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Lecture 8
Following World War II, representatives of 45 countries met at the United Nations
Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to discuss
the rebuilding of Europe and issues such as high trade barriers and unstable exchange
rates.
The outcome was an agreement (referred to as the Bretton Woods Agreement). The
trade component of this agreement, formalized as the GATT in 1947, was intended to
reduce barriers to trade between countries and, in general, to promote the goal of free
trade among nations as a means of fostering cooperation, integration and mutual gains
from trade.
Under the GATT, countries meet periodically for negotiations, called rounds, to lower
trade restrictions between countries.
The name of the GATT was changed on January 1, 1995 to the World Trade
Organization (WTO), as it is known today.
GATT is just a set of rules for how to conduct trade,
WTO -- formal international institution governing global interactions (including
trade in services and intellectual property protection) through binding agreements.
Most-Favored-Nation Treatment
Article VI
Article XI
Article XVI
Subsidies
Article XIX
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Article XXIV
Producer surplus
Graphically, it is equal to the area under the price line above the supply
curve. Note that area under the supply curve up the quantity exchanged, z,
is production cost to the firm but for the whole economy it represents
opportunity cost the value of other goods and services that are not
produced because resources are instead used to produce this product.
PS = revenue received - cost incurred (return to inelastic factors)
Price
CS
Price
S
PS
P1
D
D1
Consumer surplus
z
Quantity
S1
Producer surplus
Quantity
To find the world price (Pw) and the quantity trade (Qw), two curves are defined:
Home import demand curve
Shows the maximum quantity of imports the Home country would like to
consume at each price of the imported good.
That is, the excess of what Home consumers demand over what Home
producers supply: M = D(P) S(P)
Properties of the import demand curve:
It intersects the vertical axis at the closed economy price of the importing country.
It is downward sloping.
It is flatter than the domestic demand curve in the importing country.
Tariff of steel = 30% => the percentage increase in the price, t/PW = 0.3.
The quantity of steel imports also fell by 30% in the first year so that %M = 0.3.
Therefore, the deadweight loss is:
DWL/P.M = 1/2 (0.3 x 0.3) = 0.045 or 4.5% of the import value.
Assumptions
There are two countries (Home and Foreign or rest of the world).
Both countries consume and produce a homogenous product under a CRTS
technology, which can be transported between the countries with no costs
There is no externalities in the production and consumption of the product.
In each country, the product is a competitive industry (many buyers and
sellers with no market power).
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Foreign Export Supply
Shows the maximum quantity of exports Foreign would like to provide the rest of the
world at each price.
That is, the excess of what Foreign producers supply over what foreign consumers
demand: X* = S*(P*) D*(P*)
It intersects the vertical axis at the closed economy price of the exporting country.
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Figure 8.7: The tariff shifts up the export supply curve from X* to X*+t. As a result, the
Home price increases from PW to P*+t, and the Foreign price falls from PW to P*. The
deadweight loss at Home is the area of the triangle (b+d), and Home also has a terms of
trade gain of area e. Foreign loses the area (e+f), so the net loss in world welfare is the
triangle (b+d+f).
In Home: producers supply more and consumers demand less due to the higher
price, so that fewer imports are demanded.
In Foreign: producers supply less and consumers demand more due to the lower
price, so that fewer exports are supplied.
Thus, the volume of wheat traded declines due to the imposition of the tariff.
The increase in the domestic Home price is less than the tariff, because part of the
tariff is reflected in a decline in Foreigns export price.
If Home is a small country and imposes a tariff, the foreign export prices
are unaffected and the domestic price at Home (the importing country)
rises by the full amount of the tariff.
The areas of the two triangles b and d measure the loss to the nation as a whole
(efficiency loss) and the area of the rectangle e measures an offsetting gain, ToT gain.
The efficiency loss arises because a tariff distorts incentives to consume and produce.
Producers and consumers act as if imports were more expensive than they
actually are.
Triangle b is the production distortion loss and triangle d is the
consumption distortion loss.
The terms of trade gain arises because a tariff lowers foreign export prices.
If the terms of trade gain is greater than the efficiency loss, the tariff increases welfare
for the importing country.
In the case of a small country, the tariff reduces welfare for the importing country.
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In addition, the large country tariff incurs an extra deadweight loss in Foreign of f, so
that the combined total outweighs the benefits to Home. For this reason, we
sometimes call a tariff imposed by a large-country a beggar thy neighbor tariff.
Adding together the change in Home welfare and Foreign welfare, the area e cancels
out and we are left with a net loss in world welfare of (b+d+f), the triangle in panel
(b). This area is a deadweight loss for the world.
For a small importing country, the elasticity of Foreign export supply is infinite, and
so the optimal tariff is zero.
For a large importing country however, the Foreign export supply is less than infinite,
and we can use this formula to compute the optimal tariff.
