Lim, Jamus JeromeSaborowski, Christian2012-03-192012-03-192010-07-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3852The scope and complexity of international trading arrangements in the Middle East, as well as their spotty historical record of success, underscores the urgent need for an adequate understanding of the relative costs and benefits of participation in preferential trading arrangements and, more generally, of changes in domestic import regimes. This paper seeks to address this problem by providing estimates of the adjustment costs associated with two broad classes of hypothetical trade policy scenarios for Syria: participation in preferential trading arrangements, and changes in the domestic import regime. The authors find that the revenue consequences of the first scenario may be substantial. Their analysis of the second scenario suggests that the number of tariff bands can be reduced, while ensuring revenue neutrality, via the introduction of a value added tax of sufficient but reasonable size.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGAGGREGATE IMPORTSAGRICULTUREAPPARELBANK POLICYBARRIERS TO TRADEBENCHMARKBENEFICIARIESBENEFITS OF TRADEBUDGET CONSTRAINTBUDGET DEFICITCAPACITY CONSTRAINTSCAPITAL GOODSCENTRAL PLANNINGCHANGES IN TRADECHECKSCOLLECTED TARIFFCOLLECTED TARIFFSCOMMON MARKETCONCESSIONSCONSTANT ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTIONCONSUMER GOODSCONSUMERSCONTEXT OF TRADE POLICYCURRENT ACCOUNTCURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCECUSTOMSCUSTOMS AUTHORITIESCUSTOMS REGIMEDEMAND ELASTICITYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDOMESTIC CONSUMPTIONDOMESTIC DEMANDDOMESTIC PRICEDOMESTIC PRODUCTIONDUTY DRAWBACKSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC HISTORYECONOMIC INTEGRATIONECONOMIC POLICYELASTICITY OF DEMANDELASTICITY PARAMETERSELIMINATION OF TARIFFSENDOGENOUS TARIFFENDOGENOUS TARIFF FORMATIONEQUILIBRIUMEQUIPMENTEXCHANGE RATEEXCHANGE RATE REGIMEEXPENDITUREEXPORT BIASEXPORTEREXPORTERSEXPORTSFINANCIAL SUPPORTFOREIGN EXCHANGEFOREIGN GOODSFOREIGN PRODUCTSFOREIGN SOURCESFREE TRADEFREE TRADE AREAGENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFSGENERAL EQUILIBRIUMGENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSISGOVERNMENT DEFICITGRAVITY MODELHUMAN DEVELOPMENTIMPACT OF TRADEIMPACT OF TRADE LIBERALIZATIONIMPORT DECLARATIONIMPORT MARKETSIMPORT PRICEIMPORT PRICESIMPORT PRODUCTSIMPORT REGIMEIMPORT REGIMESIMPORT TAXIMPORT TAXESIMPORT VALUEIMPORT VALUESIMPORT VOLUMEIMPORTSINTERMEDIATE GOODSINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL ECONOMICSINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTERNATIONAL TRADINGLEVIESLOBBYINGLOST TARIFF REVENUELOW TARIFFSMARKET PRICEMONOPOLYNATIONAL INCOMENON-TARIFF BARRIERSOPEN ECONOMYPOLITICAL ECONOMYPREFERENTIAL TRADEPREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTPREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTSPRICE CHANGEPRICE CHANGESPRICE DECLINESPRICE EFFECTSPRICE ELASTICITYPRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMANDPRICE OF IMPORTSPROCESS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATIONPROTECTION FOR SALEQUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONSREDUCTION IN TARIFFSSUBSTITUTION EFFECTTARIFF CHANGETARIFF ELIMINATIONTARIFF EXEMPTIONSTARIFF FORMATIONTARIFF LINETARIFF LINESTARIFF PREFERENCESTARIFF RATETARIFF RATESTARIFF REFORMTARIFF REVENUETARIFF REVENUESTARIFF SCHEDULETARIFF STRUCTURETAX REVENUETAX REVENUESTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETECHNICAL BARRIERSTERMS OF TRADETERMS OF TRADE EFFECTSTOTAL REVENUETRADABLE GOODSTRADE ADJUSTMENTTRADE BARRIERSTRADE DATATRADE FLOWSTRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE MODELSTRADE PARTNERSTRADE POLICYTRADE POLICY ANALYSISTRADE POLICY REFORMTRADE PROMOTIONTRADE REFORMTRADE REGIMETRADE TAXTRADE TAXESTRADING PARTNERTRADING PARTNERSTRANSPARENCYTRUST FUNDUNILATERAL REDUCTIONUTILITY FUNCTIONUTILITY FUNCTIONSVALUE ADDEDVALUE OF IMPORTSVOTERSWELFARE GAINSWTOZERO TARIFFZERO TARIFFSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5368