Trade Policymaking in a Resource‐rich Landlocked Country: The WTO Review of Mongolia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the Trade Policy Review of Mongolia (TPRM) 2014. The TPRM 2014 demonstrates that the Mongolian economy is relatively open and it has very low formal trade barriers although there remain significant behind‐the‐borders barriers, including poor governance and infrastructure. Being a landlocked country, any major cross‐border‐price differences quickly results in informal trade with neighbouring China, limiting Mongolia's ability to pursue independent commercial policy. Mongolia's growth is not broad based and largely driven by the mining boom, making its economy highly vulnerable to external shocks. While this is not unique to Mongolia, and has been seen in many natural resource‐abundant countries, experience suggests that countries with sound institutions and macroeconomic policies have overcome the so‐called resource curse.

Landlocked Countries, Institutions and Economic Dynamics

“…Traditionally, previous studies have been linked to revealing strategic policies for the promotion and development of foreign trade (via investments and external relations), as a mitigation mechanism for the landlocked condition such as limiting restrictive export policies, offering reforms in export policy (e.g., reducing paperwork and bureaucratic export costs); transformations in the differentiated import regime and policy (lower tariffs for raw materials or capital goods); free trade or unrestricted import policies (without quotas); government subsidy for transport costs; among other strategies (Faye et al, 2004;Normizan and Yasunori, 2014;Sharma and Davaakhuu, 2015). The APoA policies are based on the estimations found for the importance of production cost disturbances in productivity variability (maritime and non-maritime) which is close to 80% of explanation, especially in a period of five years and up and pointing out that independent of time; they exert the greatest source of variability (close to 70%) on the risk premium.…”

“…On the average, the impact of landlocked countries to the maritime coast, in comparison with countries with sovereign access, ranges from -51% on international trade (Head et al, 2010) even to -80% (Raballand, 2003). On the other hand, there is a pattern of association between landlocked and its positive relationship with dependence on natural resources (Hance, 1975;Arvis et al, 2010;Sharma and Davaakhuu, 2015) 1 which fall under the so-called natural resource curse hypothesis (Sachs and Warner, 1995) or in this case, double curse (landlocked and dependent on natural resources); although, such a curse did not originate from geographical condition, nor from the abundance of natural wealth, but by the negative role played by institutions (Mehlum et al, 2006).…”

Landlocked Countries, Natural Resources and Growth: The Double Economic Curse Hypothesis

“…Consequently, the problem arises of a probable double economic curse condition, as the result of individual or combined effects between dependence on natural resources and the condition of the landlocked (Sharma and Davaakhuu, 2015;Arvis et al, 2007).…”

Potential risk factors for zoonotic disease transmission among Mongolian herder households caring for horses and camels

“…An estimated 72% of Mongolia's population live in urban areas while the rural areas remain impoverished. In 2012, it was estimated that 35.5% of the rural population lived in poverty compared to 23.2% of the urban population (Sharma and Davaakhuu 2015). As of 2015, agriculture was the largest sector of the economy at 27.8% of the gross domestic product (Sharma and Davaakhuu 2015).…”

“…Mongolia is a landlocked country between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China (Sharma and Davaakhuu 2015). There are high annual and daily temperature fluctuations from − 53°C in January to 42°C in July, countrywide (Marin 2010).…”