Trade policy with heterogeneous traders: do quotas get a bum rap?

This paper considers the effects of trade policy--tariffs and quotas--when importing is done by competitive traders who are identical ex ante but differ ex post. We show that the standard equivalence results no longer hold and the conventional ranking of tariffs and quotas is turned on its head: quo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krishna, Kala 1956- (Author), Tan, Ling-hui (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007
Series:Working paper series / National Bureau of Economic Research 13040
Online Access:Volltext
Summary:This paper considers the effects of trade policy--tariffs and quotas--when importing is done by competitive traders who are identical ex ante but differ ex post. We show that the standard equivalence results no longer hold and the conventional ranking of tariffs and quotas is turned on its head: quotas are not as bad for welfare as previously believed, while tariffs may restrict trade by more than originally intended. Furthermore, the allocation of property rights (quota licenses) has real effects beyond the distribution of rents; this, in turn, has implications for the effects of corruption on welfare.
Physical Description:38 S. graph. Darst. 22 cm

There is no print copy available.

Interlibrary loan Place Request Caution: Not in THWS collection! Get full text