Are EU trade preferences really effective? A Generalized Propensity Score evaluation of the Southern Mediterranean countries' case in agriculture and fishery

The aim of this work is to assess the trade impact of preferential schemes. It focuses on the controversial case of the trade preferences in agriculture and fishery granted by the European Union (EU) to the Southern Mediterranean Countries (SMCs) over the period 2004-2009. The analysis presents several methodological improvements on previous works. The results show that the impact of the EU preferences in agriculture and fishery granted to SMCs is significant on SMCs trade flows and that is better evaluated by using impact evaluation techniques. Findings raise important issues for policy-making by mitigating the claimed efficiency of the EU trade policy in the Mediterranean area.

MAGRINI Emiliano;  MONTALBANO Pierluigi;  NENCI Silvia; 

2014-12-11

Foodsecure

JRC93017

http://www3.lei.wur.nl/FoodSecurePublications/23_Magrini-et-al_EU-trade-preferences-southern-mediterranea.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC93017,   

10.2139/ssrn.2302750,