IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/doi10.1086-712786.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economic Structure of International Trade-in-Services Agreements

Author

Listed:
  • Robert W. Staiger
  • Alan O. Sykes

Abstract

The existing economics literature on international trade agreements focuses on tariff agreements covering trade in goods and explains core features of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Tariffs play almost no role in services markets, however, and the literature cannot account for the strikingly different approach to trade liberalization in agreements such as the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). We develop a model through which key features of GATS, including its emphasis on “deep integration” can be understood. And we use this model to suggest that there may also be a middle ground for services trade liberalization between the GATS deep-integration approach and the traditional “shallow-integration” approach of GATT.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert W. Staiger & Alan O. Sykes, 2021. "The Economic Structure of International Trade-in-Services Agreements," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(4), pages 1287-1317.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/712786
    DOI: 10.1086/712786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/712786
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/712786
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/712786?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    2. Robert W. Staiger & Alan O. Sykes, 2011. "International Trade, National Treatment, and Domestic Regulation," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(1), pages 149-203.
    3. Matteo Fiorini & Mathilde Lebrand, 2016. "The Political Economy of Services Trade Agreements," CESifo Working Paper Series 5927, CESifo.
    4. Bagwell, Kyle & Staiger, Robert W., 2015. "Delocation and trade agreements in imperfectly competitive markets," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 132-156.
    5. Schwartz, Warren F & Sykes, Alan O, 2002. "The Economic Structure of Renegotiation and Dispute Resolution in the World Trade Organization," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 179-204, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lalanne, Alvaro, 2019. "Tendencias del sistema de comercio exterior relevantes para analizar la inserción internacional del Uruguay," Estudios y Perspectivas – Oficina de la CEPAL en Montevideo 45020, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

    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. Kyle Bagwell & Chad P. Bown & Robert W. Staiger, 2016. "Is the WTO Passé?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1125-1231, December.
    2. Staiger, Robert & Bagwell, Kyle & Bown, Chad, 2015. "Is the WTO Passé?," CEPR Discussion Papers 10672, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. David De Remer, 2013. "The Evolution of International Subsidy Rules," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2013-45, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Maggi, Giovanni, 2014. "International Trade Agreements," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 317-390, Elsevier.
    5. Gene M. Grossman & Phillip McCalman & Robert W. Staiger, 2021. "The “New” Economics of Trade Agreements: From Trade Liberalization to Regulatory Convergence?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 215-249, January.
    6. Vincent Rebeyrol, 2023. "Protection Without Discrimination," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(655), pages 2807-2827.
    7. David R. DeRemer, 2015. "Opportunities for Cooperation in Removing Prohibitive Trade Barriers," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1533, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    8. Peng, Shuijun & Shu, Zhongqiao & Zhang, Wencheng, 2022. "Does service trade liberalization relieve manufacturing enterprises’ financial constraints? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    9. Patricia Kotnik & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "ICT use as a determinant of export activity in manufacturing and service firms: Multi-country evidence," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 36(1), pages 103-128.
    10. Ariu, Andrea & Breinlich, Holger & Corcos, Gregory & Mion, Giordano, 2019. "The interconnections between services and goods trade at the firm-level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 173-188.
    11. de Melo, Jaime & Vijil, Mariana, 2014. "Barriers to Trade in Environmental Goods and Environmental Services: How Important Are They? How Much Progress at Reducing Them?," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 172425, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    12. Bernard M. Hoekman & Petros C. Mavroidis, 2015. "A Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement for Services?," RSCAS Working Papers 2015/25, European University Institute.
    13. Shahbaz Nasir & Kaliappa Kalirajan, 2016. "Information and Communication Technology-Enabled Modern Services Export Performances of Asian Economies," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-27, March.
    14. 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.
    15. Zhao, Liqui & Wang, Fei & Zhao, Zhong, 2016. "Trade liberalisation and child labour in China," MERIT Working Papers 2016-054, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Alexandru Manole & Ana Carp & Zoica Nicola & Marius Popovici, 2017. "Romania’s International Trade evolution analysis," Romanian Statistical Review Supplement, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 65(3), pages 130-139, March.
    17. Harms, Philipp & Shuvalova, Daria, 2020. "Cultural distance and international trade in services: A disaggregate view," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(2).
    18. Andrea Goldstein & Alessia Amighini & Bernard Hoekman, 2016. "Revitalizing the Global Trading System: What Could the G20 Do?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 24(4), pages 34-54, July.
    19. Eliasson, Kent & Hansson, Pär & Lindvert, Markus, 2018. "Decomposing value chains within Swedish multinationals," Working Papers 2018:9, Örebro University, School of Business.
    20. Francesco Bripi, 2019. "Business travels, multinational firms and international trade," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 523, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    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:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/712786. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    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.