IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wtowps/tisd9603.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The government procurement agreement: Implications of economic theory

Author

Listed:
  • Mattoo, Aaditya

Abstract

This paper analyzes the provisions of the new Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), drawing insights from trade theory and recent developments in the economics of information and law. A central conclusion is that in a world where imperfectly informed procurers purchase from imperfectly competitive firms on behalf of imperfectly informed tax-payers, it is not easy to devise rules which would be optimal in all situations. Nevertheless, the non-discriminatory provisions of the GPA seem to approximate closely the rules which would maximize global welfare. A significant benefit of the GPA is in helping to overcome national agency problems in procurement by creating mechanisms for reciprocal international monitoring supported by multilateral enforcement. There is, however, scope for improvement. First, the GPA does not equip bidders for government contracts to vault over trade restrictions, so the creation of genuine international competition for government procurement remains crucially dependent on the liberalization of trade. Secondly, weaknesses remain in the enforcement mechanism. These include the low level of compensation to a successful challenger, the absence of restrictions on settlements, and the lack of provision for challenge and review of bail-outs. The paper proposes certain improvements.

Suggested Citation

  • Mattoo, Aaditya, 1996. "The government procurement agreement: Implications of economic theory," WTO Staff Working Papers TISD-96-03, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:tisd9603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/90696/2/773883878.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McAfee, R. Preston & McMillan, John, 1989. "Government procurement and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 291-308, May.
    2. 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.
    3. Gregory Vistnes, 1994. "An Empirical Investigation of Procurement Contract Structures," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 215-241, Summer.
    4. Robert C. Marshall & Michael J. Meurer & Jean-Francois Richard, 1994. "Litigation Settlement and Collusion," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 211-239.
    5. Baldwin, Robert E., 1984. "Trade policies in developed countries," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 571-619, Elsevier.
    6. Keith J. Crocker & Kenneth J. Reynolds, 1993. "The Efficiency of Incomplete Contracts: An Empirical Analysis of Air Force Engine Procurement," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(1), pages 126-146, Spring.
    7. James A. Brander & Barbara J. Spencer, 1981. "Tariffs and the Extraction of Foreign Monopoly Rents under Potential Entry," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 14(3), pages 371-389, August.
    8. Patrick Messerlin, 1994. "Agreement on Government Procurement," Post-Print hal-03397665, HAL.
    9. Miyagiwa, Kaz, 1991. "Oligopoly and Discriminatory Government Procurement Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1320-1328, December.
    10. Hoekman, Bernard & Mavroidis, Petros C., 1995. "The World Trade Organization's agreement on government procurement : expanding disciplines, declining membership?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1429, The World Bank.
    11. Branco, Fernando, 1994. "Favoring domestic firms in procurement contracts," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1-2), pages 65-80, August.
    12. Krugman, Paul R, 1987. "Is Free Trade Passe?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 131-144, Fall.
    13. D. L. Mclachlan, 1985. "Discriminatory Public Procurement, Economic Integration and the Role of Bureaucracy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 357-372, June.
    14. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, April.
    15. Robert C. Marshall & Michael J. Meurer & Jean-Francois Richard, 1994. "Curbing Agency Problems in the Procurement Process by Protest Oversight," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 297-318, Summer.
    16. Cooter, Robert D & Rubinfeld, Daniel L, 1989. "Economic Analysis of Legal Disputes and Their Resolution," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1067-1097, September.
    17. John Vickers & George Yarrow, 1988. "Privatization: An Economic Analysis," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262720116, April.
    18. Vousden,Neil, 1990. "The Economics of Trade Protection," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521346696, October.
    19. Kim, In-Gyu, 1994. "Price-preference vs. tariff policies in government procurement auctions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 217-222, June.
    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. Anirudh Shingal, 2015. "Econometric Analyses of Home Bias in Government Procurement," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 188-219, February.
    2. Federico Trionfetti, 2002. "Politiques d'achats publics et spécialisations internationales," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(1), pages 141-150.
    3. repec:ces:ifodic:v:2:y:2004:i:3:p:14567756 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Benedikt Herz & Xosé-Luís Varela-Irimia, 2020. "Border effects in European public procurement [Information costs and home bias: an analysis of US holdings of foreign equities]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(6), pages 1359-1405.
    5. Marius BRÜLHART & Federico TRIONFETTI, 2000. "Public Expenditure and International Specialisation," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 00.23, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    6. Mattoo, Aaditya, 1997. "Dealing with monopolies and state enterprises: WTO rules for goods and services," WTO Staff Working Papers TISD-98-01, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    7. René L. Frey & Christoph Kilchenmann & Nicolai Krautter, 2004. "International Public Procurement Agreements - Problems of Implemetations in Switzerland," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 2(03), pages 31-37, October.
    8. Štěpán Veselý & Mirko Dohnal, 2012. "Decision making in goverment tenders: A formalized qualitative model," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 397-406.

