Do Trade Reforms Help Or Hurt? The Guyanese Experience

摘要

This paper looks at the period 1970-2004 and divides this into what it terms the 'before' and 'after' trade reform period in Guyana, It assesses the impacts on the primary and intermediate variables through three main methodological constructs: 1) transmission/integration approaches, 2) rapid appraisal techniques, and 3) indices. It reveals that to date there is no clear evidence that liberalization has caused export agriculture to develop at the expense of domestic food production, though agricultural export increased in the period after trade reform. Additionally, while there has been some transmission of the benefits to the wider society, through improved rural infrastructure, lowered food prices, and reduction in national poverty levels from 43 percent in 1992/1993 to 35 percent in 1999, the areas of severe poverty, i.e., rural coastal and hinterland areas did not seem to benefit substantially, as measures of critical poverty indicate little change in these areas between 1992/93 and 1999. Clearly, therefore, there is still significant progress to be made and one should be cautious when adopting reform measures to steer clear of a standard one-size-fits-all approach.