1. Effects of Trade Barriers
Impact on Trade
Impact on Industrial or firm profits
Impact on labor (wages or rate of interest)
Impact on Foreign Direct Investment
etc.

2. Example: Softwood Trade between US and Canada

3. Impact on Firm’s profit
The Users of Lumber and the US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement: An Event Study
Assessing the Impact of Export Taxes on Canadian Softwood Lumber

4. The Softwood Lumber Agreement
US Claim
Artificially low stumpage fees
Countervailable subsidies.
April 1996-Softwood Lumber Agreement finalized.
First 14.7 Billion Board Feet (BBF) of softwood lumber exports from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec would enter the US market duty free.
The first 650 million board feet over 14.7 BBF -tax of $50 per thousand board feet.
Any further exports were subject to a tax of $100 per thousand board feet.
Other provinces- Unrestricted access to the US market.
US claim:
some provincial governments in Canada charge artificially low fees for harvesting softwood on public lands.
These artificially low fees constitute countervailable subsidies.
In April 1996 the Softwood Lumber Agreement was finalized.
Under this agreement the first 14.7 Billion Board Feet (BBF) of softwood lumber exports from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec would enter the US market duty free.
The first 650 million board feet over 14.7 BBF was subject to a tax of $50 per thousand board feet.
Any further exports were subject to a tax of $100 per thousand board feet.
All other provinces of Canada were exempt from this tax regulated quota system. These provinces had unrestricted access to the US market.

5. Timeline for the SLA Softwood Lumber I: 1982
US authorities decided no subsidy
Softwood Lumber II: 1986
15% provisional duty
Replaced by 15% export tax in MOU
Softwood Lumber III: 1991
Canada unilaterally terminates MOU
Countervailing case filed: Interim bonding requirement
Canada wins appeal against countervailing duty in CUSTA (1993 and 1994)
US revokes duties against Canadian lumber (Aug 1994)
Bilateral consultation process for softwood established

6. Timeline Clinton visits Ottowa in post-NAFTA Euphoria (Feb 1995)
Highlights worlds biggest trading relationships
Bilateral trade irritants considered minor
Bilateral Trade at record high
Late Pressure rises on US government to limit softwood exports – progress in consultations
February 2, 1996: The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports (CFLI) announces intentions to petition if no pact by Feb 15th
February 15th 1996: The basic Softwood Lumber agreement announced
April 3rd 1996: Details on Softwood Lumber Agreement Finalized

7. Assessing the Impact of Export Taxes on Canadian Softwood Lumber

8. Objective

9. Estimating Export Response in Canadian Provinces to the US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement
Sumeet Gulati and Nisha Malhotra
Canadian Public Policy, 2006, vol. 32, issue 2, pages

10. Objective
In this paper we wish to estimate the degree of trade diversion from named to non-named provinces created by the SLA.
Did the Softwood Lumber Agreement cause a reduction in softwood exports to the US from the provinces named in the SLA?
If it did, what was the magnitude of this reduction?
Secondly, did the Softwood Lumber Agreement promote softwood exports to the US from provinces not named in the SLA?
If it did, what was the magnitude of this promotion?

11. Provincial Effects Provinces paying tariff (SLA) Export Growth Rates
Alberta
British Columbia
Ontario
Quebec
Export Growth Rates
All Years ( )
Before SLA ( )
After SLA (
SLA Provinces
147%
119%
-8%
Non-SLA Provinces
513%
155%
56%

12. Methodology-Gravity Model
The basic theoretical model for trade between two countries (i and j) takes the form of:
Where F is the trade flow,
M is the economic mass of each country,
D is the distance and
G is a constant.
Using logarithms, the equation can be converted to a linear form for econometric analysis. The basic model for such a test results in the following equation
ln(Bilateral Trade Flow) = α+βln(GDPCountry1)+βln(GDPCountry2)-βln(Distance)+ε
(note:constant G becomes part of α):

13. Gravity Model
The model often includes variables to account for income level (GDP per capita), price levels, language relationships, tariffs, contiguity, and colonial history (whether Country1 ever colonized Country2 or vice versa). The model has also been used in international relations to evaluate the impact of treaties and alliances on trade, and it has been used to test the effectiveness of trade agreements and organizations such as NAFTA and the WTO.

