Liberalization Of Trade In Services Research Articles

Транстихоокеанское партнерство и всестороннее региональное экономическое партнерство как международно-правовая модель экономической интеграции в Азиатско-Тихоокеанском регионе

The article explores international law aspects of the contemporary integration processes in the Asia-Pacific with a specific focus on such relatively new formationsas the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Based on the WTO law provisions with regard to the free trade areas for goods and services, both Partnerships significantly widen the scope of regulated inter-governmental relationships, which allows considering the TPP and the RCEP as a fundamentally new form of the regional trade agreements. Having a fixed number of participating states and a system of institution with their functions and competencies, the Partnerships do not represent inter-governmental organizations and are vested with no legal capacity or, especially, supranational powers. However, this does not undermine the trade and economic significance of the Partnerships while also making them an attractive model of the soft integration structure between the states having different level of economic development, located in different geographical regions and bound with their own integration obligations under bi- and multilateral (subregional) trade agreements. The founding agreements of the Partnerships are typical “WTO plus” arrangements combining the provisions on liberalization of trade in goods and services with the parties’ mutual obligations in the fields of investments, sustainable development, competition, administrative and legal cooperation. At the same time, applicability of parallel bi- and multilateral trade agreements between the Asia-Pacific states, including those within ASEAN, forms a complex multilayer regulation of foreign trade and entails a risk of legal uncertainty for economic operators.

Does better regulatory institutions always enhance the productivity effects of services trade liberalization？

The majority of previous studies have asserted that the high quality of local institutions can improve the productivity effects of trade policies; yet, only a few studies have acknowledged the heterogeneous impact of these institutions. Using data from Chinese manufacturing plants, we examine the moderating effects of regional-level regulations on the effectiveness of national services trade policy. The key findings are threefold: First, as the initial degree of service liberalization advances, the productivity effect of trade liberalization diminishes. Second, opening access to foreign enterprises can substitute for pro-competitive regulatory reform. Regardless of whether the regulatory institutions related to administrative processes, law enforcement, and commercial service have improved, services trade liberalization can have significant productivity effects. Third, in contrast, when regulations to protect for local incumbents impose prohibitive costs for new entrants, the impact of services trade liberalization is highly contingent on local regulatory improvement. The confirmation that trade liberalization can potentially serve as an alternative measure for local regulation reform in Chinese context distinguishes this study from others.

The Recent Development On The Discipline Of Services Domestic Regulation And The Debate On The Necessity Test: From The Perspective Of The CPTPP, RCEP, And SDR Reference Paper

The discipline of services domestic regulation (“SDR discipline”), with a view to ensuring progressive liberalization of trade in services while also respecting the national regulatory prerogatives at the same time, addresses issues concerning the formulation, publication, and administration of SDR, and the authorization for the supply of a service. In addition to Article VI General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), an increasing number of international trade agreements has developed the SDR discipline with GATS-plus or GATS-extra characteristics, which helps enhance the transparency and regulatory quality of SDR, promote trade facilitation and increase the predictability and efficiency of authorization procedures for the services providers hoping to do business in foreign markets. This paper investigates the negotiating history of the SDR discipline at the multilateral, plurilateral, and regional levels, explores the evolving trends of the SDR discipline from the perspective of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Reference Paper on SDR, and addresses the debate on the necessity test surrounding the SDR discipline negotiation. services domestic regulation, necessity test, transparency, trade facilitation, predictability of authorization, gender equality

Service Trade Liberalization, Trade Elasticities and Welfare

ABSTRACTThis paper estimates the welfare effects of service trade liberalization at the country-sector level. We build a panel dataset combining information on service trade restriction index and bilateral service trade flows for 45 countries and estimate the service trade elasticity for cross-country heterogeneity at short horizons. Findings suggest that countries with smaller service trade share have greater the service trade cost elasticity, and the service trade elasticity ranges from 0.11 to 12.61. Then, we develop the CP mode to quantify the welfare effects from service trade liberalization. This study finds a significant positive relationship between service trade and welfare. During the 2014 –2018 period, service trade liberalization improved global welfare by 1.01%. The empirical results indicate that service trade liberalization mainly improves welfare through productivity effect and scale effect, with the former effect having a greater impact than the latter.

