Reports
Discussion Papers
No.309 Non-conventional Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: Do They Enhance International Trade?
by HAYAKAWA Kazunobu , KIMURA Fukunari, NABESHIMA Kaoru
September 2011
ABSTRACT
The scope of recent regional trade agreements (RTAs) is becoming much wider in terms of including several provisions such as competition policy or intellectual property. This paper empirically examines how far advanced, non-conventional provisions in RTAs increase trade values among RTA member countries, by estimating the gravity equation with more disaggregated indicators for RTAs. As a result, we find that the provision on competition policy has the largest impacts on trade values, following that on government procurement. Our further analysis reveals that the more significant roles of these two provisions can be also observed in the impacts on the intensive and extensive margins.
Keywords: Gravity; RTA; Extensive and intensive margins
JEL classification: F15; F20; F53
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