Economic research and trade policy analysis
Mapping the Tariff Waters
Dec 2009
Working Paper
Tariff water –the difference between bound and applied duties– provides relevant information on domestic trade policy and WTO trade negotiations. This paper examines the general and sectoral tariff structure of 120 economies, using exploratory data analysis.
The Development of Trade Policies in the Asia and Pacific Region Over the Past 30 Years Since 1989
Feb 2020
Working Paper
This paper reviews the main developments of trade and related policies and measures in the Asia and Pacific region during the 30 years since establishment, in 1989, of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The objectives of the TPRM include facilitating the smooth functioning of the multilateral trading system by enhancing the transparency of WTO Members' trade policies.
Use of Currencies in International Trade
May 2012
Working Paper
The paper reviews a number of issues related to the use of currencies in international trade, more than one decade after the introduction of the euro and shortly after steps taken by the Chinese authorities to liberalize the use of the RMB in off-shore markets. Trade is an important factor in establishing a currency as an international currency, notably by fulfilling the transaction/medium of exchange and unit of account motives of currency demand. Read More
Competition Agency Guidelines and Policy Initiatives Regarding the Application of Competition Law Vis-À-Vis Intellectual Property
Mar 2018
Working Paper
Competition agency guidelines, policy statements and related advocacy are an important vehicle for policy expression and the guidance of firms across the full spectrum of anti-competitive practices and market conduct.
Fog in GATS Commitments
Mar 2011
Working Paper
The creation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), in the Uruguay Round, and its entry into force in 1995 marked a new stage in the history of the multilateral system. It was motivated essentially by the rapid expansion of international services trade within an increasingly open environment in many countries. Given the peculiarities of services trade, including the intangible nature of the products concerned and the need for direct contac Read More
Joint Indicative List of Critical COVID-19 Vaccine Inputs for Consultation
Jul 2021
Working Paper
The WTO Secretariat has published an indicative list compiling information on the critical inputs for the manufacturing, distributing and administering of COVID-19 vaccines. The list was jointly produced with the Asian Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Customs Organization, some COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, researchers Chad Bown and Chris Rogers, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparednes Read More
Risk Assessment in the International Food Safety Policy Arena
Jan 2009
Working Paper
Two institutions provide multilateral venues for countries to discuss food safety measures at the international level: the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) and the World Trade Organization. Both institutions encourage their members to base food safety standards on scientific evidence. In this paper we provide a description of how food safety related scientific evidence is generated and how it is used in the context of risk assessment for internatio Read More
Fiscal Policy Cycles and the Public Expenditure in Developing Countries
Jun 1998
Working Paper
The paper studies empirically the fiscal policy instruments by which governments try to influence election outcomes in 24 developing countries for the 1973-1992 period. The study finds that the main vehicle for expansionary fiscal policies around elections is increasing public expenditure rather than lowering taxes, and public investment cycles seem particularly prominent. Institutional mechanisms which constrain discretionary expenditure policies and Read More
More Stringent BITs, Less Ambiguous Effects on FDI? Not a Bit!
May 2010
Working Paper
We focus on investor-state dispute settlement provisions contained in various, though far from all, bilateral investment treaties as a possible determinant of BIT-related effects on bilateral FDI flows. Our estimation results prove to be sensitive to the specification of these provisions as well as the inclusion of transition countries in the sample. Stricter dispute settlement provisions do not necessarily result in higher FDI inflows so that the effectiveness of Read More
Covered or not Covered: That is the Question
Dec 2015
Working Paper
The GATS does not offer a definition of "services", but services need to be identified and classified for the operation of the Agreement, especially for the scheduling of specific commitments on market access and national treatment. There is no obligation on WTO Members to use any particular classification system in undertaking commitments. Nevertheless, an informal document produced for the services negotiation during the Uruguay Round, the S Read More
Knowledge Spillovers through International Supply Chains
Jul 2014
Working Paper
Using industry-level R&D and patent data for a sample of 29 countries for the period 2000-2008, we study the importance of international supply linkages for knowledge spillovers. We find a statistically significant effect of supply chains on international knowledge spillovers. We show that knowledge spillovers increase with the intensity of supply chains linkages between countries. We also show that the evidence that knowledge spillovers flow along the s Read More
Specialization Within Global Value Chains
Apr 2018
Working Paper
This paper studies the factors of comparative advantage within global value chains relying on a framework where comparative advantage is measured through the interaction of country and industry characteristics.
