The Economics and Politics of Safeguards - Political Economy of the Japanese Safeguard System for Agricultural Goods -

Harimaya, Kozo; Kagitani, Koichi; Tominaga, Hirofumi

doi:2008.23.4.927

Journal of Economic Integration 2008 December;23(4) :927-952.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11130/jei.2008.23.4.927

The Economics and Politics of Safeguards - Political Economy of the Japanese Safeguard System for Agricultural Goods -

Kozo Harimaya, Koichi Kagitani, Hirofumi Tominaga

Sapporo Gakuin University
Himeji Dokkyo University
Kobe University

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the effect of political factors on safeguards. We present a simple model to show the relationship between political factors and safeguards, and empirically examine whether the Japanese safeguard system was influenced by the political factors. Our empirical analysis shows that the Japanese safeguard system for agricultural products is not neutral to the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and it is distorted due to political reasons.

• JEL Classification: F13, D72, D73

Keywords: safeguards | lobbying

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