Date of Award
1992
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Abstract
This thesis examines the effects of the imposition of trade restriction and promotion policies in a variety of frameworks. The first chapter provides an introduction. The second chapter is theoretical in nature and uses a general equilibrium model to compare the welfare effects of global trade restrictive measures to those of selective measures applied against particular countries. It is the thesis of Chapter 2 that on the grounds of economic efficiency, there is no blanket theoretical support for the MFN application of safeguards. Whether or not a safeguard action undertaken on an MFN basis is better for the world as a whole than that undertaken on a selective basis depends on two overriding factors: the notion of equivalence between the MFN and the selective trade measures, and the distribution of the rents produced by the trade measures.;Chapter 3 tackles the MFN vs. selectivity issue in an empirical framework. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, this chapter examines the effects on world welfare of the conversion to their global counterparts of selective trade measures which were present in the United States (US) and European Community (EC) in the textiles and clothing, steel, and auto industries in 1986. The effects of the presence of labour adjustment costs on the results are also considered, but they do not appear to dominate the model. This analysis suggests that the simultaneous conversion of all existing safeguards from selective measures to their global counterparts would yield non-negative world welfare changes. However, the conversion of only some to their global counterparts, while others remain as selective measures, may produce negative welfare changes.;Chapter 4 uses a simple three-good, two-country general equilibrium framework to analyze the effects of trade policy on welfare and firm profits when multiproduct firms may be present in one or both countries. Various cases are examined in which both goods are produced by multi- or single product firms at home and/or abroad, and it can be shown that the presence of joint production can have definite effects on the trade policies advocated by home and foreign producers. In particular, domestic firms may not want tariffs on all imports when multiproduct firms are located in the foreign country.
Recommended Citation
Mountain, Donald D., "Trilogy On Trade Policy: Safeguards; Mfn; Multiproduct Firms" (1992). Digitized Theses. 2137.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/2137