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The value of market access and national treatment commitments in services trade agreements

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Listed:
  • Philipp Lamprecht

    (OECD)

  • Sébastien Miroudot

    (OECD)

Abstract

This paper looks at market access and national treatment commitments for services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and in 95 regional trade agreements (RTAs) involving the countries that are covered in the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI). The objective is to quantify the impact of legal bindings on trade in services that result from a reduction in the uncertainty faced by exporters. Bilateral bindings indices are created for five broad service sectors (professional services, computer services, telecoms, financial services and transport services). They indicate how close the sector is from a fully bound regime with no possibility to introduce any new trade barrier, by comparing commitments with the actual trade regime. These bilateral indices are then tested over the period 2000-2014 in a structural gravity model. Despite differences across sectors, the results confirm that the legal bindings typically found in services trade agreements tend to have a positive impact on exports even if no actual liberalisation takes place.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp Lamprecht & Sébastien Miroudot, 2018. "The value of market access and national treatment commitments in services trade agreements," OECD Trade Policy Papers 213, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:traaab:213-en
    DOI: 10.1787/d8bfc8d8-en
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sébastien Miroudot & Davide Rigo, 2019. "Preferential Trade Agreements and Multinational Production," RSCAS Working Papers 2019/14, European University Institute.
    2. Tamar Khachaturian & Sarah Oliver, 2023. "Intangible trade: Understanding the relationship between trade barriers and mode of supply in services sectors," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1189-1234, May.
    3. INADA Mitsuo & JINJI Naoto, 2023. "The Impact of Policy Uncertainty on Foreign Direct Investment in Services: Evidence from firm-level data and the role of regional trade agreements," Discussion papers 23021, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Charlotte Emlinger & Amélie Guillin, "undated". "Cheaper and Faster: The Role of Air Services Agreements on Transportation," Working Papers 2023-17, CEPII research center.
    5. Hoekman, Bernard & Shepherd, Ben, 2021. "Services Trade Policies and Economic Integration: New Evidence for Developing Countries," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 115-134, February.
    6. Roy, Martin, 2019. "Elevating services: Services trade policy, WTO commitments, and their role in economic development and trade integration," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2019-01, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    7. Nilsson, Lars, 2019. "Reflections on the economic modelling of free trade agreements," DG TRADE Chief Economist Notes 2019-2, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission.
    8. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the Duration of the Membership in GATT/WTO on Commercial Services Exports in Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 262167, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Sebastian Benz & Janos Ferencz & Hildegunn K. Nordås, 2020. "Regulatory barriers to trade in services: A new database and composite indices," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2860-2879, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    legal bindings; market access; national treatment; regional trade agreements; services trade liberalisation; Trade in services;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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