Where to Spend the Next Million? Applying Impact Evaluation to Trade Assistance

Trade policy has changed fundamentally since the days of structural adjustment
and economy-wide trade reforms. Partly in reaction to the uneven results
of trade policy reforms, the focus has shifted to more targeted interventions
aimed at reducing trade costs and addressing market failures that inhibit
exports. Significant national resources and international assistance are now
devoted to trade facilitation and export promotion, and the international
development community has galvanised around a new ‘aid-for-trade’ (AfT)
mantra as a means of helping low-income countries integrate into the global
economy. (...)