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Tentative First Steps: An Assessment of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Services

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  • Hoekman, Bernard

Abstract

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a landmark in terms of creating multilateral disciplines in virgin territory, but is a failure in terms of generating liberalization and locking-in existing policy regimes affecting international transactions in services. There are two key issues that should be addressed in evaluating the GATS. First, what does it do to bind policies? Second, has it established a mechanism that will induce significant liberalization through future rounds of negotiations? This paper concludes that the GATS does not score very high on either dimension. A number of suggestions are made to strengthen the Agreement and support more far-reaching liberalization in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoekman, Bernard, 1995. "Tentative First Steps: An Assessment of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Services," CEPR Discussion Papers 1150, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1150
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    1. Hoekman, Bernard & Mavroidis, Petros C, 1995. "The WTO's Agreement on Government Procurement: Expanding Disciplines, Declining Membership?," CEPR Discussion Papers 1112, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    GATS; Multilateral Trade Negotiations; Trade in Services; Trade Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

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