The paper
This article uses machine learning and regulatory information from the World Bank and WTO to extend OECD-style measures of services trade restrictiveness to 23 additional countries. The resulting Services Policy Index connects detailed policy information with observed trade patterns.
Research findings
- Estimated services restrictions are generally more restrictive in tariff-equivalent terms than tariffs on goods, particularly in professional services and telecommunications.
- The Services Policy Index has explanatory power for bilateral services trade at the sector level and for aggregate goods and services trade.
Policy takeaways
- Give services regulation a central place in competitiveness and integration strategies, including its implications for other sectors that use services as inputs.
- Collect and publish comparable policy data regularly, with wider developing-country coverage, so governments can benchmark reforms and assess their effects.