Coal policies and trade barriers

The purpose of this paper is to treat in some depth recent work performed by the IEA Secretariat in analysing barriers to coal trade in member countries. The concept of the producer subsidy equivalent (PSE) as a measure of financial transfers to the coal industry is described, along with its advantages and limitations. As illustration, summary results for the years 1982–1988 are given. The paper concludes with a discussion of the arguments for and against maintaining support for domestic coal production.