IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bfr/banfra/451.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Discriminatory Effect of Domestic Regulations on International Trade in Services: Evidence from Firm-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Crozet, M.
  • Milet, E.
  • Mirza, D.

Abstract

In order to promote international trade in services, the WTO-GATS aims at progressively eliminating discriminatory regulations, which apply to foreign suppliers, by guaranteeing equal national treatment. This paper looks instead at the trade effect of domestic regulations, which apply to all firms indifferently and do not intend to exclude foreign suppliers. We propose a theory-based empirical test to determine whether or not these domestic regulations affect foreign suppliers more than local ones. We take this test to the data by using French firm-level exports of professional services to OECD countries. Our econometric results show that domestic regulations in the importing markets matter significantly for trade in services. They reduce both the decision to export and the individual exports. These results tend to prove that domestic regulations are de facto discriminatory even if they are not de jure.

Suggested Citation

  • Crozet, M. & Milet, E. & Mirza, D., 2013. "The Discriminatory Effect of Domestic Regulations on International Trade in Services: Evidence from Firm-Level Data," Working papers 451, Banque de France.
  • Handle: RePEc:bfr:banfra:451
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publications.banque-france.fr/sites/default/files/medias/documents/working-paper_451_2013.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoekman, Bernard & Mattoo, Aaditya, 2011. "Services trade liberalization and regulatory reform : re-invigorating international cooperation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5517, The World Bank.
    2. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2014. "Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 131-195, Elsevier.
    3. Nathan Nunn, 2007. "Relationship-Specificity, Incomplete Contracts, and the Pattern of Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 122(2), pages 569-600.
    4. Henk Kox & Arjan Lejour, 2005. "Regulatory heterogeneity as obstacle for international services trade," CPB Discussion Paper 49, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    5. Anita Wölfl & Isabelle Wanner & Tomasz Koźluk & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2009. "Ten Years of Product Market Reform in OECD Countries: Insights from a Revised PMR Indicator," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 695, OECD Publishing.
    6. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907.
    7. Marc J. Melitz & Giancarlo I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Market Size, Trade, and Productivity," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 4, pages 87-108, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    9. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2011. "Gravity, market potential and economic development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 281-294, March.
    10. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    11. Renaud Bourlès & Gilbert Cette & Jimmy Lopez & Jacques Mairesse & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2013. "Do Product Market Regulations In Upstream Sectors Curb Productivity Growth? Panel Data Evidence For OECD Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1750-1768, December.
    12. Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stefano Scarpetta, 2003. "Regulation, productivity and growth: OECD evidence [‘A model of growth through creative destruction’]," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 18(36), pages 9-72.
    13. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    14. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2009. "How remote is the offshoring threat?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 429-444, May.
    15. Carmen Fillat Castej�n & Joseph F. Francois & Julia Woerz, 2008. "Trade through FDI: investing in services," Documentos de Trabajo dt2008-06, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    16. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Firms in International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 105-130, Summer.
    17. Erik Marel & Ben Shepherd, 2013. "Services Trade, Regulation and Regional Integration: Evidence from Sectoral Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1393-1405, November.
    18. Markus Kelle & Jörn Kleinert, 2010. "German Firms in Service Trade," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 56(1), pages 51-72.
    19. Matthieu Crozet & Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2012. "Quality Sorting and Trade: Firm-level Evidence for French Wine," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 609-644.
    20. Henk Kox & Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, 2007. "Services Trade and Domestic Regulation," OECD Trade Policy Papers 49, OECD Publishing.
    21. Breinlich, Holger & Criscuolo, Chiara, 2011. "International trade in services: A portrait of importers and exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 188-206, July.
    22. Guglielmo Barone & Federico Cingano, 2011. "Service Regulation and Growth: Evidence from OECD Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(555), pages 931-957, September.
    23. repec:adr:anecst:y:2009:i:93-94:p:08 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    25. Julien Martin, 2009. "Spatial Price Discrimination in International Markets," Working Papers 2009-21, CEPII research center.
    26. Ingo Borchert & Batshur Gootiiz & Aaditya Mattoo, 2014. "Policy Barriers to International Trade in Services: Evidence from a New Database," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 28(1), pages 162-188.
