Measuring the costs of protection in Europe : European commercial policy in the 2000s
Abstract
Trade protection costs the European Community between 6 and 7 percent of its gross
domestic product, or the equivalent of the annual economic output of Spain. Continuing
the Institute's series on trade protection in major countries (which already includes the
United States, Japan, Korea, and China), this study by Patrick A. Messerlin is the first
attempt to measure the impact of all types of protection in the European Union.
Patrick A. Messerlin uses partial equilibrium methods to assess the costs to consumers
and to evaluate the political economy of European protection. He also examines in detail
the intricate relations between the major EC domestic policies—from the Common
Agricultural Policy to the Single Market in services—and EC commercial policy. He aims
to assess their dynamic evolution for the decade to come, which will be marked by the
first accessions of Central European countries to the EC and by the debate on the
European political union. The study provides a valuable agenda for the upcoming round
of WTO negotiations and underlines their role as a support for domestic reforms that the
EC should undertake for its own benefit.