Shipping the good agricultural products out: the differentiated impact of per-unit duties on developing countries. (13th September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Emlinger, Charlotte; Guimbard, Houssein
• Is Part Of: European review of agricultural economics. Volume 48:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 598
• Page End: 623
• Publication Date: 2020-09-13
• Subjects: per-unit duties -- agricultural trade -- Alchian–Allen effect; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Europe -- Periodicals; 338.109405
• DOI: 10.1093/eurrag/jbaa016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0165-1587

Abstract

Abstract: We investigate the impact of per-unit duties (i.e. tariffs expressed in US dollars per unit of imported product) on world agricultural trade patterns. Using detailed data on trade and tariffs, we show first that they induce higher export unit values, confirming that the Alchian–Allen conjecture can be extended to per-unit duties. Second, we show that this effect is higher for developed countries, which can be explained by their specialization on high-priced products. Third, we find that the restrictive effect of per-unit duties on trade is higher for developing countries.