The Evolution of Deep Trade Agreements
This paper presents new data on the content of preferential trade agreements. The data contain detailed information on the 18 policy areas most frequently covered in preferential trade agreements, focusing on the stated objectives, substantive comm...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/594201592337800118/The-Evolution-of-Deep-Trade-Agreements http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33944 |
| Summary: | This paper presents new data on the
content of preferential trade agreements. The data contain
detailed information on the 18 policy areas most frequently
covered in preferential trade agreements, focusing on the
stated objectives, substantive commitments, and other
aspects such as transparency, procedures, and enforcement.
Several new stylized facts emerge: (i) preferential trade
agreements have reduced trade-weighted average tariff rates
to less than 5 percent for more than two-thirds of
countries; (ii) the number of commitments in preferential
trade agreements has increased over time, particularly since
the 2000s and in areas aiming at facilitating flows of
services, goods, and capital; (iii) deepening commitments
have been accompanied by an increase in regulatory
requirements, namely on enforcement; (iv) developing
countries tend to have fewer commitments in preferential
trade agreements, with larger gaps in areas such as labor
and the environment; and (v) preferential trade agreements
are more similar within blocs, but similarity can be
significant even across blocs. The paper also discusses the
challenges of quantification of preferential trade
agreements "depth" and its effects and proposes a
research agenda for future work on trade agreements. |
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