The Economics of Generalised Preferences

The case for the introduction of GSP tariff-cutting schemes was most authoritatively expounded by Raul Prebisch, first Secretary-General of UNCTAD, in his preliminary report for the first UNCTAD Conference in 1964. 1 Prebisch argued that the promotion of exports of processed and manufactured goods was a potentially valuable – almost a necessary – element in ldcs’ development strategies. The aim was to diversify the structure of ldc economies away from an over-concentration on exports of primary products – in general, much less dynamic than those of processed or manufactured goods – in order to enable developing countries to improve their own terms of trade, and close their imbalance in trade, vis-a-vis the West.