Journal Issue: World Bank Economic Review, Volume 18, Issue 1
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Volume
18
Number
1
Issue Date
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
1564-698X
Journal
World Bank Economic Review
1564-698X
Journal Volume
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Articles
China's Accession to the World Trade Organization, Policy Reform, and Poverty Reduction : An Introduction
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Bhattasali, Deepak; Shantong, Li; Martin, Will
China's accession to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) was a watershed event for both
China and the WTO. After 30 years of effective isolation
from the world economy, and close to a quarter century of
autonomous reforms, China joined the legal framework of the
world trading system. In doing so China made an
extraordinarily wide-ranging set of commitments to reform of
its own legal and administrative system and to
thorough-going liberalization of trade in goods and
services. This issue contains five studies from a major
project undertaken by the World Bank and the Development
Research Centre of China's State Council. A key
objective of the studies was to assess the impact of the
reforms associated with WTO accession on poverty in China,
particularly in rural areas, which now lag so badly behind
urban areas.
Welfare Impacts of China's Accession to the World Trade Organization
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Chen, Shaohua; Ravallion, Martin
Data from China's national rural
and urban household surveys are used to measure and explain
the welfare impacts of changes in goods and factor prices
attributable to accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The price changes are estimated separately using a
general equilibrium model to capture both direct and
indirect effects of the initial tariff changes. The welfare
impacts are first-order approximations based on a household
model incorporating own-production activities calibrated to
household-level data and imposing minimum aggregation. The
results show negligible impacts on inequality and poverty in
the aggregate. However, diverse impacts emerge across
household types and regions, associated with heterogeneity
in consumption behavior and income sources, with possible
implications for compensatory policy responses.
Impacts of China's Accession to the World Trade Organization
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Ianchovichina, Elena; Martin, Will
This article presents estimates of the
impact of China's accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO). China is estimated to be the biggest
beneficiary (US$31 billion a year from trade reforms in
preparation for accession and additional gains of $10
billion a year from reforms after accession), followed by
its major trading partners that also undertake
liberalization, including the economies in North America,
Western Europe, and Taiwan (China). Accession will boost
manufacturing sectors in China, especially textiles and
apparel, which will benefit directly from the removal of
export quotas. Developing economies competing with China in
third markets may suffer small losses. Accession will have
important distributional consequences for China, with the
wages of skilled and unskilled nonfarm workers rising in
real terms and relative to those of farm workers. Possible
policy changes, including reductions in barriers to labor
mobility and improvements in rural education, could more
than offset these negative impacts and facilitate the
development of China's economy.
China in the World Trade Organization : Antidumping and Safeguards
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Messerlin, Patrick A.
China finds itself in a unique situation
on antidumping and safeguard issues. It is by far the main
target of antidumping measures, but (so far) one of the
smallest users of such measures. China's World Trade
Organization (WTO) accession protocol includes stringent
antidumping and safeguard provisions that its trading
partners may use against its exports. The article examines
three related concerns: how quickly large developing
economies can become intensive users of antidumping
measures, an evolution raising concerns about China's
recent antidumping enforcement; how China could minimize its
exposure to foreign antidumping cases, a recipe for both
improving trade outcomes and for China's taking a
leading role in reforming WTO antidumping; and the
opportunities that the Doha round of trade negotiations
offer to China for negotiating stricter disciplines both on
WTO contingent protection and on the use by China's
trading partners of the special provisions included in
China's accession protocol.
Regulated Efficiency, World Trade Organization Accession, and the Motor Vehicle Sector in China
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Francois, Joseph F.; Spinanger, Dean
This article is concerned with the
interaction of regulated efficiency and World Trade
Organization (WTO) accession and its impact on China's
motor vehicle sector. The analysis is conducted using a 23
sector-25 region computable general equilibrium model.
Regulatory reform and internal restructuring are found to be
critical. Restructuring is represented by a cost reduction
following from consolidation and rationalization that moves
costs toward global norms. Without restructuring, WTO
accession means a surge of final imports, though imports of
parts could well fall as production moves offshore. However,
with restructuring, the final assembly industry can be made
competitive by world standards, with a strengthened position
for the industry.
Tracking Distortions in Agriculture : China and Its Accession to the World Trade Organization
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004-01) Huang, Jikun; Rozelle, Scott; Chang, Min
This article examines the impacts of
China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
on prices in its agricultural sector. The analysis uses a
new methodology to estimate nominal protection rates in
China's agricultural sector before its accession to the
WTO. These new measures account for differences in commodity
quality within China and between China and world markets.
The analysis shows that some of China's agricultural
commodities are well above world market prices and others
are well below. The article also assesses market integration
and efficiency in China. It finds high degrees of
integration between coastal and inland markets and between
regional and village markets. The remarkable improvements in
market performance in recent years mean that if increased
imports or exports affect China's domestic price near
the border, producers throughout most of China will feel the
price shifts.