Ebook: Trade Liberalisation and Poverty in South Asia

The link between trade liberalisation and poverty has arguably been one of the most debated topics in development policy debate. Existing studies on the subject have primarily used multi-country cross-sectional data, and there is a growing concern about the limitations of this approach in providing a sound empirical basis for informing the policy debate. These limitations point to the need for undertaking in-depth analyses within individual countries over time.In order to examine the connection between trade liberalisation and poverty, this book provides case studies of trade policy.  Read more... Front Cover; Trade Liberalisation and Poverty in South Asia; Copyright Page; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of contributors; Acronyms and abbreviations; 1. Trade liberalisation and poverty in South Asia: reforms, stylised facts and preview: Prema-chandra Athukorala, Jayatilleke S. Bandara and Saman Kelegama; Trade policy reforms: an overview; Economic performance and poverty: some stylised facts; Preview; 2. Trade and poverty: theory, evidence and policy issues: Jayatilleke S. Bandara; The trade-poverty nexus: an overview; The trade-poverty nexus in South Asia Lessons from other countriesConcluding remarks; 3. Bangladesh: Selim Raihan; Overview of trade liberalisation in Bangladesh; Impacts of trade liberalisation on economic growth in Bangladesh; Trade liberalisation and employment; Trade liberalisation and poverty: a computable general equilibrium analysis; The dynamic CGE model for the Bangladesh economy; Conclusion; 4. Bhutan: Chencho Dorji; Trade and investment policy reforms; Regional free trade agreements; Foreign direct investment policy; Trends in economic growth and poverty; Nexus between trade-growth-poverty Fiscal policy and poverty reductionTrade policy and poverty reduction; Poverty alleviation measures; Conclusion; 5. India: Rashmi Banga and Shruti Sharma; Trade liberalisation in India: a brief review; Agriculture; Manufacturing; Services; Trends in trade, poverty and inequality; Composition of India's export basket; Trends in income, growth and employment; Trends in poverty and inequality; Impact of trade on employment and wages: methodology; Empirical methodology; Database construction; Empirical results; Impact of trade on wages of unskilled labour in the agriculture sector Conclusions and policy implications6. Maldives: Jagath Dissanayake and Suwendrani Jayaratne; Trade liberalisation in Maldives: a brief overview; Post-reform trade performance; Post-reform growth, poverty and inequality trends; The link between trade and poverty; Summary and conclusion; 7. Nepal: Yuba Raj Khatiwada; Trade liberalisation in Nepal: an overview; Economic growth, poverty and inequality; Trade-poverty links: qualitative assessment; Concluding remarks; 8. Pakistan: Rehana Siddiqui; Liberalisation in Pakistan: an overview; Phase I: 1947 to 1958; Phase II: 1958-1980s Phase III: the 1990s and 2000sTrends in growth and poverty in Pakistan; Empirical investigation of the trade-poverty nexus; Conclusions and policy recommendations; 9. Sri Lanka: Deshal de Mel and Ruwan Jayathilaka; Policy context; Trends and patterns of poverty; The trade-poverty nexus; Cross-cutting issues; The trade-poverty nexus: econometric analysis; Policy implications and conclusion; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Appendix 3; Bibliography; Index