IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v44y2021i2p346-366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economic benefits of trade facilitation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise programme

Author

Listed:
  • Bryan Roberts
  • Fynnwin Prager
  • Charles Baschnagel
  • Adam Rose
  • Brett Shears

Abstract

We evaluate the impacts of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Center of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) Program on the U.S. trade community. CBP established ten CEEs in order to facilitate trade by removing non‐tariff barriers. CEEs process importers at “virtual” centres as opposed to individual ports of entry, and they are specialised according to particular sectors. CEEs were anticipated to use government resources more efficiently, reduce paperwork, improve information flows and contribute towards a single window for documenting trade. We use difference‐in‐difference (DID) analysis of CBP administrative data to identify the impacts of importer membership in a CEE on key outcomes, including import shipment examination rates and form filings. We also use survey‐generated data on importer administrative and business costs in order to monetise the value of impacts. These data reveal that the cost to importers of having a shipment examined at a port is roughly ten to twenty times higher than the cost of importers having to file a form with a CEE. Estimated impact results suggest that two of the ten CEEs‐‐Electronics and Automotive‐‐had a statistically significant negative impact on examination rates. We review the reasons for these results, which underscore the need when doing an impact analysis for careful understanding of the underlying data and processes involved in order to develop and explain impact results. For the two CEEs that had significant impacts on import examinations, we quantify the monetary value of these impacts and estimate that they saved their members roughly $1 million in trade examination costs in FY 2014. We also estimate that expanding membership to cover more importers could yield savings of between $7 million and $18 million annually. Finally, we find that CBP could redirect approximately 9,000 import examinations and 7,000 form filings from lower‐risk CEE importers to higher‐risk importers, possibly increasing trade‐enforcement effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryan Roberts & Fynnwin Prager & Charles Baschnagel & Adam Rose & Brett Shears, 2021. "The economic benefits of trade facilitation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise programme," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 346-366, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:44:y:2021:i:2:p:346-366
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.13009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.13009
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.13009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chahir Zaki, 2015. "How Does Trade Facilitation Affect International Trade?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 27(1), pages 156-185, January.
    2. David L. Hummels & Georg Schaur, 2013. "Time as a Trade Barrier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2935-2959, December.
    3. Mike Webb & John Gibson & Anna Strutt, 2019. "Market access implications of non‐tariff measures: Estimates for four developed country markets," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 376-395, February.
    4. Ben Shepherd, 2013. "Trade times, importing and exporting: firm-level evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(9), pages 879-883, June.
    5. King, Gary & Nielsen, Richard, 2019. "Why Propensity Scores Should Not Be Used for Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 435-454, October.
    6. Carolyn L. Evans & James Harrigan, 2005. "Distance, Time, and Specialization: Lean Retailing in General Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 292-313, March.
    7. Daniel Saslavsky & Ben Shepherd, 2014. "Facilitating international production networks: The role of trade logistics," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 979-999, October.
    8. Evdokia Moïsé & Silvia Sorescu, 2013. "Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Potential Impact of Trade Facilitation on Developing Countries' Trade," OECD Trade Policy Papers 144, OECD Publishing.
    9. Jerónimo Carballo & Alejandro Graziano & Georg Schaur & Christian Volpe Martincus, 2016. "Endogenous Border Times," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 94638, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Roberts, Bryan & Rose, Adam & Heatwole, Nathaniel & Wei, Dan & Avetisyan, Misak & Chan, Oswin & Maya, Isaac, 2014. "The impact on the US economy of changes in wait times at ports of entry," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 162-175.
    11. Carballo, Jerónimo & Graziano, Alejandro & Schaur, Georg & Volpe Martincus, Christian, 2016. "Endogenous Border Times," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7685, Inter-American Development Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jerónimo Carballo & Alejandro Graziano & Georg Schaur & Christian Volpe Martincus, 2021. "Import Processing and Trade Costs," CESifo Working Paper Series 9170, CESifo.
    2. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    3. Volpe Martincus, Christian & Carballo, Jerónimo & Graziano, Alejandro, 2015. "Customs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 119-137.
    4. Harald Oberhofer & Michael Pfaffermayr & Richard Sellner, 2021. "Revisiting time as a trade barrier: Evidence from a panel structural gravity model," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1382-1417, November.
    5. Giovanni Maggi & Monika Mrázová & J. Peter Neary, 2022. "Choked By Red Tape? The Political Economy Of Wasteful Trade Barriers," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(1), pages 161-188, February.
    6. Bernard Hoekman & Ben Shepherd, 2013. "Who Profits From Trade Facilitation Initiatives?," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/49, European University Institute.
    7. Wassie, Mengistu Alamneh & Kornher, Lukas & Zaki, Chahir, 2024. "Revisiting the Impact of Trade Facilitation Measures in Africa: Structural Gravity Estimation and Ad Valorem Tariff Equivalents," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344296, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
    8. Sorescu, Silvia & Flaig, Dorothee, 2017. "Trade facilitation impacts: approaches to model "just-in-time" delivery," Conference papers 332893, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    9. Beverelli, Cosimo & Neumueller, Simon & Teh, Robert, 2015. "Export Diversification Effects of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 293-310.
    10. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2015:i:137 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Beverelli, Cosimo & Neumüller, Simon & Teh, Robert, 2014. "A new look at the extensive trade margin effects of trade facilitation," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2014-16, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    12. Gabor Békés & Lionel Fontagné & Balazs Murakozy & Vincent Vicard, 2015. "Shipment frequency of exporters and demand uncertainty: An inventory management approach," Working Papers hal-01315615, HAL.
    13. Christian Volpe Martincus, 2016. "Out of the Border Labyrinth: An Assessment of Trade Facilitation Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 96856, February.
    14. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2011. "New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Pedro Albarran & Raquel Carrasco & Adelheid Holl, 2013. "Domestic transport infrastructure and firms’ export market participation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 879-898, May.
    16. Blyde, Juan & Molina, Danielken, 2015. "Logistic infrastructure and the international location of fragmented production," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 319-332.
    17. Abdoulaye Seck, 2017. "How Facilitating Trade would Benefit Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 19(1), pages 1-26.
    18. Chen, Natalie & Novy, Dennis, 2008. "International Trade Integration: A Disaggregated Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 7103, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Cecília Hornok, 2011. "Need for Speed: Is Faster Trade in the EU Trade-Creating?," wiiw Working Papers 75, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    20. Chu Ping Lo, 2018. "China's New Silk Road and China-EU Trade," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 19(2), pages 683-701, November.
    21. George Alessandria & Joseph P. Kaboski & Virgiliu Midrigan, 2010. "Inventories, Lumpy Trade, and Large Devaluations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2304-2339, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:44:y:2021:i:2:p:346-366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.