    27. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/dambferfb7dfprc9m01g1j1k2 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya, 2004. "The Muddles over Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
    29. Paul Conway & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2006. "Product Market Regulation in the Non-Manufacturing Sectors of OECD Countries: Measurement and Highlights," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 530, OECD Publishing.
    30. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Vishny, Robert & Shleifer, Andrei, 1999. "The quality of government," Scholarly Articles 30747160, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    31. Ariu, Andrea, 2012. "Services Versus Goods Trade: Are They The Same?," CEPR Discussion Papers 9036, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    32. Edward L. Glaeser & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "Do Institutions Cause Growth?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 271-303, September.
    33. Martin, Julien, 2012. "Markups, quality, and transport costs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 777-791.
    34. Keith Walsh, 2006. "Trade in Services: Does Gravity Hold? A Gravity Model Approach to Estimating Barriers to Services Trade," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp183, IIIS.
    35. Giuliano Conti & Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni, 2010. "Exporters in Services: new Evidence from Italian Firms," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 56(1), pages 73-98.
    36. Fukunari Kimura & Hyun-Hoon Lee, 2006. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade in Services," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(1), pages 92-121, April.
    37. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/dambferfb7dfprc9m01g1j1k2 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. McCallum, John, 1995. "National Borders Matter: Canada-U.S. Regional Trade Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 615-623, June.
    39. Sébastien Jean & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2004. "Regulation and Wage Premia," Working Papers 2004-12, CEPII research center.
    40. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2009. "How remote is the offshoring threat?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 429-444, May.
    41. Cyrille Schwellnus, 2007. "The Effect of Domestic Regulation on Services Trade Revisited," Working Papers 2007-08, CEPII research center.
    42. Jens Matthias Arnold & Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stefano Scarpetta, 2008. "Regulation, Allocative Efficiency and Productivity in OECD Countries: Industry and Firm-Level Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 616, OECD Publishing.
    43. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/10144 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Berman, Nicolas & Berthou, Antoine & Héricourt, Jérôme, 2015. "Export dynamics and sales at home," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 298-310.
    2. Fontagné, Lionel & Orefice, Gianluca & Piermartini, Roberta & Rocha, Nadia, 2015. "Product standards and margins of trade: Firm-level evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 29-44.
    3. Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Orefice & Roberta Piermartini & Nadia Rocha, 2015. "Product Standards and Margins of Trade: Firm-Level Evidence Product Standards and Margins of Trade: Firm-Level Evidence," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01299757, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:journl:dumas-00909960 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Sarra Ben Yahmed & Sean Dougherty, 2012. "Import Competition, Domestic Regulation and Firm-Level Productivity Growth in the OECD," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 980, OECD Publishing.
    6. N. Nergiz Dincer & Ayça Tekin-Koru, 2016. "A league of their own: services exporters -- a developing country perspective," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 615-635, August.
    7. Valentina Rollo, 2023. "Technical regulations and exporters’ dynamics: evidence from developing countries," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 189-212, February.
    8. Rouzet, Dorothée & Benz, Sebastian & Spinelli, Francesca, 2017. "Trading Firms and Trading Costs in Services: Firm-Level Analysis," Conference papers 332911, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    9. Dincer, Nergiz & Tekin-Koru, Ayca, 2014. "A League of Their Own: Services Exporters within Goods Exporters," MPRA Paper 53294, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Sebastian Benz & Dorothée Rouzet & Francesca Spinelli, 2020. "Firm heterogeneity in services trade: Micro‐level evidence from eight OECD countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2905-2931, November.
    11. Dincer, N. Nergiz & Tekin-Koru, Ayca, 2017. "Gains from trade due to within-firm productivity: Does services exporting matter?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-17.
    12. David R. DeRemer, 2015. "Opportunities for Cooperation in Removing Prohibitive Trade Barriers," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1533, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    13. Elisabeth Christen & Michael Pfaffermayr & Yvonne Wolfmayr, 2019. "Decomposing service exports adjustments along the intensive and extensive margin at the firm‐level," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 155-183, February.
    14. Vaillant, Marcel, 2012. "How to encourage network trade rules interconnections? an application to the case of non tariff barriers," MPRA Paper 47254, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2012.

