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11 Publications found…

  • Working Paper 11 October 2023

    Digital Trade, Data Protection and EU Adequacy Decisions

    By Bernard Hoekman, Filippo Santi, Martina Ferracane and Erik van der Marel et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Using a structural gravity model, we assess whether EU adequacy decisions on data protection are associated with bilateral digital trade. We find that countries that obtained EU adequacy exhibit an increase in digital trade and trade more with each other.

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  • Working Paper 9 October 2023

    Discretion and Public Procurement Outcomes in Europe

    By Bernard Hoekman and Bedri Kamil Onur Taş et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This paper shows that realizing efficiency benefits from exercising greater discretion where permitted by law reduces the probability small firms win contracts and continue to do so, pointing to a tradeoff between the potential cost reduction benefits of exercising discretion and other goals of procurement policy.

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  • Academic Paper 10 September 2023

    Trade and Sustainable Development: Non-Economic Objectives in the Theory of Economic Policy

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    While the theory of economic policy offers a potential framework for thinking about the joint pursuit of economic objectives (EOs) and non-economic objectives (NEOs), over time the theory of economic policy was formalized in a way that considers NEOs as constraints that are given, rather than as goals that may themselves be endogenous alongside EOs. We examine the analytical treatment of NEOs as co-determined with EOs, revisiting some of the ground broken by Alan Winters in his analysis of NEOs. We review the place of NEOs in the theory of economic policy, discuss current practice in the representation of such objectives as exogenous constraints, and develop an argument for representation of NEOs as objectives in themselves.

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  • Academic Paper 8 September 2023

    Noneconomic Objectives, Global Value Chains and International Cooperation

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Systemic conflicts increasingly affect the global value chains (GVCs) underpinning globalization by creating policy uncertainty and politicizing trade and investment decisions. Unilateral policies to attain competitiveness and noneconomic objectives (NEOs), including national security, create incentives for international cooperation to attenuate policy spillovers. Recent initiatives seeking to do so are organized around supply chain governance and need not be anchored in trade agreements. Whether such cooperation is feasible and can be designed to be effective in realizing NEOs is unclear. Plurilateral GVC-centered cooperation offers a potential path for states to pursue NEOs and reduce policy uncertainty for international business. Research offers little guidance to policymakers on the design of such cooperation. A key open question is to determine whether explicit market access commitments are necessary to sustain cooperation. Creating mechanisms for the epistemic communities that are concerned with a specific NEO or policy area to interact with stakeholders and lead firms operating international production networks can help inform the design of cooperation to attain NEOs more efficiently.

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  • Book 25 June 2023

    Beyond Trade: How deep trade agreements shape non-trade outcomes

    By L. Alan Winters CB and Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    Trade agreements increasingly include disciplines aimed at achieving non-trade objectives: promoting FDI, technology transfers, workers’ movements, but also improving labor conditions, environmental quality and achieving other broader social goals. This eBook brings together a group of leading economists to investigate the economic rationale for including nontrade objectives in trade agreements and whether these disciplines actually achieve their intended goals. Includes chapters by L. Alan Winters on 'Trade agreements and non-trade objectives: A cautionary note' and Bernard Hoekman, with Mavroidis and Nelson on 'FTAs vs. other forms of regulatory cooperation'.

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  • Academic Paper 28 May 2023

    Geopolitical competition, globalisation and WTO reform

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary CITP publication

    This paper discusses options to manage spillovers of unilateral trade policies motivated by national security and other non-economic objectives on global trade and investment. Within the WTO framework, we argue a ‘specific trade concern’ mechanism is likely to be more effective than dispute settlement to address national security-motivated trade intervention. More broadly, we propose creation of a platform for governments, supported by relevant international organisations, to enhance transparency and assess the effectiveness and magnitude of the spillover effects of trade/related policies of systemic import. This would serve to help identify efficient instruments to achieve economic and non-economic goals and inform WTO reform discussions on subsidies and discriminatory trade policies. Plurilateral cooperation among like-minded nations offers a pragmatic pathway to address spillover effects of policies to achieve security and other non-economic objectives but requires a stronger governance framework to ensure consistency with an open multilateral trading system.

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  • Academic Paper 20 July 2022

    Plurilateral Cooperation as an Alternative to Trade Agreements: Innovating One Domain at a Time

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary Pre-CITP publication

    At the end of 2017, different groups of WTO members decided to launch talks on four subjects, setting aside the WTO consensus working practice. This paper argues that these ‘joint statement initiatives’ (JSIs) should seek to establish open plurilateral agreements (OPAs) even in instances where the outcome can be incorporated into existing schedules of commitments of participating WTO members. Designing agreements as OPAs provides an institutional framework for collaboration among the responsible national authorities, transparency, mutual review and learning, as well as alternatives to default WTO dispute settlement procedures which may not be appropriate for supporting cooperation on the matters addressed by the JSIs. In parallel, WTO members should establish enforceable multilateral principles to ensure OPAs are compatible with an open global trade regime.

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  • Academic Paper 20 July 2022

    Procurement policy and SME participation in public purchasing

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary Pre-CITP publication

    This study investigates the relationship between regulatory policies governing public procurement and participation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), using a large dataset on European procurement. The authors find that better quality procurement regulation is associated with greater SME participation and higher probability that SMEs win contracts.

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  • Academic Paper 20 July 2022

    EU Trade Sustainability Impact Assessments: Revisiting the Consultation Process

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary Pre-CITP publication

    Trade sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) are the main tool used by the European Commission to assess the potential effects of trade policy initiatives and to engage with stakeholders. SIAs have two elements: a model-based quantitative analysis and a consultation process (CP). Both include a focus on a broad range of non-trade issues, many of which are included in sustainable development chapters of EU trade agreements. This paper argues for making CPs a more useful input into the design of trade cooperation. Building bridges between a revamped ex-ante CP and mechanisms that encompass public and private actors to support implementation, resolve problems, and assess progress over time could further help achieve trade and sustainable development goals.

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  • Academic Paper 20 July 2022

    Services Trade Policies and Economic Integration

    By Bernard Hoekman et al.

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    Summary Pre-CITP publication

    This paper applies machine learning to recreate to a high degree of accuracy the OECD's Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) to provide quantitative evidence on the restrictiveness of services policies in 2016 for a sample of developing countries, using regulatory data collected by the World Bank and WTO. Resulting estimates are used to extend the OECD STRI approach to 23 additional countries, producing what we term a Services Policy Index (SPI). Converting the SPI to ad valorem equivalent terms shows that services policies are typically much more restrictive than tariffs on imports of goods, in particular in professional services and telecommunications. The SPI has strong explanatory power for bilateral trade in services at the sectoral level, as well as for aggregate goods and services trade.

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