Trade in services, far more than trade in goods, is affected by a variety of domestic regulations, ranging from qualification and licensing requirements in professional services to pro-competitive regulation in telecommunications services. Experience shows that the quality of regulation strongly influences the consequences of trade liberalization. WTO members have agreed that a central task in the ongoing services negotiations will be to develop a set of rules to ensure that domestic regulations support rather than impede trade liberalization. Since these rules are bound to have a profound impact on the evolution of policy, particularly in developing countries, it is important that they be conducive to economically rational policy-making. This book addresses two central questions: What impact can international trade rules on services have on the exercise of domestic regulatory sovereignty? And how can services negotiations be harnessed to promote and consolidate domestic policy reform across highly diverse sectors? The book, with contributions from several of the world's leading experts in the field, explores a range of rule-making challenges arising at this policy interface, in areas such as transparency, standards and the adoption of a necessity test for services trade. Contributions also provide an in-depth look at these issues in the key areas of accountancy, energy, finance, health, telecommunications and transportation services.

This book sets out to examine one of the most important issues on trade and the environment namely, the trade effects of domestic environmental policy. The central question addressed is whether stringent domestic environmental policies reduce the international competitiveness of environmentally sensitive industries. This study is distinguished by two major innovations that go beyond the established literature: the examination of time-series evidence to explore the relationship between environmental regulations and trade patterns, and the introduction of technology factors, together with endowment factors, to explain the empirical evidence. To theoretically explore the dynamic linkage between environmental regulation, technological innovation and economic growth the author sets up an intertemporal dynamic general equilibrium model in which the more fundamental, dynamic determinant of economic growth is its capacity for technological innovation. The basic findings are that (1) changes in thestringency of environmental regulations do not have long-run growth effects; and (2) technological innovation is an important determinant of a country's long-run growth. The emphasis of this book is that the trade effects of domestic environmental policy can be better understood if one allows for a dynamic Ricardian technology factor in the conventional Heckscher-Ohlin framework. Innovation and subsequent increases in relative labour productivity, together with factor endowments, are important factors in determining the relationship between environmental regulation and international competitiveness. This result should help refocus the debate on the relationship between environmental regulationand competitiveness in international trade.

Trade, Competition and Domestic Regulatory Policy presents a unique combination of analysis of both international trade and investment policies, and competition and regulatory policies. Increasingly, policymakers, businesses and the law and economics professions need to better understand how changes and policy developments in international trade and competition developed and how their interaction impacts on global business. In addition to providing a comprehensive analysis of the attempts of international trade theory and practice to deal with tariffs, non-tariff barriers, market distortions and failures to protect various kinds of property rights, this book contains a detailed treatment of how property rights protection, including intangible property rights are a critical element of ensuring open trade and competitive markets. It examines how these rights have developed over time, and how they have been integrated into trade and competition policy. This book will be of significant interest to students of international business, professors of economics, law and business, and policymakers at the intersection of trade, investment, competition and property rights.

Every country is free to develop its own policies and standards. Yet this results in standards that differ by country, creating problems for export manufacturers. This study investigates technical regulations and standards in manufacturing industries and their relationship with international competitiveness in three papers. Regulatory policy increases production costs and reduces output levels, reducing a country's export competitiveness. We find each industry is unique in the factors determining net exports and environmental regulations are often important. We find that competition policy enhances competitiveness by reducing entry barriers; causing firms to produce more output with lower prices. Exports for both total and food manufacturing in the post-competition policy period are higher than in the pre-competition period. We find that the value of food product exports is negatively affected by food safety standards: higher aflatoxin standards have higher the bilateral export flows. The work gives an insight into domestic policies and their impact on international competitiveness. It should be useful to researchers, policy makers and academics in the field of international trade.