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Do WTO + commitments in services trade agreements reflect a quest for optimal regulatory convergence? Evidence from Asia
Author(s) -
Shingal Anirudh,
Roy Martin,
Sauvé Pierre
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.594
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1467-9701
pISSN - 0378-5920
DOI - 10.1111/twec.12574
Subject(s) - convergence (economics) , economics , goods and services , international trade , international economics , trade in services , empirical evidence , sample (material) , business , trade barrier , economy , economic growth , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography
Literature examining WTO + commitments in services trade agreements ( STA s) has not considered the role of services regulation. We bridge this gap using a sample of 15 South/South‐East Asian countries, given the burgeoning trend of Asian economies towards services preferentialism and the largely WTO + nature of their preferential services commitments. Our empirical findings suggest that Asian trading dyads with regulatory frameworks that are more similar and more trade restrictive tend to undertake higher levels of WTO + commitments in their STA s. There is also evidence in our results, including by modes of supply, for WTO + commitments in Asian STA s being driven by goods trade complementarities, alluding to supply chain dynamics in the region. Such results support the hypothesis that the heightened “servicification” of production generates a demand to lower services input costs arising from regulatory incidence and heterogeneity.