BATModel’s Highlight | #01

BATModel’s Highlight | #01

Trade and the labor market in agriculture and food: Evidence from EU regions.

Trade liberalizations is a “double-edged sword”: has not only positive, but also negative points, let’s see:
Free trade in the products that are most productive in each country increases the GDP, however the increased competition from imported products at low costs can cause a drop in sales and employments in domestic companies.
Actual estimates in developed countries, suggest that consumer gains from buying the lower-priced imported goods tend to offset the “adjustment costs” incurred by regions most exposed to competition.
However, the point is that while consumer gains are uniform across regions and low and high-skill workers, the “adjustment costs” of globalization tend to be geographically clustered and affect more low-skilled workers, raising additional social and political problem.

Alessandro Olper

Università degli Studi di Milano Statale (UMIL)

Leader of Work Package 1 – Measuring distributional on sustainability impacts of trade policy