Intra-European trade in services is hampered by national regulatory differences for service markets. The European Commission has proposed a new directive to overcome these regulatory barriers. This document assesses the effects of this new directive on trade and investment in services. Read...

International trade in services is hampered by non-tariff barriers that originate from national regulations. Not only the level of regulation in home or export country matters, but also the inter-country differences in regulation for service markets. Regulatory measures tend to affect fixed...

International negotiations on the liberalisation of service trade are concentrated at non-tariff barriers (NTBs). National government measures form important obstacles for service providers when they want to access foreign markets. International studies predict substantial welfare benefits...

The European Commission's 2004 proposals for a Services Directive consists of measures to reduce or eliminate the obstacles of cross-border trade of services by introducing the 'country of origin' principle. It implies that regulation of the country of origin is relevant, and that the country of...

The proposed Services Directive by the European Commission could increase intra European trade in commercial services by 30 to 60 percent. This paper analyses the welfare effects of the trade growth using an applied general equilibrium model WorldScan. Read also the accompanying <a href="http://www.cpb.nl/node/13360">press...

Even though the Netherlands was the world’s sixth largest exporter in 2009, the majority of Dutch firms does not engage in international trade at all, possibly because they are unable to cover the costs to enter specific foreign markets. What are these costs that limited the...

This study presents recently available data on the microstructure of Dutch exports and the relation between export participation and productivity at the firrm and establishment-level. We test whether recent theories of international trade with heterogeneous firms can explain the patterns in the...

This report summarises the findings of a study on the growth factors and growth prospects of the business services (BS) industry. It puts Dutch BS industry in an international comparative perspective, identifying its particular strengths and weaknesses. Lees ook het bijbehorende <a...

A pervasive trend that characterised the past two decades of European economic growth is that the share in the economy of commercial services, and particularly business services, grows monotonically, and this mainly to the expensive of the manufacturing sector. The structural shift reflects a...