly influences the consequences of trade liberalization. WTO members have agreed that a central task in the ongoing services negotiations will be to develop a set of rules to ensure that domestic regulations support rather than impede trade liberalization. Since these rules are bound to have a profound impact on the evolution of policy, particularly in developing countries, it is important that they be conducive to economically rational policy-making. This book addresses two central questions: What impact can international trade rules on services have on the exercise of domestic regulatory sovereignty? And how can services negotiations be harnessed to promote and consolidate domestic policy reform across highly diverse sectors? The book, with contributions from several of the world's leading experts in the field, explores a range of rule-making challenges arising at this policy interface, in areas such as transparency, standards and the adoption of a necessity test for services trade. Contributions also provide an in-depth look at these issues in the key areas of accountancy, energy, finance, health, telecommunications and transportation services.

This publication displays the menu for choice of available methods to evaluate the impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It caters mainly to policy makers from developing countries and aims to equip them with some economic knowledge and techniques that will enable them to conduct their own economic evaluation studies on existing or future FTAs, or to critically re-examine the results of impact assessment studies conducted by others, at the very least.