Impact of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Zone on the Economic Development of the Republic of Moldova

The Republic of Moldova, being a state with a small economy, has considerably diversified its sales markets, focusing primarily on the European Union market, which currently absorbs more than half of its exports. The present study tries to highlight the benefits of the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) implementation, which contributes to increasing the competitiveness of domestic companies on European markets and the liberalization of trade in goods and services. In conclusion, some measures are highlighted that are necessary to be implemented by the Republic of Moldova, in order to ensure the economy reorientation towards export by diversifying both the geographical structure and products in particular, improving commercial policy regulations, product quality, attracting investments foreign direct, the elimination of corruption.

Liberalization of Higher Education Services: Exploring the Prospects and Challenges Under the ‘Australia-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Framework Agreement’

This article examines the potential opportunities and challenges for the liberalization of higher education services between Australia and Bangladesh under their recently concluded ‘Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA)’. Given their complementary economic imperatives, there is strong potential for growth in bilateral trade and investment in higher education services. Australia with its advanced higher education system would benefit from investments in higher education sector in Bangladesh. Bangladesh with its impressive growth performance would require educated, skilled, and knowledge-based workforce to sustain its ongoing economic development. It would benefit from the stock of human resources endowed with the high-quality education and training provided and supplied by the advanced higher education institutions and investors of Australia. This article prescribes ways of promoting and deepening their bilateral economic integration through investing in higher education services, identifies niche areas for additional opportunities, and highlights barriers to be overcome to derive and maximize mutual benefits. Education service is one of the least committed sectors under GATS. Economic growth-oriented bilateral liberalization of trade and investment in higher education services between Australia and Bangladesh is likely to have wider domino effect on others to follow, thus serving as a stepping-stone towards the progressive liberalization of multilateral trade in services under the World Trade Organization (WTO). Higher Education, Trade in Services, Education Services, Liberalization, Australia, Bangladesh

Can Digital Services Trade Liberalization Improve the Quality of Green Innovation of Enterprises? Evidence from China

Green innovation is a critical driver in achieving the goals of “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality”, as well as an important aid in accelerating green transformation. Does the opening-up of digital services trade, as a major component of the high-level opening-up strategy, serve to improve the quality of green innovation of Chinese enterprises at this critical juncture in China’s promotion of ecological civilization? To answer this question, this paper measures the degree of openness of digital services trade in each industry in China, and it empirically examines the impact of digital services trade liberalization on enterprises’ green innovation quality using data from A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2021. This research finds that, first, digital services trade liberalization can significantly improve the quality of green innovation of Chinese enterprises, which still holds after a series of robustness tests. Second, mechanism analysis indicates that digital services trade liberalization promotes enterprises’ green innovation quality by improving human capital level, increasing green R&D expenditure, and strengthening information resource sharing. Third, a heterogeneity test shows that the effect of digital services trade liberalization on the quality of green innovation is more prominent for state-owned enterprises, enterprises with stronger technology absorption capacity, highly competitive industries, and regions with a high intensity of environmental regulations. The study’s findings not only provide new perspectives and ideas for enterprises’ green innovation practices in the midst of the digital services trade wave but also theoretical and empirical support for the inherent self-consistency between high-level opening-up and green development.

Does Service Trade Liberalization Promote Service Productivity? Evidence from China

This paper investigates the effects of service trade liberalization on service productivity. Based on a city-level database from 2006 to 2019, we estimate the labor productivity of the service industry and show the varying trends of productivity growth. Additionally, by exploiting the cross-city, cross-time variation at the time of China’s innovation pilot city policy of service trade liberalization, we employ a difference-in-difference strategy to estimate the effects. The empirical evidence suggests that liberalizing the service trade has a positive effect on service productivity. In addition, the evidence indicates that service trade liberalization could increase the productivity of the service industry in cities located in the eastern and central parts of China, as well as in those cities with a higher degree of marketization. The main influencing channels of service trade liberalization on productivity predominantly occur through the increase in technology spillover, market competition, and human capital. China’s evidence highlights the positive relationship between trade liberalization and productivity in the service industry and provides implications for realizing the sustainable development of services in developing countries; therefore, China and other developing countries are suggested to continuously formulate and deepen their service trade liberalization strategy.

