In the modern economy, it is not only goods that move across borders. Services such as telecommunications, transport and logistics, and business services are also increasingly traded internationally, either in their own right or embodied in goods trade. Understanding these dynamics is key to unlocking the potential of Services Trade to generate growth and development for developing countries.

DTC and its Principal, Dr. Ben Shepherd, have been heavily involved in research and analysis on Services Trade. Areas of activity include developing a new quantitative technique to measure the tradability of services across countries, contributing to a World Bank toolkit on regulatory alternatives in services sectors, and pioneering work examining the impact of national policies and Regional Trade Agreements on services trade costs and trade flows.

Services Trade is a highly technical area, but DTC’s combination of quantitative expertise and policy insight makes it possible to produce knowledge products that are of direct use to policymakers and analysts.