This paper provides an assessment of the impact of a package of structural reforms in all OECD countries on their long-run trade and output gains. The package includes reforms that reduce competition-restraining regulations, cut tariff barriers and ease restrictions on foreign direct investment to “best practice” levels in the OECD area. The analysis, which is based on earlier OECD studies, indicates that such reforms could lead to gains in GDP per capita in OECD countries of up to 4 to 5 per cent. As the analysis is confined to a relatively narrow set of policies and abstracts from potential dynamic effects from reform-induced increases in innovation, the overall gains from broad reforms could be significantly higher than reported in the paper.