Trade restrictions on digital services and the impact on manufacturing exports

In the digital age, digital services not only provide important intermediate inputs for manufacturing but they also affect the availability of other potentially ICT-enabled high-quality services as intermediate inputs. Therefore, it is particularly important and meaningful to explore the relationship between the liberalization of trade in digital services and manufacturing exports. This paper uses a panel dataset of bilateral exports of 15 manufacturing sectors in 54 countries, from 2014 to 2018, to examine the impact of digital services trade policy restrictions on exports of manufactured goods. The main results suggest that the impact of trade policy restrictions on manufacturing exports is mixed but mainly negative. Moreover, regulatory differences in digital services industries between bilateral country pairs also have a significant negative impact on the export performance of manufacturing industries. In addition, we further examine the heterogeneity of this impact mechanism across different policy areas, manufacturing sectors, and bilateral country-pair groups.

Towards the Operationalization of the AfCFTA Trade in Services Protocol: Do FDI and ICT Enable Trade in Services for ECOWAS Countries?

In January 2021, the AfCFTA entered its operational phase. This AfCFTA covers the liberalization of trade in services with a Protocol on Trade in Services. In this context, this paper examines the effects of FDI flows and ICT infrastructure on services exports, both globally and by sector in ECOWAS countries. We use panel data on the 15 countries for the period 1998 to 2020 and perform dynamic modeling using the LSDVC technique. The results reveal that the infrastructure ICT (internet and mobile telephony) does not directly affect services exports. However, overall, the interaction between ICT infrastructure and FDI positively and significantly influences services exports. The effects of the interaction between ICT and FDI have varying impacts on services exports across different sectors.

AfCFTA and Trade Facilitation in ECOWAS Borderless Region: Challenges and Prospects

This paper seeks to examine the establishment and ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) as an endeavour on the part of the African Union to promote intra-African trade. The African socioeconomic development and industrial competitiveness is anticipated to increase as a result of the AfCFTA. The agreement is expected to link 1.3 billion people in 55 nations, with a $3.4 trillion global GDP. By 2035, it is projected to be able to save 30 million people from abject poverty. The AfCFTA will result in a significant liberalization of trade in products and services within Africa, making it simpler for business people to conduct international business and lowering trade costs. However, there are concerns that putting the agreement into practice successfully in a continent with limited capacity, uncompetitive industries, and reliable infrastructure will be difficult. The research relies on the secondary sources of data collection, which include the use of such materials as textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines and internet sources. The paper analyses the political- economic dynamics and argues that the success of AfCFTA will be greatly influenced by a number of variables, including member states level of commitment, the availability of cutting-edge technology, technical capacity, and essential infrastructure, the transparency and accountability of processes, and how infractions and complaints are resolved.

РОЗВИТОК ТА ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ РИНКУ МЕДИЧНИХ ПОСЛУГ В УМОВАХ ГЛОБАЛІЗАЦІЇ ТА ІНТЕГРАЦІЇ

The article reveals significant globalization trends of the world market of medical services and unites them into four groups: political (functioning of international organizations, activities of interstate non-governmental organizations and charitable foundations, exit of intellectual property rights protection procedures to the global level), economic (liberalization of trade in medical services , monopolization of the world pharmaceutical market by TNCs, formation of medical clusters), technological (intensification of information exchange, use of international standards of medical care, development of modern treatment methods, medical technologies and equipment) and social (international migration of medical specialists, internationalization of medical education, spread global epidemics). It was determined that these trends have a mostly positive impact on the development of the world market of medical services. One notes that the maximum possible use of the advantages of international cooperation to improve the quality of medical services, the transfer of innovative technologies, the acquisition and development of modern equipment and medicines, the introduction of modern treatment protocols with the simultaneous minimization of the negative consequences of globalization processes must be taken into account when developing strategic plans for transformation and development sphere of health care of Ukraine. The article identifies the negative manifestations of globalization: bureaucratic decision-making process by international organizations, stagnation of national health care systems as a result of the liberalization of trade in medical services, an increase in the general level of drug prices due to a significant level of monopolization of the international pharmaceutical market, a decrease in the number of the working population and shortages qualified workers as a result of labor migration and the internationalization of higher education, the emergence of economic and social crises due to the spread of infectious diseases, the need for significant amounts of investment for the introduction of modern technologies. One identifies the measures to minimize globalization risks: creating optimal conditions for the productive work of medical workers (salary, equipping workplaces, improving qualifications, protecting intellectual property rights, stimulating research and innovation), preventing stagnation in the field of health care by ensuring a constant flow of investment funds (insurance funds of state and non-state institutions, international grants, international cooperation programs, funds of charitable funds), constant improvement of the response system to natural and man-made emergencies.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SERVICE SECTOR ON THE STRENGTHENING OF THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE UKRAINIAN ECONOMY IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION PROCESSES

