Recovering from natural disaster through exports: The case of 2010 Pakistan flood and EU tariff waiver on Pakistan textile exports

Abstract

The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of a unilateral tariff waiver to Pakistan from the EU, intended as a relief package after the 2010 floods, on cotton exports and production in the country. We use the Synthetic Control Method and the Interactive Fixed Effects Counterfactual Estimator to assess the impact of the 2010 flood and the 2012 tariff waiver. Our findings suggest that the 2010 flood in Pakistan and the subsequent 2012 tariff waiver had limited impacts on cotton exports and production in Pakistan.