Publication: Poverty and the WTO : Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda
Loading...
Published
2006
ISSN
Date
2012-06-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This study reports on the findings from a major international research project investigating the poverty impacts of a potential Doha Development Agenda (DDA). It combines in a novel way the results from several strands of research. First, it draws on an intensive analysis of the DDA Framework Agreement, with particularly close attention paid to potential reforms in agriculture. The scenarios are built up using newly available tariff line data, and their implications for world markets are established using a global modeling framework. These world trade impacts form the basis for 12 country case studies of the national poverty impacts of these DDA scenarios. The focus countries are Bangladesh, Brazil (2 studies), Cameroon, China (2 studies), Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, and Zambia. Although the diversity of approaches taken in these studies limits the ability to draw broader conclusions, an additional study that provides a 15-country cross-section analysis is aimed at this objective. Finally, a global analysis provides estimates for the world as a whole.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Hertel, Thomas W.; Winters, L. Alan. Hertel, Thomas W.; Winters, L. Alan, editors. 2006. Poverty and the WTO : Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7411 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Impact on Russia of WTO Accession and The Doha Agenda : The Importance of Liberalization of Barriers against Foreign Direct Investment in Services for Growth and Poverty Reduction(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-10)Taking price changes from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model of world trade, the authors use a small open economy computable general equilibrium comparative static model of the Russian economy to assess the impact of global free trade and a successful completion of the Doha Agenda on the Russian economy, and especially on the poor. They compare those results with the impact of Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on income distribution and the poor. The model incorporates all 55,000 households from the Russian Household Budget Survey as "real" households. Crucially, given the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization as part of Russian WTO accession, the authors also include FDI and Dixit-Stiglitz endogenous productivity effects from liberalization of import barriers against goods and FDI in services. The authors estimate that Russian WTO accession in the medium run will result in gains averaged over all Russian households equal to 7.3 percent of Russian consumption (with a standard deviation of 2.2 percent of consumption), with virtually all households gaining. They find that global free trade would result in a weighted average gain to households in Russia of 0.2 percent of consumption, with a standard deviation of 0.2 percent of consumption, while a successful completion of the Doha Development Agenda would result in a weighted average gain to households of -0.3 percent of consumption (with a standard deviation of 0.2 percent of consumption). Russia, as a net food importer, loses from subsidy elimination, and the gains to Russia from tariff cuts in other countries are too small to offset these losses. The results strongly support the view that Russia's own liberalization is more important than improvements in market access as a result of reforms in tariffs or subsidies in the rest of the world. Foremost among the own reforms is liberalization of barriers against FDI in business services.Publication Services Liberalization in Preferential Trade Arrangements : The Case of Kenya(2011-01-01)Given the growing importance of commitments to foreign investors in services in regional trade agreements, it is important to develop applied general equilibrium models to assess the impacts of liberalization of barriers to multinational service providers. This paper develops a 55 sector applied general equilibrium model of Kenya with foreign direct investment and Dixit-Stiglitz productivity effects from additional varieties of imperfectly competitive goods or services, and uses the model to assess its regional and multilateral trade options, focusing on commitments to foreign investors in services. To assess the sensitivity of the results to parameter values, the model is executed 30,000 times, and results are reported as confidence intervals of the sample distributions. The analysis reveals that a 50 percent preferential reduction in the ad valorem equivalents of barriers in all business services by Kenya with its African partners would be somewhat beneficial for Kenya. If a preferential agreement with African partners is combined with an agreement with the European Union, the gains would more than triple the gains of an Africa only agreement. Multilateral reduction of services barriers, however, would yield gains about 12 times the gains of an agreement with the Africa region alone. These results suggest that preferential liberalization in the region is a valuable first step, but wider liberalization, with larger partners and liberal rules of origin or multilaterally, will yield much larger gains due to providing access to a much wider set of services providers. The largest gains would come from domestic regulatory reform in services, as this would almost triple the gains of multilateral liberalization.Publication Honduras : Investment Climate Assessment, Volume 1. Executive Summary(Washington, DC, 2004-11-27)The 21st century reality is that Honduras does not compete only with its Central American and Latin neighbors. Thanks to the ongoing Central American Free Trade Agreements (CAFTA) negotiations, the country will have the opportunity to accelerate the pace of its integration into the global economy. Improving the investment climate is essential for Honduras to take advantage of the opportunities provided by CAFTA, attract foreign investment, diversify exports and increase growth. This report identifies the critical constraints on private sector productivity and growth in Honduras, and provides policy recommendations for addressing them, including a summary of the Government's ongoing and planned initiatives and some additional suggestions. The diagnostic is based on the results of a survey of a stratified sample of 450 Honduran manufacturing firms. The report focuses on four key areas of the investment climate: (1) governance, (2) infrastructure, (3) innovation, quality certification and labor skills; and (4) finance. Overall results of the ICS and of an econometric analysis based on the results of the survey show that bottlenecks in all four investment climate variables increase Honduran firms' costs of doing business and reduce their productivity. The first chapter presents on overview of the structure of the Honduran economy, while each of the other four chapters analyzes the findings of the Investment Climate Survey and provides policy recommendations in one of the four areas of the investment climate. Constant Government progress to reduce constraints on economic growth, as well as firms' dynamic pursuit of new markets and innovation, are both essential in order for the country to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new trade agreements, improve growth, and fulfill social expectations. Improving the investment climate in Honduras will require cross sector strategies and actions geared towards aligning economic policy, public management, infrastructure, technology, foreign direct investment (FDI), innovation, training and finance policies.Publication Honduras : Investment Climate Assessment, Volume 2. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2004-11-27)The 21st century reality is that Honduras does not compete only with its Central American and Latin neighbors. Thanks to the ongoing Central American Free Trade Agreements (CAFTA) negotiations, the country will have the opportunity to accelerate the pace of its integration into the global economy. Improving the investment climate is essential for Honduras to take advantage of the opportunities provided by CAFTA, attract foreign investment, diversify exports and increase growth. This report identifies the critical constraints on private sector productivity and growth in Honduras, and provides policy recommendations for addressing them, including a summary of the Government's ongoing and planned initiatives and some additional suggestions. The diagnostic is based on the results of a survey of a stratified sample of 450 Honduran manufacturing firms. The report focuses on four key areas of the investment climate: (1) governance, (2) infrastructure, (3) innovation, quality certification and labor skills; and (4) finance. Overall results of the ICS and of an econometric analysis based on the results of the survey show that bottlenecks in all four investment climate variables increase Honduran firms' costs of doing business and reduce their productivity. The first chapter presents on overview of the structure of the Honduran economy, while each of the other four chapters analyzes the findings of the Investment Climate Survey and provides policy recommendations in one of the four areas of the investment climate. Constant Government progress to reduce constraints on economic growth, as well as firms' dynamic pursuit of new markets and innovation, are both essential in order for the country to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new trade agreements, improve growth, and fulfill social expectations. Improving the investment climate in Honduras will require cross sector strategies and actions geared towards aligning economic policy, public management, infrastructure, technology, foreign direct investment (FDI), innovation, training and finance policies.Publication Assessment of Costs and Benefits of the Customs Union for Kazakhstan(World Bank, 2012-01-03)In 2010, Kazakhstan entered into a customs union with Belarus and Russia. The first, relatively easy step in the implementation of the customs union was accomplished in 2010 with the adoption of a common external tariff, with varying exceptions in each of the three member countries. It is the intention of the customs union to eliminate the exceptions, in phases, by 2015. In fact, the goals of the customs union are much more ambitious than implementation of the common external tariff. The governments of the member countries are working to achieve deep integration in key areas. Clearly, successfully addressing the challenge of reducing trade-facilitation costs is a major task that requires significant institutional development both in Kazakhstan and in the other member countries of the customs union. It is very difficult, however, to assess the probability of success that the customs union will have with the reduction of these costs.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.Publication Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-07-30)The Sourcebook synthesizes real-world experiences and lessons learned of social protection delivery systems from around the world, with a particular focus on social and labor benefits and services. It takes a practical approach, seeking to address concrete “how-to” questions, including: How do countries deliver social protection benefits and services? How do they do so effectively and efficiently? How do they ensure dynamic inclusion, especially for the most vulnerable and needy? How do they promote better coordination and integration—not only among social protection programs but also programs in other parts of government? How can they meet the needs of their intended populations and provide a better client experience? The Sourcebook structures itself around eight key principles that can frame the delivery systems mindset: (1) delivery systems evolve over time, do so in a non-linear fashion, and are affected by the starting point(s); (2) additional efforts should be made to “do simple well”, and to do so from the start rather than trying to remedy by after-the-fact adding-on of features or aspects; (3) quality implementation matters, and weaknesses in the design or structure of any core system element will negatively impact delivery; (4) defining the “first mile” for people interface greatly affects the system and overall delivery, and is most improved when that “first mile” is understood as the weakest link in delivery systems); (5) delivery systems do not operate in a vacuum and thus should not be developed in silos; (6) delivery systems can contribute more broadly to government’s ability to intervene in other sectors, such as health insurance subsidies, scholarships, social energy tariffs, housing benefits, and legal services; (7) there is no single blueprint for delivery systems, but there are commonalities and those common elements constitute the core of the delivery systems framework; (8) inclusion and coordination are pervasive and perennial dual challenges, and they contribute to the objectives of effectiveness and efficiency.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.