Coping with trade reforms

de Sam Laird

While the long-term gains from liberalization are generally accepted, liberalizing economies are, nevertheless, likely to face short to medium term adjustment costs. Yet most developing countries do not have well-developed social safety nets to address these problems. This book gauges the possible development implications of the current WTO trade negotiations by examining the various proposals and assessing their likely economic impact. Eight country studies (Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Malawi, Philippines and Zambia) examine the experiences of a number of countries at different levels of development and across various regions to ascertain the impact of their trade reforms and the factors contributing to the outcomes.