The Economics of Trade Agreements in the Linear Cournot Delocation Model
Nov 2009
Working Paper
Existing theories of trade agreements suggest that GATT/WTO efforts to reign in export subsidies represent an inefficient victory for exporting governments that comes at the expense of importing governments. Building from the Cournot delocation model first introduced by Venables (1985), we demonstrate that it is possible to develop a formal treatment of export subsidies in trade agreements in which a more benign interpretation of efforts to restrain ex Read More
Multilateral Solutions to the Erosion of Non-Reciprocal Preferences in NAMA
Oct 2005
Working Paper
This paper analyzes the risks of preference erosion arising from MFN trade liberalization in manufactured products. It focuses on developing countries that receive non-reciprocal preferences in the markets of United States, EU, Japan, Canada and Australia. The paper estimates preference margins as the difference between non-reciprocal preferential rates received by individual countries and the best available (MFN or better-than-MFN) treatment r Read More
The evolution of services trade policy since the great recession
Feb 2020
Working Paper
Are changes in services markets provoking reform, restrictions, or inertia? To address this question, we draw upon a new World Bank-WTO Services Trade Policy Database (STPD) to analyse the services trade policies of 68 economies in 23 subsectors across five broad areas—financial services, telecommunications, distribution, transportation and professional services, respectively.
Evolution of Asia's Outward-Looking Economic Policies
Sept 2011
Working Paper
This Working Paper contains some observations concerning the evolution of trade and trade-related policies in the Asia-Pacific region since the establishment in 1989 of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM), whose goal is to improve the transparency of these policies. It also draws some lessons from the Reviews undertaken. In particular, the Paper examines how reforms, either unilateral or in connection with bilateral, regional or multilateral trade Read More
Can Trade Policy Help Mobilize Financial Resources for Economic Development?
Aug 2001
Working Paper
The linkages between trade and resource mobilization are complex and not well defined in theory. To what extent does trade policy affect resource mobilization and what are the mechanisms? We argue that trade policy is a key factor of influencing the domestic fundamental balance between aggregate savings and investment. The main effect of trade policy on resource mobilization stems from its contribution to static and dynamic gains from trad Read More
Mapping of Dispute Settlement Mechanisms in Regional Trade Agreements
Jun 2013
Working Paper
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become an indelible feature of the international trading landscape. Most, if not all, RTAs contain provisions that establish procedures for resolving disputes among their signatory members. Yet, the design and functioning of these dispute settlement mechanisms (DSMs) and, more specifically, how they differ from the WTO dispute settlement system remain relatively unexplored. Existing academic literature has pri Read More
Trade Liberalization and Labor Market Dynamics
Dec 2011
Working Paper
I study trade-induced transitional dynamics by estimating a structural dynamic equilibrium model of the Brazilian labor market. The model features a multi-sector economy with overlapping generations, heterogeneous workers, endogenous accumulation of sector-specific experience and costly switching of sectors. The model's estimates yield median costs of mobility ranging from 1.4 to 2.7 times annual average wages, but a high dispersion across th Read More
Are You Experienced?
Mar 2011
Working Paper
We examine the impact of banking crises on the duration of trade relations. We also investigate the effect of product-level characteristics, such as the size of exports and exporting experience, and of sector-level financial dependence variables, on the time to recover after a banking crisis. Using highly disaggregated US import data from 157 countries between 1996 and 2009, we first provide evidence that banking crises negatively affect the surv Read More
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