Services Globalization in an Age of Insecurity : Rethinking Trade Cooperation
Decades of services trade negotiations have produced a plethora of rules and commitments but limited real liberalization. One reason is a form of "negotiating tunnel vision," which has led to a focus on reciprocal market opening rather th...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/340741536670011626/Services-Globalization-in-an-Age-of-Insecurity-Rethinking-Trade-Cooperation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30423 |
| Summary: | Decades of services trade negotiations
have produced a plethora of rules and commitments but
limited real liberalization. One reason is a form of
"negotiating tunnel vision," which has led to a
focus on reciprocal market opening rather than on creating
the regulatory preconditions for liberalization. This paper
makes four points. First, current trade disciplines are a
useful but inadequate restraint on regulatory protection.
Second, proposed disciplines on domestic regulation would
add value but would not solve problems with the application
of existing trade law and could create a hold-back problem
in securing new liberalizing commitments. Third, insulating
domestic consumers from international market failure is a
precondition for further liberalization in many services
sectors, and the relevant international bargain needs to be
an exchange of regulatory commitments by exporters in return
for market access commitments by importers. Fourth, such
bargains create a risk of exclusion for nonparticipants that
can and should be addressed. The paper illustrates these
arguments drawing upon recent developments relating to data
privacy, financial services, labor mobility, and competition policy. |
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