    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. Marius BRÜLHART & Federico TRIONFETTI, 2000. "Public Expenditure and International Specialisation," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 00.23, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    2. Naegelen, Florence & Mougeot, Michel, 1998. "Discriminatory public procurement policy and cost reduction incentives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 349-367, March.
    3. Evenett, Simon J. & Hoekman, Bernard M., 2005. "Government procurement: market access, transparency, and multilateral trade rules," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 163-183, March.
    4. Albert Breton & Pierre Salmon, 1996. "Are Discriminatory Procurement Policies Motivated by Protectionism?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 47-68, February.
    5. García-Alonso, María D.C. & Levine, Paul, 2008. "Strategic procurement, openness and market structure," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1180-1190, September.
    6. Marian W. Moszoro & Pablo T. Spiller, 2019. "Political contestability and public contracting," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(5), pages 945-966, October.
    7. Ragoussis, Alexandros, 2016. "Government agoraphobia: home bias in developing country procurement markets," IDOS Discussion Papers 5/2016, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    8. Brulhart, Marius & Trionfetti, Federico, 2004. "Public expenditure, international specialisation and agglomeration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 851-881, August.
    9. Chiara Carboni & Elisabetta Iossa & Gianpiero Mattera, 2018. "Barriers towards foreign firms in international public procurement markets: a review," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(1), pages 85-107, March.
    10. Chiara Carboni & Elisabetta Iossa & Gianpiero Mattera, 2017. "Barriers to Public Procurement: A Review and Recent Patterns in the EU," IEFE Working Papers 92, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    11. Moszoro, Marian W. & Spiller, Pablo T., 2014. "Third-Party Opportunism and the Theory of Public Contracts: Operationalization and Applications," MPRA Paper 101592, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Barbosa, Klenio & Boyer, Pierre C., 2021. "Discrimination in Dynamic Procurement Design with Learning-by-doing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Mougeot, Michel & Naegelen, Florence, 2005. "A political economy analysis of preferential public procurement policies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 483-501, June.
    14. Marian W. Moszoro & Pablo T. Spiller, 2012. "Third-Party Opportunism and the Nature of Public Contracts," NBER Working Papers 18636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Vagstad, Steinar, 1995. "Promoting fair competition in public procurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 283-307, October.
    16. Marian W. Moszoro, 2018. "Tools and approaches in public contracting research," Chapters, in: Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), A Research Agenda for New Institutional Economics, chapter 10, pages 88-96, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Ganuza, Juan-Jose & Hauk, Esther, 2004. "Economic integration and corruption," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 1463-1484, December.
    18. Long, Ngo Van & Stähler, Frank, 2009. "A contest model of liberalizing government procurements," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 479-488, December.
    19. Deltas, George & Evenett, Simon, 2020. "Language as a barrier to entry: Foreign competition in Georgian public procurement," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    20. MILE 02, Anirudh Shingal, 2012. "Exploring foreign market access in government procurement," Papers 305, World Trade Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    government procurement agreement; trade policy;

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

    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:zbw:wtowps:tisd9603. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wtoerch.html .

    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.