STRI: Services trade restrictiveness index - heterogeneity indices (Edition 2023)

Trade in services drives the exchange of ideas, know-how and technology. It helps firms cut costs, increase productivity, participate in global value chains and boost competitiveness. Consumers benefit from lower prices and greater choice. However, international trade in services is often impeded by trade and investment barriers and domestic regulations. Moreover, differences in regulation can constitute additional trade costs in their own right as services suppliers must comply with multiple sets of regulations. The STRI heterogeneity indices are bilateral measures of regulatory heterogeneity. They are calculated on the basis of detailed information from the Services Trade Restrictiveness database and take values between zero and one. The score represents the weighted share of the total number of measures to which the country pair has different answers. The indices are available by country pair, sector and year.