ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the functioning and the properties of the index, arguing that the Trade Restrictiveness Index (TRI) can usefully enrich the arsenal of indicators usually applied by agricultural economists. The European Union's export refund policy and the United States' Export Enhancement Program are classic examples of export subsidy policies in the agricultural sector. The impact of any economic policy is evident in several dimensions, which require a variety of quantifying measures. The TRI focuses on a crucial dimension for economic analysis, namely the impact on domestic welfare. The case of agriculture is usually even more difficult, since one of the principal characteristics of agricultural protectionism is the close link between domestic and border policies. The welfare cost of protection can be expressed as the integral over the scalar TRI inverse, in exactly the same way as the cost of protection with a single tariff equals an integral over the price of the tariff-restricted good.