The article examines the impact of the service sector on the competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy. It was found that the influence of the service sector has a direct and indirect nature. It was determined that the direct impact is manifested through the development of international trade in services and the formation of the country’s place in the division of labor. The study of Ukraine’s foreign trade showed much smaller volumes of export of services compared to export of goods. At the same time, it was found that the share of Ukraine in the world markets of services and goods is approximately the same, which made it possible to conclude that the development of international trade in services is promising for strengthening Ukraine’s position on the world stage. Taking into account the trends in the development of world trade in services determined by the WTO, the following vectors for the development of foreign trade in services are proposed: the development of IT services, the growth of tourist services, support for the export of transport services. It was established that the indirect influence is due to the use of services by other sectors of the economy and population. A set of measures to improve the functioning of the service sector is proposed. According to the results of the analysis of Ukraine’s foreign trade and taking into account the data of the World Trade Organization, it can be concluded that the development of international trade in services is a promising direction for strengthening Ukraine’s competitiveness. Despite a significant advantage in the volume of trade in goods over trade in services, Ukraine occupies approximately equal shares in the world markets of goods and services. This testifies to the fierce competition in the product markets, which significantly reduces Ukraine’s ability to effectively compete in them in the near future without technical improvement of the production industries. At the same time, the obtained data allow us to conclude about a much lower level of competition in the service markets. Therefore, the development of the service sector is seen as a way to strengthen Ukraine’s place in the global division of labor. In addition to the direct impact on the competitiveness of the national economy due to the increase in GDP and exports, the creation of new jobs, the service sector has an indirect impact due to the active use of services in the production process. Liberalization of trade in services causes an increase in the competitiveness of other industries in which they are used as input factors of production. In this regard, the development of the service sector as a whole will also have a positive effect and will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of both individual industries and the economy of Ukraine as a whole.

The impact of CEPA trade in services agreement on the upgrading of industrial structure in underdeveloped areas of Guangdong Province

The CEPA Agreement on Trade in Services was officially implemented on 1 June 2016, marking the basic liberalization of trade in services between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. The balanced panel data of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province from 2012 to 2019 were selected to evaluate the impact and mechanism of CEPA service trade agreement on the industrial structure upgrading of underdeveloped areas in Guangdong Province by using the double difference method. The results show that: (1) the implementation of the CEPA agreement on trade in services has promoted the upgrading of the industrial structure of underdeveloped areas in Guangdong Province, and this result is still true after the robustness test; (2) The mechanism of action shows that the CEPA agreement on trade in services can promote the upgrading of industrial structure by improving the level of regional innovation.

Services trade policy and industry performance in African economies

AbstractThis paper assesses the potential impacts of services trade liberalisation for a sample of African countries. The focus is on the relationship between labour productivity of manufacturing sectors and two types of services trade‐related policies – restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) in services and restrictions on international payments for invisibles. The analysis takes into account differences across manufacturing sectors in the intensity of use of different services as inputs into production as well as difference in the quality of economic governance across countries. We find that services trade liberalisation may have substantial positive impacts on the performance of manufacturing sectors, and increase with services input intensity and the quality of governance.

Estimating the general equilibrium effects of services trade liberalization

AbstractThe intangible nature of services and the lack of disaggregated trade data increase the difficulties involved in assessing the impediments to cross‐border trade in services. In an attempt to reduce the information gap existing in services trade, this article estimates the impact of trade barriers along with the conditional and general equilibrium responses to the partial liberalization of services trade, using structural gravity. Using data collected by the OECD, I find that the level of restrictiveness applied by an importing country has a negative and significant impact on trade; however, this impact is heterogeneous across services sectors. By focusing on eight services sectors, I find that the partial liberalization of services trade will cause real income to increase by, on average, 4.8%. The most restrictive countries are the largest winners of the partial liberalization of services trade, benefiting from the availability of less expensive sources and an increase in their attractiveness as a source.

