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The GATT's starting point: tariff levels circa 1947

Chad P. Bown, Douglas A. Irwin, Chad P. Bown and Douglas A. Irwin
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Chad P. Bown and Douglas A. Irwin

No 7649, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: How high were import tariffs when GATT participants began negotiations to reduce them in 1947? Establishing this starting point is key to determining how successful the GATT has been in bringing down trade barriers. If the average tariff level was about 40 percent, as commonly reported, the implied early tariff reductions were substantial, but this number has never been verified. This paper examines the evidence on tariff levels in the late 1940s and early 1950s and finds that the average tariff level going into the first Geneva Round of 1947 was about 22 percent. It also find that tariffs fell by relatively more in the late 1940s and early 1950s for a core group of GATT participants (the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia) than they did for many other important countries, including the set of other (non-core) GATT participants.

Keywords: International Trade and Trade Rules; Armed Conflict; Rules of Origin; Trade Policy; Trade and Multilateral Issues; Trade and Services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-04-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The GATT's Starting Point: Tariff Levels circa 1947 (2015) Downloads
Working Paper: The GATT's Starting Point: Tariff Levels circa 1947 (2015) Downloads
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