International trade in natural resources: Practice and policy

Michele Ruta and Anthony Venables

No ERSD-2012-07, WTO Staff Working Papers from World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division

Abstract: Natural resources account for 20% of world trade, and dominate the exports of many countries. Policy is used to manipulate both international and domestic prices of resources, yet this policy is largely outside the disciplines of the WTO. The instruments used include export taxes, price controls, production quotas, and domestic producer and consumer taxes (equivalent to trade taxes if no domestic production is possible). We review the literature, and argue that the policy equilibrium is inefficient. This inefficiency is exacerbated by market failure in long run contracts for exploration and development of natural resources. Properly coordinated policy reforms offer an avenue to resource exporting and importing countries to overcome these inefficiencies and obtain mutual gains.

Keywords: natural resources; trade; export tax; tariff escalation; OPEC; WTO; terms of trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 F13 Q3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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Related works:
Journal Article: International Trade in Natural Resources: Practice and Policy (2012)
Working Paper: International Trade in Natural Resources: Practice and Policy (2012)
Working Paper: International trade in natural resources: Practice and policy (2012)
Working Paper: International trade in natural resources: practice and policy (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd201207

DOI: 10.30875/5717c8f8-en

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