Regulatory Reform and Standards Harmonization

Harmonized international standards and regulations can support trade and export expansion. Duplicative and discriminatory regulations and standards, however, can be an important factor driving trade transactions costs. There are only limited data sets available to examine the impact of standards on trade costs and facilitation. The World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Database is one of the few sources of data available.

Upcoming research on trade costs and facilitation will focus on the question of how regulatory policies governing product and services markets impact production and transactions costs affecting goods. This will not only highlight the constraints imposed by costly norms on less productive developing country firms, but it will also include empirical analysis of sectors such as textiles, clothing, and basic electrical goods. The role of services as production inputs will be an important focus

Below, is a list of related research, the majority of which has been carried out as part of the Trade Costs and Facilitation Project at the World Bank.

Presentations:

• Standards & Trade: Empirical Evidence and Case Studies
• Standards & Global Trade: A Voice for Africa
• Quantifying the Impact of Technical Barriers: Can It Be Done? K. Maskus, J. Wilson, eds., University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2001.