IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v47y2024i4p1495-1530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The least developed countries' Services Waiver, Aid for Trade for services and services exports

Author

Listed:
  • Sèna Kimm Gnangnon

Abstract

In 2011, Trade Ministers of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) adopted a Decision that allows WTO Members to accord preferential treatment to services and service suppliers originating in least‐developed countries (LDCs). In 2013, another Ministerial Decision was adopted to operationalise the 2011 Waiver Decision. This paper has examined whether the Waiver Decision had been effective in promoting LDCs' commercial modern and traditional services exports and whether Aid for Trade (AfT) flows in favour of the services sectors were instrumental in achieving this objective. The analysis has used 43 LDCs over the period 2005–2018 and the difference‐in‐difference framework along with the two‐step system generalised method of moments estimator. The control group includes 20 Low‐Income Countries (designated as such by the International Monetary Fund) from which LDCs (as defined by the United Nations) are excluded. The analysis has revealed that the Waiver Decision led to higher modern commercial services exports at the expense of traditional commercial services exports. Moreover, as LDCs improved their trading capacity over time (thanks to the cumulative AfT flows for services), the Waiver Decision induced greater modern commercial services exports, but exerted a mixed effect on LDCs' traditional services exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2024. "The least developed countries' Services Waiver, Aid for Trade for services and services exports," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 1495-1530, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:47:y:2024:i:4:p:1495-1530
    DOI: 10.1111/twec.13508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.13508
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/twec.13508?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barry Eichengreen & Poonam Gupta, 2013. "Exports of services: Indian experience in perspective," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(1), pages 35-60, April.
    2. P. K. M. Tharakan & Ilke Van Beveren & Tom Van Ourti, 2005. "Determinants of India's Software Exports and Goods Exports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(4), pages 776-780, November.
    3. Michael Bleaney & Abelardo S. Neaves, 2013. "Declining Distance Effects in International Trade: Some Country-Level Evidence," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1029-1040, August.
    4. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1989. "Product Development and International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1261-1283, December.
    5. Ariu, Andrea, 2016. "Crisis-proof services: Why trade in services did not suffer during the 2008–2009 collapse," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 138-149.
    6. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    7. Saliola, Federica & Zanfei, Antonello, 2009. "Multinational firms, global value chains and the organization of knowledge transfer," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 369-381, March.
    8. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2021. "Manufacturing Exports and Services Export Diversification," The International Trade Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 221-242, May.
    9. Sadhana Srivastava, 2006. "The Role Of Foreign Direct Investment In India'S Services Exports: An Empirical Investigation," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 51(02), pages 175-194.
    10. De Gregorio, Jose, 1992. "Economic growth in Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 59-84, July.
    11. Bernard Hoekman & Anirudh Shingal, 2021. "Aid for Trade and Trade in Services," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(10), pages 1723-1738, October.
    12. Koi Nyen Wong & Tuck Cheong Tang & Dietrich Fausten, 2009. "Foreign Direct Investment and Services Trade: Evidence from Malaysia and Singapore," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 265-276.
    13. Anders Fredriksson & Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira, 2019. "Impact evaluation using Difference-in-Differences," RAUSP Management Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 519-532, October.
    14. Pravakar Sahoo & Ranjan Kumar Dash, 2017. "What Drives India's Surge in Service Exports?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 439-461, February.
    15. Bernard Hoekman & Ben Shepherd, 2017. "Services Productivity, Trade Policy and Manufacturing Exports," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 499-516, March.
    16. Yujiang Bi & W. Robert J. Alexander & Zhen Pei, 2019. "Factors affecting trade in services: evidence from panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(34), pages 3730-3739, July.
    17. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon & Shishir Priyadarshi, 2016. "Export Product Diversification, Services Production and Exports in Least Developed Countries," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-36, October.
    18. Bernard Hoekman & Anirudh Shingal, 2020. "Aid for trade and international transactions in goods and services," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 320-340, May.
    19. Alberto Abadie, 2005. "Semiparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimators," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 1-19.
    20. Sèna K. Gnangnon, 2021. "Aid for Trade and services export diversification in recipient countries," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 189-225, June.
    21. Viktor Stojkoski & Zoran Utkovski & Ljupco Kocarev, 2016. "The Impact of Services on Economic Complexity: Service Sophistication as Route for Economic Growth," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-29, August.
    22. Sandra Lancheros & Pelin Demirel, 2012. "Does Finance Play a Role in Exporting for Service Firms? Evidence from India," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 44-60, January.
    23. Alesina, Alberto & Wacziarg, Romain, 1998. "Openness, country size and government," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 305-321, September.
    24. Sahoo, Pravakar & Dash, Ranjan Kumar, 2014. "India's surge in modern services exports: Empirics for policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1082-1100.
    25. Beata S. Javorcik & Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni, 2018. "New and Improved: Does FDI Boost Production Complexity in Host Countries?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2507-2537, September.
