The economics of trade facilitation[L'économie de la facilitation des échanges]

This dissertation explores the narrow dimensions of trade facilitation and their impact on trade. In the first part, I describe the various ways to measure trade facilitation. I explore the traditional indicators of trade facilitation as well as some specific surveys. I indicate several limitations of these commonly used indicators. I also review the role of international arrangements linked to trade facilitation which are rarely taken into account in related studies. Then, I build a composite indicator of trade facilitation which covers various narrow dimensions. It follows the WTO negotiations framework and draws on ninety nine variables. I show that several disparities remain across OECD countries and that information availability, advance rulings and formalities have an important impact on trade. In the second part, I review various trade facilitation dimensions across the World and particularly the European Union. It reveals several disparities and indicates the need to expand the TFIs to a wider set of countries. The European case study suggests that potential gains remain even in developed countries who share -similar- regulations. It underlines not only some implementation issues but also a path to follow to improve trade facilitation policies. Finally, I provide several insights on the methodology of EU trade facilitation performance.