14. SLA and Trade: A Gravity Model
A cross-section ‘gravity’ equation
xit is log exports from province i to the US (annual)
yit and yUSt are logs of GDP province and in US
disti is the log of distance from province i to the US
RUSt is the US rate of interest
SLA is dummy for SLA provinces
NSLA is a dummy for non-SLA provinces ,
Ext is the US-Canada exchange rate
Annual data used from

15. Table 2: Gravity Model for Softwood Lumber Exports (Canadian provinces to the US)

16. The Users of Lumber and the US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement: An Event Study
Nisha Malhotra

17. Users of Lumber and the US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement
Objective
The effect of protection for the US softwood lumber industry on users of lumber
Export restrictions on Canadian lumber exports
Lumber using (or downstream) industries and consumers bear the burden
The U.S. Census Bureau :
Fees on additional shipments through the SLA amount to more than US$1,000 for the lumber in an average new home.
For every $50 increase in the price of 1,000 board feet of framing lumber, 300,000 potential homeowners are priced out of the housing market.
An event study is used to examine the reaction of investors to positive or negative news (also called events). A simple event study involves the following steps:
Identifying the event of interest and defining an event window
Selecting a set of firms to include in the analysis
Predicting a "normal" return during the event window in the absence of the event
Estimating the cumulative abnormal return within the event window, where the cumulative abnormal return is defined as the difference between the actual and predicted returns during the event window
Testing whether the cumulative abnormal return is statistically different from zero.

18. Event Study A simple event study involves the following steps:
An event study is used to examine the reaction of investors to positive or negative news (also called events).
A simple event study involves the following steps:
Event of interest (event window)
Selection of firms
Predicting "normal" return during the event window in the absence of the event
Abnormal Return=Actual Return-Predicted Return
Estimating the Average Cumulative Abnormal Return within the event window for all the firms.
Testing whether the Average Cumulative Abnormal return is statistically different from zero.
An event study is used to examine the reaction of investors to positive or negative news (also called events). A simple event study involves the following steps:
Identifying the event of interest and defining an event window
Selecting a set of firms to include in the analysis
Predicting a "normal" return during the event window in the absence of the event
Estimating the cumulative abnormal return within the event window, where the cumulative abnormal return is defined as the difference between the actual and predicted returns during the event window
Testing whether the cumulative abnormal return is statistically different from zero.

19. Event Study Events of Interest Feb 2nd 1996: Warning by the US Group
“The coalition for fair lumber imports warned that they would petition the US Govt. to impose duties if no pact is reached by Feb 15th”
Feb 16th 1996: Agreement in Principle
“US Lumber Industry welcomes agreement in principle over subsidized Canadian Softwood Lumber Imports”
April 3rd 1996: Finalizing of the agreement
“Canada agrees to tax softwood exports to US….”
Source: LexisNexis Academic
An event study is used to examine the reaction of investors to positive or negative news (also called events). A simple event study involves the following steps:
Identifying the event of interest and defining an event window
Selecting a set of firms to include in the analysis
Predicting a "normal" return during the event window in the absence of the event
Estimating the cumulative abnormal return within the event window, where the cumulative abnormal return is defined as the difference between the actual and predicted returns during the event window
Testing whether the cumulative abnormal return is statistically different from zero.

20. Event Study (AMEX, NYSE) Selection of Firms
Downstream Industry/ Users of Softwood Lumber
Firms belonging to the groups that are members in American Consumers for Affordable homes (ACAH) form the sample of firms belonging to our downstream industry
Short listed firms that fell under lumber using 4-digit SICs
(home builders, manufactured-home builders and lumber dealers who supply home builders and manufacturers )
Checked the website to reconfirm
Centre for Research on Security Prices (CRSP) database
(AMEX, NYSE)
Firms belonging to the groups that are members in American Consumers for Affordable homes (ACAH) form the sample of firms belonging to our downstream industry

21. Event Study Standard market model to predict Normal Returns
Rit =firm i’s return at date t
Rmt = The return of the value weighted
NYSE/AMEX index at date t.
Rit = j + j Rmt + jt

22. Event Study
An event study is used to examine the reaction of investors to positive or negative news (also called events). A simple event study involves the following steps:
Identifying the event of interest and defining an event window
Selecting a set of firms to include in the analysis
Predicting a "normal" return during the event window in the absence of the event
Estimating the cumulative abnormal return within the event window, where the cumulative abnormal return is defined as the difference between the actual and predicted returns during the event window
Testing whether the cumulative abnormal return is statistically different from zero.