Countries embarking on trade negotiations are not only seeking increased market access, but also, reduced market opacity. This study distils the most progressive practices for promoting regulatory transparency in over one hundred regional trade agreements (RTAs) concluded by OECD and large...

The proliferation of preferential trade agreements has posed challenges for the multilateral trading system. But regional trade agreements (RTAs) also allow countries to develop and strengthen trade disciplines beyond what is possible at the multilateral level. In some instances, RTAs explore...

Taking global value chains (GVCs) into account has important implications for trade policy. When production is vertically fragmented and trade in intermediate inputs is prevalent, one has to look differently at a certain number of issues. Through case studies, this paper provides new evidence on...

Over the past decade, an increasing number of economies have resorted to regional trade agreements (RTAs) as a means to further the market-opening and rule-making agenda. In this context, this paper addresses the question as to whether and how selected elements of RTAs could be used as...

What influences the adoption of transparency obligations in trade agreements, and what are its effects? This paper uses a new dataset on transparency provisions in over a hundred regional trade agreements (RTAs) to provide empirical evidence of the political economy determinants of international...

The potential multilateralisation of government procurement commitments in regional trade agreements (RTAs) presents many issues and challenges. To what extent do RTAs go beyond the 2012 revised Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), and how do they differ among trading partners? This report...

Although global value chains (GVCs) are often considered a defining feature of the current wave of globalisation, little is known about: i) what drives GVC participation; ii) what the benefits associated to growing participation are; or iii) how developing countries engage and benefit from GVCs....

This paper is the first of four country case studies which is a part of a broader research programme addressing trade and structural adjustment issues in non-member economies which was conducted as a follow-up to Trade and Structural Adjustment: Embracing Globalisation (OECD, 2005) which...

As part of its work on regionalism, the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate has completed a series of studies that compare rule-making provisions in regional trade agreements with those in the World Trade Organisation (e.g., in the area of services, investment and competition). This paper...

This study analyses the role that services trade liberalisation could play in fostering tourism growth in developing countries. The economic and social importance of tourism means that the industry is high on the list of development priorities in many developing countries and LDCs. In order to...