    26. Stephan Huber, 2018. "Product Sophistication and Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Contributions to Economics, in: Product Characteristics in International Economics, chapter 0, pages 51-90, Springer.
    27. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    28. Barry Eichengreen & Poonam Gupta, 2013. "Exports of services: Indian experience in perspective," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(1), pages 35-60, April.
    29. Nyahoho Emmanuel, 2010. "Determinants of Comparative Advantage in the International Trade of Services: An Empirical Study of the Hecksher-Ohlin Approach," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, February.
    30. Fukunari Kimura & Hyun-Hoon Lee, 2006. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade in Services," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(1), pages 92-121, April.
    31. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana, 2011. "Estimating vertical spillovers from FDI: Why results vary and what the true effect is," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 234-244.
    32. Zheng Wang & Meina Xu, 2018. "Aid for trade and the quality of exports," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(10), pages 668-673, June.
    33. Torfinn Harding & Beata S. Javorcik, 2012. "Foreign Direct Investment and Export Upgrading," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 964-980, November.
    34. Shankar Ghimire & Debasri Mukherjee & Eskander Alvi, 2013. "Sectoral Aid-for-Trade and Sectoral Exports: A Seemingly Unrelated Regression Analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2744-2755.
    35. Luke Emeka Okafor & Wing Leong Teo, 2019. "2018 WTO Trade Policy Review of Malaysia," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(12), pages 3447-3463, December.
    36. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Effect of economic complexity on services export diversification: do foreign direct investment inflows matter?," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 413-437, June.
    37. Janet Ceglowski, 2006. "Does Gravity Matter in a Service Economy?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(2), pages 307-329, July.
    38. Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D. & Kai Rehwald, 2017. "Is aid for trade effective? A panel quantile regression approach," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 175-203, November.
    39. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    40. Ricardo Mora & Iliana Reggio, 2015. "didq: A command for treatment-effect estimation under alternative assumptions," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(3), pages 796-808, September.
    41. Anirudh Shingal, 2014. "The Services Sector in India's States: A Tale of Growth, Convergence and Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(12), pages 1773-1793, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sèna K. Gnangnon, 2021. "Aid for Trade and services export diversification in recipient countries," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 189-225, June.
    2. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2024. "Effect of the accession to the world trade organization on commercial services exports," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 106-127.
    3. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade and Services Export Diversification in Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 210467, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Effect of economic complexity on services export diversification: do foreign direct investment inflows matter?," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 413-437, June.
    5. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the Duration of the Membership in GATT/WTO on Commercial Services Exports in Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 262167, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Effect of Poverty on Services Export Concentration in Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 223178, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2021. "Development aid and services export diversification," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 125-156, February.
    8. Sahoo, Pravakar & Dash, Ranjan Kumar, 2014. "India's surge in modern services exports: Empirics for policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1082-1100.
    9. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Iyer, Harish, 2021. "Effect of Aid for Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Utilization of Unilateral Trade Preferences offered by the QUAD countries," EconStor Preprints 238211, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2024. "Effects of intellectual property rights protection on services export diversification in developing countries," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 46(1), pages 53-89.
    11. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2021. "Services diversification and economic growth," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 18(1), pages 49-86, June.
    12. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of the utilization of non-reciprocal trade preferences offered by the QUAD countries on beneficiary countries' economic complexity," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "Effect of Multilateral Trade Liberalization on Services Export Diversification," EconStor Preprints 229152, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    14. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Export diversification and financial openness," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 675-717, October.
    15. Pravakar Sahoo & Ranjan Kumar Dash, 2017. "What Drives India's Surge in Service Exports?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 439-461, February.
    16. Bahman Huseynli, 2023. "Effect of Exports of Goods and Services and Energy Consumption in Italy`s Service Sector," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 254-261, May.
    17. Camille Reverdy, 2023. "Estimating the general equilibrium effects of services trade liberalization," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 493-521, May.
    18. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) development strategy, Aid for Trade flows and structural change in production," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-29, December.
    19. Milena Kern & Jörg Paetzold & Hannes Winner, 2021. "Cutting red tape for trade in services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(10), pages 2858-2886, October.
    20. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of structural economic vulnerability on the participation in international trade," EconStor Preprints 262004, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:47:y:2024:i:4:p:1495-1530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.