Trade Analysis and Information System Long Time-Series Version (LTS TRAINS) User’s Manual. Version 1.0, October 2011.
Abstract
UNCTAD, in collaboration with IMF, initiated a new project in May 2010 to build this time-series database based on the longest standing product nomenclature, namely, the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 1 (SITC Rev.1) and develop an application to manipulate the database.
The database draws raw tariff data from various sources that include UNCTAD TRAINS Harmonized system database, WTO IDB database, GATT Tariff Study files, and International Customs Tariff Bureau (BITD) files purchased by IMF (converted by IMF in SITC Revision 1 classification), standardized and transferred to a single historical database.
This new application allows researchers to, inter alia, construct trade restrictiveness indices (TRIs) that overcome the weaknesses inherent in the indices that have been used to date - the simple average tariff rate and the others mentioned above.
The new database is a homogenous analytical one of tariff and import statistics from 1970 to the present. The package of the database and the application is available as UNCTAD Long Time-Series TRAINS database. The use of SITC Rev 1 product classification enables easy multi-country, multi-year comparisons.
This document provides a brief introduction to the Long Time-Series version of UNCTAD Trade Analysis and Information System (LST TRAINS), and shows you how to build queries and retrieve data through a series of demonstrations and examples.
Citation
Anon. Trade Analysis and Information System Long Time-Series Version (LTS TRAINS) User’s Manual. Version 1.0, October 2011. UNCTAD, Geneva, Switzerland (2011) 38 pp.
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