Succeeding with Trade Reforms
The Role of Aid for Trade
Succeeding with Trade Reforms: The Role of Aid for Trade highlights the potential of aid for trade to boost economic growth and reduce poverty, while discussing the various reasons why it may not be realised. In so doing, this book draws lessons for the design of aid-for-trade projects and programmes and for increasing their effectiveness. Building on this analysis, the book also quantifies the binding constraints to trade in developing countries and the importance of complementary and compatible policies (such as education, governance, business environment and macroeconomic stability) to maximise the impact of trade reforms on trade and economic growth.
Introduction
In order to show that aid for trade has had an impact and to improve its effectiveness, the OECD has expanded its monitoring activities and supplemented them with work on evaluation and on the binding constraints to trade expansion. This report focuses on the latter work stream, which aims to identify the most binding constraints to trade expansion in order to prioritise reforms and to guide the sequencing and the design of aid-for-trade projects and programmes.