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What drives trade in services? Lessons from the Nordics

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  • Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås

Abstract

This article makes an empirical assessment of the relative importance of non-actionable institutional and cultural factors and actionable policy measures for services market integration, using the Nordic countries as a case study. The Nordics are an ideal case as they are perceived to be a cluster of similar countries, but they have chosen different relations to the European Union (EU) and the rest of the world. First, comparing actionable and non-actionable determinants of services trade, I find that policy-determined free trade agreements (FTAs) boost services trade by 75% and a single market by an additional 45%, while the accumulated effect of all standard non-actionable shared geographical, institutional and cultural features (sharing a land border, language, colonial past and legal origin) almost triples services trade. Having controlled for all these determinants, intra-Nordic trade in services is more than three times the predicted value. An unexplained Nordic bias of this magnitude indicates that full integration of services markets may rely on deeper institutional and cultural factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, 2018. "What drives trade in services? Lessons from the Nordics," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(33), pages 3532-3545, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:33:p:3532-3545
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2018.1430334
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    Cited by:

    1. Chessa, Michela & Persenda, Arnaud & Torre, Dominique, 2023. "Brexit and Canadadvent: An application of graphs and hypergraphs to recent international trade agreements," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Cote, Christine & Estrin, Saul & Shapiro, Daniel, 2020. "Expanding the international trade and investment policy agenda: the role of cities and services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104003, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Milena Kern & Jörg Paetzold & Hannes Winner, 2021. "Cutting red tape for trade in services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(10), pages 2858-2886, October.
    4. Camille Reverdy, 2023. "Estimating the general equilibrium effects of services trade liberalization," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 493-521, May.
    5. Catherine Boulatoff & Talan B. İşcan & Yulia Kotlyarova, 2022. "Does Distance Matter for Trade in Services? The Case of Interprovincial Trade in Canada," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 157-185, February.
    6. 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.
    7. Christine Côté & Saul Estrin & Daniel Shapiro, 0. "Expanding the international trade and investment policy agenda: The role of cities and services," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    8. Harms, Philipp & Shuvalova, Daria, 2020. "Cultural distance and international trade in services: A disaggregate view," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(2).
    9. Vu, Uyen & Tolstoy, Daniel, 2025. "Examining the complementary roles of market-driven and market-driving orientations in the geographical diversification strategies of e-commerce SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    10. Faizi, Bushra & Shah, Mohamed Eskandar, 2022. "Estimating Protection in Services Sector: A PPML Analysis," Conference papers 333430, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    11. Christine Côté & Saul Estrin & Daniel Shapiro, 2020. "Expanding the international trade and investment policy agenda: The role of cities and services," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 199-223, September.
    12. Muhamad Rias K. V. Zainuddin & Tamat Sarmidi & Norlin Khalid, 2020. "Sustainable Production, Non-Tariff Measures, and Trade Performance in RCEP Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-12, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

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