    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. Matthieu Crozet & Emmanuel Milet & Daniel Mirza, 2012. "The Discriminatory Effect of Domestic Regulations on International Services Trade," Working Papers 2012-02, CEPII research center.
    2. Crozet, Matthieu & Milet, Emmanuel & Mirza, Daniel, 2016. "The impact of domestic regulations on international trade in services: Evidence from firm-level data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 585-607.
    3. Sauvé, Pierre & Shingal, Anirudh, 2014. "Why do Countries enter into Preferential Agreements on Trade in Services? Assessing the Potential for Negotiated Regulatory Convergence in Asian Services Markets," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 129, Asian Development Bank.
    4. Zongo, Amara, 2020. "The Impact of Services Trade Restrictiveness on Food Trade," MPRA Paper 101658, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Erik Marel & Ben Shepherd, 2013. "Services Trade, Regulation and Regional Integration: Evidence from Sectoral Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1393-1405, November.
    6. Hildegunn K. Nordås & Dorothée Rouzet, 2017. "The Impact of Services Trade Restrictiveness on Trade Flows," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1155-1183, June.
    7. Łukasz Matuszczak, 2019. "What are the determinants of international trade in services? Evidence from firm-level data for Poland," Working Papers 2019-20, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    8. Egger, Peter & MILE 02, Anirudh Shingal, 2014. "Determinants of services trade agreements," Papers 721, World Trade Institute.
    9. Shahbaz Nasir & Kaliappa Kalirajan, 2016. "Information and Communication Technology-Enabled Modern Services Export Performances of Asian Economies," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-27, March.
    10. Zhang, Yan & Bai, Zhuoran & Findaly, Christopher, 2021. "Value-added Tax Reform and Services Exports: Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 111184, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2021.
    11. Andre Jungmittag & Robert Marschinski, 2023. "Service trade restrictiveness and foreign direct investment—Evidence from greenfield FDI in business services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1711-1758, June.
    12. Erik der Marel & Sébastien Miroudot, 2014. "The economics and political economy of going beyond the GATS," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 205-239, June.
    13. Ariu, Andrea & Breinlich, Holger & Corcos, Gregory & Mion, Giordano, 2019. "The interconnections between services and goods trade at the firm-level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 173-188.
    14. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2014. "Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 131-195, Elsevier.
    15. Isabelle Rabaud & Thierry Montalieu, 2012. "Une analyse critique des mesures de restriction aux échanges de services," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 63(4), pages 779-793.
    16. Anderson, James E. & Borchert, Ingo & Mattoo, Aaditya & Yotov, Yoto V., 2018. "Dark costs, missing data: Shedding some light on services trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 193-214.
    17. Łukasz Matuszczak, 2019. "Międzynarodowy handel usługami polskich przedsiębiorstw," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 47-67.
    18. Pierre Sauvé & Anirudh Shingal, 2016. "Why Do Economies Enter into Preferential Agreements on Trade in Services? Assessing the Potential for Negotiated Regulatory Convergence in Asian Services Markets," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 33(1), pages 56-73, March.
    19. Bianka Dettmer, 2012. "The European Union's service directive: Contrasting ex ante estimates with empirical evidence," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-019, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    20. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/dambferfb7dfprc9m01g1j1k2 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:hal:journl:dumas-00909960 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/dambferfb7dfprc9m01g1j1k2 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Peter S. Eppinger, 2014. "Exploiting the Potential for Services Offshoring: Evidence from German Firms," IAW Discussion Papers 109, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade in services; Domestic Regulations; Firm Heterogeneity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • L8 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services

    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:bfr:banfra:451. 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: Michael brassart (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdfgvfr.html .

    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.