The proliferation of non-tariff measures (NTMs), their variety in forms and complexity, and the diverse motivations underlying their use by governments explain the increasing interest of international trade policy analysis on modelling NTMs and evaluating their effects.

Recent advances in the estimation of NTM effects on trade show that some NTMs clearly restrict trade – de facto and by design – while particularly technical measures, such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, are likely to simultaneously increase trade costs and enhance demand. These impacts can be common to all import sources, vary on the bilateral level, and are heterogenous across sectors. At the same time, countries negotiate trade agreements incorporating provisions designed to reduce NTM-related trade costs.

The variety of NTMs and their different impact dimensions pose interesting challenges to structural general equilibrium modelling and scenario design. The workshop will discuss these challenges and invites applied and theoretical submissions linked to one or more of the following topics:

• Econometric estimation of the impact of NTMs on trade, output, productivity, consumer welfare, and other variables common to general equilibrium models.

• Estimating and modelling non-tariff components of PTAs.

• Modelling NTM components in computable general equilibrium (CGE) models.

• Linking NTM-related econometric estimates to the structure of CGE models.

• Introduction of NTM-related policies in baseline construction.

• Introduction of NTM scenarios to CGE models.

• Estimation of welfare and macroeconomic impacts of NTMs

The Workshop is organized within the H2020 BatModel research project and hosted by the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern. Participation is free.