ADVERTISEMENT

If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

< Previous Abstract  |  Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile      Download Citation      Request Permissions

Abstract |  Full Text: PDF (Size: 99K)  | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

Pre-commitment Mechanism and Policy Credibility in African Trade Reform
Sylvain H. Boko & Harvey E. Lapan
  1 Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA,   2 Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50112, USA
Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001

ABSTRACT

In the absence of a binding pre-commitment mechanism, a government has an incentive to renege on announced policy. This is a well-established result in the literature. The paper applies this theory to tariff policy by developing a two-game model to analyze the credibility of government tariff reform announcements. The pre-commitment solution is subgame-imperfect; therefore, government's announcement of tariff reforms is time-inconsistent. Using a sample of African countries operating under IMF structural adjustment programs, the study finds only weak evidence that countries implemented their announced tariff reforms. However, SAP agreements seem to enhance private sector confidence in government reforms.


DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/1467-9361.00104 About DOI

Related Articles

  • Find other articles like this in Wiley InterScience
  • Find articles in Wiley InterScience written by any of the authors

Wiley InterScience is a member of CrossRef.

Cross Ref Member


Economics

IT'S TIME TO RENEW

RODE

It’s time to renew your subscription to Review of Development Economics.

Click here for 2010 subscription rates and to renew securely online.