Protectionism versus risk in screening for invasive species

Chad Lawley ()

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2013, vol. 65, issue 3, 438-451

Abstract: I examine the extent to which enforcement of a biosecurity import restriction – US border inspections for foreign pests and diseases – is used as a protectionist trade barrier. The parameters of a structural model of border inspection are estimated using a detailed dataset documenting the outcome of US agricultural border inspections. I find that inspections are conducted in a manner that places an implied welfare weight on domestic producers (relative to consumers) ranging from 1 to 1.63. I also find evidence that the inspection agency takes terms of trade into account when inspecting agricultural imports. These results suggest that border inspections are used as a protectionist non-tariff barrier.

Keywords: Biosecurity; Protectionism; Terms of trade; Non-tariff barrier; Border inspection; Invasive species (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069612001155
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:65:y:2013:i:3:p:438-451

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2012.11.001

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().