Economic research and trade policy analysis
Digital Connectivity & E-Commerce
Digital networks are an increasingly critical component of global trade. In 2017 the Global Review of Aid for Trade highlighted the importance of accessible and affordable connections for trade connectivity. Drawing extensively on information harvested in the Monitoring and Evaluation exercise in preparation for the Review this paper analyses aid for trade for digital connectivity and e-commerce.
How Does the Regular Work of WTO Influence Regional Trade Agreements?
This paper illustrates how the work of the WTO's standing committees is fuelling regulatory cooperation between WTO members and inspiring RTA negotiators.
WTO Trade Monitoring Ten Years on Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead
A decade has passed since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. Less than a month after the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers an internal Secretariat Task Force was established by the WTO Director-General to monitor the trade related developments associated with the global financial crisis.
Specialization Within Global Value Chains
This paper studies the factors of comparative advantage within global value chains relying on a framework where comparative advantage is measured through the interaction of country and industry characteristics.
Recent Trade Dynamics in Asia
This paper looks at the extent to which the shift in the lower value added production to countries in the following development "tier" is actually becoming a reality.
Can Economic Sanctions be Effective?
While economic sanctions may be attractive policy tools for governments wanting to express discontent with a country's behaviour it is arguable if from an economic perspective sanctions can achieve the change that is often envisaged through the punitive measures taken. In fact the literature does not present conclusive evidence that economic sanctions are an effective policy instrument. Nevertheless the number of sanction episodes is on the rise and have increasingly gained in popularity in recent years. What can explain that?
Introduction
Over the last few decades the internet has entered every corner of our lives from social interactions to entertainment and work and has fundamentally reshaped our economies slashing the cost of acquiring and trading information. It has fuelled the digital revolution fundamentally changing the ways in which we communicate consume and produce and it has profoundly transformed international trade in terms of what we trade how we trade and who is trading.
The economics of how digital technologies impact trade
This section focuses on how new technologies are transforming international trade creating new opportunities for a more inclusive trading system and raising new challenges. The section opens with a discussion of how digital technologies affect international trade costs. This is followed by an assessment of how digital technologies change the nature of what is traded how we trade and who trades what. Finally the potential impact of important trends in technological development is quantified and long-term projections on international trade are made using the WTO Global Trade Model.
Towards a new digital era
This section describes the rise of digital technologies and identifies the technological forces that have helped propel their growth. It examines how digital technologies are changing the economy by giving rise to new markets goods and services and discusses some of the concerns that have arisen in parallel regarding privacy market concentration the impact on productivity and the digital divide. The section also discusses the methodological and data challenges involved in trying to measure the value of digital transactions and digital trade and provides estimates culled from international organizations and national authorities as well as financial reports from a number of well-known firms.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer
The World Trade Report 2018 was prepared under the general responsibility of Xiaozhun Yi WTO Deputy Director-General and Robert Koopman Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division. This year the Report was coordinated by Cosimo Beverelli and Emmanuelle Ganne. The authors of the Report are Marc Bacchetta Eddy Bekkers Cosimo Beverelli Emmanuelle Ganne John Hancock Mark Koulen Andreas Maurer José-Antonio Monteiro Coleman Nee Roberta Piermartini Stela Rubinova Viktor Stolzenburg Robert Teh and Ankai Xu (Economic Research and Statistics Division).
How do we prepare for the technology-induced reshaping of trade?
This section examines how international trade cooperation can help governments all over the world harness digital technologies and seize the new trading opportunities they will create for firms both large and small. Section D.1 summarizes the main opportunities and challenges that arise with the expansion of digital trade. Section D.2 provides examples of the policies that governments put in place to exploit these opportunities and to address these challenges. Section D.3 then considers whether and how international cooperation can help governments exploit the gains from digital trade cope with the challenges and at the same time achieve their public policy objectives now and in the future.
Foreword by the WTO Director-General
Trade and technology are closely interlinked. From the invention of the wheel to the railways to the advent of containerization technology has constantly played a key role in shaping the way we trade — and this phenomenon is accelerating like never before. We are living through an era of unprecedented technological change and a series of innovations that leverage the internet could have a major impact. For example the Internet of Things artificial intelligence 3D printing and Blockchain have the potential to profoundly transform the way we trade who trades and what is traded.
Conclusions
The world trading system has always been shaped by technological progress. Not only is technology a determinant of trade costs but it also defines what products can be traded across borders and it affects patterns of comparative advantage.
World Trade Report 2018
Trade has always been shaped by technology but the rapid development of digital technologies in recent times has the potential to transform international trade profoundly in the years to come. The World Trade Report 2018 examines how digital technologies – and in particular the Internet of Things artificial intelligence 3D printing and Blockchain – affect trade costs the nature of what is traded and the composition of trade. It estimates how global trade may be affected by these technologies over the next 15 years.
Competition Agency Guidelines and Policy Initiatives Regarding the Application of Competition Law Vis-À-Vis Intellectual Property
Competition agency guidelines policy statements and related advocacy are an important vehicle for policy expression and the guidance of firms across the full spectrum of anti-competitive practices and market conduct.
Least-Developed Countries, Transfer of Technology and the Trips Agreement
This paper examines the background of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement the nature of this obligation on developed country Members that pertains to the promotion of technology transfer to LDC Members and how it is being implemented and how such implementation is being monitored in the TRIPS Council.