Description:
A large literature studies the effects
of trade policy changes on developing-country exports on
household incomes, and recent contributions have
increasingly addressed the effects of administered
protection, such as anti-dumping duties. In 2003 the United
States imposed anti-dumping tariffs on imports of catfish
from Vietnam ranging from 37 to 64 percent. As a result,
Vietnamese exports of catfish to the U.S. market declined
sharply, thus providing a unique opportunity to study the
effects of U.S. trade policy changes on Vietnamese families.
Using data on Vietnamese households, the authors study the
responses of catfish producers in the Mekong delta of
Vietnam between 2002 and 2004. The evidence suggests that
the rate of growth of income of households that depended on
catfish sales was significantly affected. In addition, the
anti-dumping duties triggered significant exit from catfish
farming. Households adjusted by moving out of catfish
aquaculture and into wage labor markets and agriculture, but
not into other aquaculture activities. Finally, the evidence
also suggests that households found it difficult to change
their catfish production levels, and that performance in
aquaculture affects other household economic activities.