IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v43y2019i4p361-379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fueling investments - The effect of the Agreement on Basic Telecommunications

Author

Listed:
  • Eckebrecht, Felicitas R.

Abstract

As international agreements come under fire from current politics, it becomes ever more important to investigate the effect of such agreements. The telecommunication sector is of special interest due to its growing importance in the digital age. International law came into play in 1998 when the Agreement on Basic Telecommunications (BTA) entered into force. It demanded far-reaching liberalization reforms and was signed and ratified by 66 countries. A difference-in-differences estimator is used to analyze if the treaty had an impact on investments in telecommunications. The analysis reveals that investments in telecommunications became significantly higher in signatory countries than in non-signatory countries after the treaty took effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Eckebrecht, Felicitas R., 2019. "Fueling investments - The effect of the Agreement on Basic Telecommunications," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 361-379.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:43:y:2019:i:4:p:361-379
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2018.08.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030859611830096X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2018.08.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Menzie D. Chinn & Robert W. Fairlie, 2007. "The determinants of the global digital divide: a cross-country analysis of computer and internet penetration," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(1), pages 16-44, January.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    3. Martin, Lisa L. & Simmons, Beth A., 1998. "Theories and Empirical Studies of International Institutions," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 729-757, October.
    4. Ben A. Petrazzini, 1996. "Global Telecom Talks: A Trillion Dollar Deal," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number pa44, January.
    5. Dreher, Axel & Voigt, Stefan, 2011. "Does membership in international organizations increase governments' credibility? Testing the effects of delegating powers," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 326-348, September.
    6. Codding, George A., 1991. "Evolution of the ITU," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 271-285, August.
    7. Witold J. Henisz, 2002. "The institutional environment for infrastructure investment," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(2), pages 355-389.
    8. Kiiski, Sampsa & Pohjola, Matti, 2002. "Cross-country diffusion of the Internet," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 297-310, June.
    9. Drabek, Zdenek, 2001. "Investment policies and telecommunications regimes," WTO Staff Working Papers ERAD-2001-01, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    10. Andonova, Veneta & Diaz-Serrano, Luis, 2009. "Political institutions and telecommunications," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 77-83, May.
    11. Maggi, Giovanni, 2014. "International Trade Agreements," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 317-390, Elsevier.
    12. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    13. Simmons, Beth A. & Elkins, Zachary, 2004. "The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 171-189, February.
    14. Espen Geelmuyden Rød & Nils B Weidmann, 2015. "Empowering activists or autocrats? The Internet in authoritarian regimes," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 52(3), pages 338-351, May.
    15. Knorr, Andreas, 2002. "Liberalization in Telecommunications," Discussion Paper Series 26225, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    16. Downs, George W. & Rocke, David M. & Barsoom, Peter N., 1996. "Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 379-406, July.
    17. David, Paul A. & Steinmueller, W. Edward, 1994. "Economics of compatibility standards and competition in telecommunication networks," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 6(3-4), pages 217-241, December.
    18. Knorr, Andreas, 2002. "Liberalization in telecommunications," HWWA Discussion Papers 162, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    19. Peter Cowhey & Mikhail M. Klimenko, 2000. "Telecommunications reform in developing countries after the WTO agreement on basic telecommunications services," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 265-281.
    20. Beilock, Richard & Dimitrova, Daniela V., 0. "An exploratory model of inter-country Internet diffusion," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3-4), pages 237-252, April.
    21. Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), 2014. "Handbook of International Economics," Handbook of International Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    22. Rohan Kariyawasam, 2007. "International telecommunications," Chapters, in: Andrew T. Guzman & Alan O. Sykes (ed.), Research Handbook in International Economic Law, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    23. Robert W. Crandall, 2000. "Telecommunications Liberalization: The U.S. Model," NBER Chapters, in: Deregulation and Interdependence in the Asia-Pacific Region, pages 415-436, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Fredebeul-Krein, Markus & Freytag, Andreas, 1999. "The case for a more binding WTO agreement on regulatory principles in telecommunication markets," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 625-644, October.
    25. Drake, William J & Noam, Eli M, 0. "The WTO deal on basic telecommunications : Big bang or little whimper?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(9-10), pages 799-818, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dohse, Dirk & Lim, Cheng Yee, 2016. "Macro-geographic location and internet adoption in poor countries: What is behind the persistent digital gap?," Kiel Working Papers 2067, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Ren, Siyu & Hao, Yu & Xu, Lu & Wu, Haitao & Ba, Ning, 2021. "Digitalization and energy: How does internet development affect China's energy consumption?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Charles Amo Yartey, 2006. "Financial Development, the Structure of Capital Markets, and the Global Digital Divide," IMF Working Papers 2006/258, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Thierry PENARD & Nicolas POUSSING & Gabriel ZOMO YEBE & Philémon NSI ELLA, 2012. "Comparing the Determinants of Internet and Cell Phone Use in Africa: Evidence from Gabon," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(86), pages 65-83, 2nd quart.
    5. Frederico Cruz-Jesus & Tiago Oliveira & Fernando Bacao & Zahir Irani, 2017. "Assessing the pattern between economic and digital development of countries," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 835-854, August.
    6. Szeles, Monica Răileanu, 2018. "New insights from a multilevel approach to the regional digital divide in the European Union," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 452-463.
    7. Rath, Badri Narayan & Panda, Bibhudutta & Akram, Vaseem, 2023. "Convergence and determinants of ICT development in case of emerging market economies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    8. Frederico Cruz-Jesus & Tiago Oliveira & Fernando Bacao & Zahir Irani, 0. "Assessing the pattern between economic and digital development of countries," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    9. Margarita Billon & Fernando Lera-Lopez & Rocío Marco, 2010. "Differences in digitalization levels: a multivariate analysis studying the global digital divide," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(1), pages 39-73, April.
    10. Li, Raymond & Shiu, Alice, 2012. "Internet diffusion in China: A dynamic panel data analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 872-887.
    11. Howard, Philip N. & Mazaheri, Nimah, 2009. "Telecommunications Reform, Internet Use and Mobile Phone Adoption in the Developing World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1159-1169, July.
    12. Samuel Verevis & Murat Üngör, 2021. "What has New Zealand gained from The FTA with China?: Two counterfactual analyses†," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(1), pages 20-50, February.
    13. Feng, Guangchao Charles, 2015. "Determinants of Internet diffusion: A focus on China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 176-185.
    14. Andrea Sáenz de Viteri Vázquez & Christian Bjørnskov, 2020. "Constitutional power concentration and corruption: evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 509-536, December.
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8529 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. P. Guerrieri & M. Luciani & V. Meliciani, 2011. "The determinants of investment in information and communication technologies," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 387-403.
    17. Alcalá, Francisco & Solaz, Marta, 2018. "International Relocation of Production and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 13422, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Beth A. Simmons, 2002. "Capacity, Commitment, and Compliance," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(6), pages 829-856, December.
    19. Carlo Maria Rossotto & Khalid Sekkat & Aristomene Varoudakis, 2005. "Opening up telecommunications to competition and MENA integration in the world economy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(7), pages 931-955.
    20. Bayer, Patrick & Marcoux, Christopher & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2013. "Leveraging private capital for climate mitigation: Evidence from the Clean Development Mechanism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 14-24.
    21. Zhang, Xiaoqun, 2013. "Income disparity and digital divide: The Internet Consumption Model and cross-country empirical research," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 515-529.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International law; Telecommunications; WTO;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:43:y:2019:i:4:p:361-379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.