Can regionalism do what multilateralism has so far failed to do?promote greater openness of services markets? Although previous research has pointed to the wider and deeper legal commitments under regional agreements as proof that it can, no previous study has assessed the impact of such...

Can regionalism do what multilateralism has so far failed to do-promote greater openness of services markets? Although previous research has pointed to the wider and deeper legal commitments under regional agreements as proof that it can, no previous study has assessed the impact of such...

This paper discusses the nature and scope of international trade in environmentally related services, and analyses the implications that services trade restrictions have on the provisions of these services domestically and abroad. Numerous services appear crucial to the delivery and proper...

The water in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) refers to the difference between the bound level of trade restrictiveness permitted by the GATS and the actual trade regime. Using the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), this report provides estimates of the water in...

Standard techniques used to estimate gravity equations, the workhorse empirical model in international trade, rely on bilateral variation to identify the effect of trade barriers on bilateral trade flows. This prevents the estimation of any exporter- or importer-specific trade barriers. To...

The services sector plays a vital infrastructure role in national economies, employs more people than other sectors, and is the most dynamic sector of world trade. New negotiations under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services, which began in January 2000, offer an important opportunity...

This paper presents new data on regulatory barriers affecting services trade within the European Economic Area (EEA), covering 25 EEA countries, 22 sectors and five years (2014-2018). Following the methodology of the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), qualitative information is...