Market Access Liberalization for Food and Agricultural Products: A General Equilibrium Assessment of Tariff-Rate Quotas

Abstract

A global trade, economy-wide framework is used to assess the implications of improvements in market access through quota expansion and lowering of in- and out-of-quota tariffs. Special features include recent estimates of applied tariffs and TRQs and explicit treatment of those policies in the model. Estimates of welfare impacts suggest that policy reform agreed in the URAA and continuation of such reform would lead to significant welfare gains for the world as a whole and for most regions. Further work may include alternative liberalization scenarios to identify and prioritize policy options regarding market access.

Keywords: Market Liberalization, Tariff-Rate Quotas