On the need for more economic assessment of quarantine policies

Reprinted as Ch. 8 in Volume II of The WTO and Agriculture, edited by K. Anderson and T. Josling, London: Edward Elgar, 2005Quarantine policy reviews are becoming more sophisticated yet they still focus primarily on the effects of restrictions solely on import-competing producers. A fuller analysis that includes the consumers demonstrates that even if imported diseases were to wipe out a local industry, the gains to consumers might outweigh the losses to import-competing producers from removing a ban on imports. This article provides the simplest partial equilibrium framework for thinking more about the economics of quarantine policy measures using an empirical analysis of Australia's ban on imports of bananas