An Evaluation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement: Market Access and Trading Rules

AbstractThe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement was signed on November 15, 2020. This marks the formal conclusion of the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of population and economic scale. The RCEP agreement covers new liberalization commitments in goods, services, investment, and movement of natural persons, and addresses some emerging behind‐the‐border trade issues, to forge more transparent, open, and inclusive trade rules. Its aim is to build a comprehensive, modern, inclusive, and high‐quality free trade agreement. This paper summarizes the framework and highlights of the RCEP agreement, measures the extent of tariff reduction from various perspectives, makes a quantitative assessment of the level of service trade liberalization of the member states adopting positive list commitments, and makes an in‐depth analysis of trade rules and provisions in the RCEP agreement. Furthermore, this paper also makes a comprehensive comparison of main provisions among the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans‐Pacific Partnership, RCEP, and US‐Mexico‐Canada Agreement. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for China to promote the implementation of the RCEP agreement.

Achieving Sustainable Tourism Through WTO Negotiations

The paper aims to highlight the significance, relevance and importance of sustainable tourism in India through WTO negotiations. The objective of the study is to analyse the impact of international tourism on India before negotiating for further liberalization of trade in services under GATS provision at WTO and to protect domestic tourism sub-sectors in the light of sustainable tourism. The study also finds that sustainable development in tourism, both national and international, can assist India to accelerate its pace of economic growth.

РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ МІЖНАРОДНОЇ МІГРАЦІЇ РОБОЧОЇ СИЛИ В РЕГІОНАЛЬНИХ ІНТЕГРАЦІЙНИХ УГОДАХ

The globalization of world economic relations is one of the main trends of our time, which not only affects the economic life, but also has deep political and social consequences. It leads to dynamic development of international integration, which is an integral part of international economic relations, along with global capital, commodity, labor and technology transfer markets. Deeper integration at the regional level established institutional distribution platform for multilateral cooperation. Intensification of regional and multilateral liberalization of trade in services is carried out by transformation not only of the basic economic relations between countries, but also between institutions that define the matrix behavior of economic agents. One of the sign of economic integration is the liberalization of labor movement in order to combine the resources and efforts of countries in solving issues of internal integration cooperation in the field of regulating labor migration flows. There are many barriers in the field of international labor movement, including migration flows within the framework of integration associations. Therefore, the central focus of this research in terms of increased regionalization of the world economy, it becomes precisely the analysis of the principles and tools of institutional regulation of labor migration in integration associations, its evolution, as well as a comprehensive assessment of economic and social consequences of this process. The key issue of institutional regulation of international labor migration in regional integration associations is the optimization of regional and global level of cooperation based on WTO rules and principles.

New-generation trade agreement with Japan: Significance to EU Companies

Objective: The New-generation trade agreements, which include the agreement with Japan, provide wide coverage – not only the liberalisation of trade in goods or services but also the protection of intellectual property rights, the public procurement market, sustainable development and others. This paper aims to demonstrate key provisions and (both ex post and ex ante) opportunities that the agreement creates for EU companies. Research Design & Methods: The research methods include a critical review of existing literature, an analysis of relevant legal and official documents of the European Union, as well as the provisions of the EU-Japan trade agreement. The empirical research focused on Eurostat data. Findings: The provisions of the EU-Japan agreement provide an incentive for European companies to strengthen their position on the Japanese market. The elimination of import duties and other barriers to trade in Japan in relation to certain agricultural products on the entry into force of the agreement contributed to higher exports from the EU for these groups of goods. What might be expected is the additional effect of the liberalisation of bilateral trade on third countries. In fact, standards or rules agreed by Japan and the EU may become even more attractive to third countries, as their adoption would facilitate access to two large markets. Implications & Recommendations: Japan is a relatively important trading partner for the EU and vice versa. One of the biggest achievements of the agreement made between the European Union and Japan includes the wide and deep liberalisation of trade in goods. Despite the fact that the overall level of tariff protection is relatively low, there are still some groups of goods for which the protection in the form of customs duties constitutes an important barrier, as a result of which the conditions for competing on the partner’s market deteriorate. It seems that EU entrepreneurs should make more use of the opportunities which are created by the provisions of the free trade agreement with Japan. So far, the trade crisis caused by the pandemic has stood in the way. Contribution & Value Added: Research conducted so far is of an ex ante nature, both regarding the provisions of the agreement (publications written before 2018) and the evaluation of its potential effects on economy, trade, production or selected sectors. The research carried out in this article is of an ex post nature; it covers the period following the entry into force of the agreement and does not present any growth scenarios or forecasts, as was the case in the existing research. The article attempted to juxtapose the provisions of the agreement with Japan with trade conditions applicable to EU companies, as well as with the growth rate, volume and coverage of bilateral trade in goods.