Services Trade Under the WTO

Abstract

This article studies the role of the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the Reference Paper (RP) on telecommunications for the digital transformation of services trade, motivated by the special role assigned to telecommunications as the underlying transport means of all services. Using structural gravity applying recommended best practice (Poisson pseudo–maximum likelihood, three-way fixed effects and internal trade), it finds out that having scheduled the RP is associated with a boost in services trade and a shift over time towards digitally deliverable services. However, it does not find evidence that the RP and underlying domestic regulation have shifted trade from commercial presence towards cross-border trade.