Impact of Free Trade Agreement Use on Import Prices

This paper examines the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) use on import prices. For this analysis, it employs establishment-level import data with information on tariff schemes, that is, the FTA and most-favored-nation schemes used for importing...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hayakawa, Kazunobu, Laksanapanyakul, Nuttawut, Mukunoki, Hiroshi, Urata, Shujiro
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/739011524146785121/Impact-of-free-trade-agreement-use-on-import-prices
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29718
Description
Summary:This paper examines the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) use on import prices. For this analysis, it employs establishment-level import data with information on tariff schemes, that is, the FTA and most-favored-nation schemes used for importing. Unlike previous studies, this paper estimates the effects of FTA use on prices by controlling for differences in importing-firm characteristics. There are three main findings. First, the effect of FTA use is overestimated when not controlling for importing firm-related fixed effects. Second, on average, firms' FTA use reduces tariffs by 12 percentage points and raises import prices by 3.6-6.7 percent. Third, in general, a price rise resulting from the costs of complying with rules of origin was not found.