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As the elasticity of Foreign export supply decreases (which means that the Foreign
export supply curve steepens), the optimal tariff is higher - Foreign exporters will
lower their price more in response to the tariff.
Example: If E*X from 3 to 2 => optimal tariff from = 33% to = 50%,
o Foreign producers are willing to lower their prices more, taking on a larger
share of the tariff burden.
o =>Home country obtains a larger terms of trade increase and hence the
optimal level of the tariff is higher.
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In some cases (e.g. sugar and apparel), the right to sell in the United States is
given directly to the governments of exporting countries.
Reasons for quotas
As insurance against further increases in import competition (protectionist
insurance) and import spending (Balance of Payment insurance) (with tariffs
results depend on elasticities of Import Demand and Export Supply)
give government officials greater administrative flexibility and power to deal
with domestic firms.
An import quota always raises the domestic price of the imported good.
Figure 8.9: Under free trade, the Foreign export supply curve is horizontal at the world
price PW, and the free trade equilibrium is at point B with imports of M1. Applying an
import quota of M2 < M1 leads to the vertical export supply curve, X , with the
equilibrium at point C. The quota increases the import price from PW to P2. There would
be the same impact on price and quantities if instead of the quota, a tariff of t = P2 PW
had been used.
Effect on Home Welfare:
Fall in consumer surplus:
(a+b+c+d)
Rise in producer surplus:
+a
Quota rents earned at Home:
+c
-------------------------------------------------------------Net effect on Home welfare:
(b+d)
Ways to allocate import licenses
Competitive auctions (the best way), revenues are received by the government
Fixed favoritism (the most arbitrary way)
Resource-using application procedure (very inefficient)
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Fall in consumer surplus:
(a + b + c + d)
Rise in producer surplus:
+a
Auction revenue earned at Home
+c
---------------------------------------------------------------------Net effect on Home welfare:
(b + d)
4. Voluntary Export Restraint
The government of the importing country gives the authority of implementing the
quota to the government of the exporting country. Because the exporting country
allocates the quota among its own producers, this is sometimes called a
voluntary export restraint (VER), or a voluntary restraint agreement (VRA).
In the 1980s the United States used this type of arrangement to restrict Japanese
automobile imports. In this case, the quota rents are earned by foreign producers,
so the loss in Home welfare equals
Fall in consumer surplus:
(a + b + c + d)
Rise in producer surplus:
+a
---------------------------------------------------------Net effect on Home welfare: (b + c + d)
Costs of Import Quotas in the U.S.: The Table below presents some estimates of the
Home deadweight losses, along with the quota rents, for major U.S. quotas in the years
around 1985. In all cases except dairy, the rents were earned by Foreign exporters.
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Summary
A tariff drives a wedge between foreign and domestic prices, raising the domestic
price but by less than the tariff rate (except in the small country case).
In the small country case, a tariff is fully reflected in domestic prices.
The costs and benefits of a tariff or other trade policy instruments may be
measured using the concepts of consumer and producer surplus.
The domestic producers of a good gain
The domestic consumers lose
The government collects tariff revenue
The net welfare effect of a tariff can be separated into two parts:
Efficiency (consumption and production) loss
Terms of trade gain (is zero in the case of a small country)
Appendix
Local Content Requirements
This is a regulation that requires that a product assembled or produced in the
country must have a specified fraction of good produced domestically. This
fraction can be specified in physical units or in value terms. This limit the import
of materials and components
Local content laws have been widely used by developing countries trying to shift
their manufacturing base from assembly back into intermediate goods.
Local content laws do not produce either government revenue or quota rents.
Instead, the difference between the prices of imports and domestic goods gets
averaged in the final price and is passed on to consumers.
Example: Suppose that auto assembly firms are required to use 50% domestic
parts. The cost of imported parts is $6000 and the cost of the same parts
domestically is $10,000. Then the average cost of parts is $8000 (0.5 x $6000
+ 0.5 x $10,000).
Firms are allowed to satisfy their local content requirement by exporting instead
of using parts domestically.
A mixing requirement: Stipulates that an importer must buy a certain percentage
of the product locally.
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Optimal tariff and price elasticity of export supply
P
Extra loss
tP dM/dt
Extra gain
M dP/dt
SX:
Foreign Export Supply
tP
P
DM:
Home Import Demand
M
dM/dt
Optimal tariff is the one at which the extra TOT gain and the extra loss (due to less
consumption and production at home) are just equal. That is
Extra gains extra losses = M dP/dt t*PdM/dt =0
Or
t* = (dP/dt)/(dM/dt) M/P = 1/
Where is the Elasticity of SX = (dM/dt)/(dP/dt) P/M
Note that the first term on the RHS is the slope of SX
So optimal tariff (as a fraction of the world price the price paid to foreigners) is equal to
the inverse of the elasticity of foreign export supply
t*= 1/
infinity as t* 0
The larger the elasticity of foreign export supply the smaller the optimal tariff rate.