The economic effects of the quality infrastructure

Although the economic impact of standards has been investigated for over two decades, the effect of the entire quality infrastructure, encompassing standards, conformity assessment, accreditation, metrology, and market surveillance, has been examined primarily through specific case studies. The objective of this analysis is to conduct an econometric analysis to assess the economic value of quality infrastructure on Gross Domestic Product. After a review of the small but growing literature, indicators for the different elements of the quality infrastructure are presented. The panel regression is based on a timeseries of available indicators for a set of European countries. After assessing the impact of each element of the quality infrastructure separately, a comprehensive model is estimated to calculate its total effect. We find that standards are significantly associated with the GDP of the countries, which corroborates earlier studies. Furthermore, the generally good data coverage for ISO 9001 certifications reveals a significant influence of conformity assessment on GDP. Participation in the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) as an indicator for accreditation plays also a substantial role for the country's GDP. However, the approximation of market surveillance by the cases reported in the European Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Products (RAPEX) must be critically assessed due to the ambivalent results. The paper concludes by discussing the overall approach and the revealed results, the limitations and, ultimately, the implied policy recommendations.