Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports

We test the hypothesis that product standards harmonised to de facto international standards are less trade restrictive than ones that are not. To do this, we construct a new database of European Union (EU) product standards. We identify standards that are aligned with International Organisation for...

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Main Authors:	Czubala, Witold, Shepherd, Ben, Wilson, John S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 International Law K330 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Microdata Set
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5563

id	okr-10986-5563
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-55632021-04-23T14:02:22Z Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports Czubala, Witold Shepherd, Ben Wilson, John S. Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 International Law K330 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Microdata Set We test the hypothesis that product standards harmonised to de facto international standards are less trade restrictive than ones that are not. To do this, we construct a new database of European Union (EU) product standards. We identify standards that are aligned with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards (as a proxy for de facto international norms). We use a sample-selection gravity model to examine the impact of EU standards on African textiles and clothing exports, a sector of particular development interest. We find robust evidence that non-harmonised standards reduce African exports of these products. EU standards which are harmonised to ISO standards are less trade restricting. Our results suggest that efforts to promote African exports of manufactures may need to be complemented by measures to reduce the cost impacts of product standards, including international harmonisation. In addition, efforts to harmonise national standards with international norms, including those through the World Trade Organisation Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, promise concrete benefits through trade expansion. 2012-03-30T07:33:26Z 2012-03-30T07:33:26Z 2009 Journal Article Journal of African Economies 09638024 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5563 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank Journal Article Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 International Law K330 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Microdata Set
spellingShingle	Trade Policy International Trade Organizations F130 Country and Industry Studies of Trade F140 International Law K330 International Linkages to Development Role of International Organizations O190 Microdata Set Czubala, Witold Shepherd, Ben Wilson, John S. Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
geographic_facet	Africa
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	We test the hypothesis that product standards harmonised to de facto international standards are less trade restrictive than ones that are not. To do this, we construct a new database of European Union (EU) product standards. We identify standards that are aligned with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards (as a proxy for de facto international norms). We use a sample-selection gravity model to examine the impact of EU standards on African textiles and clothing exports, a sector of particular development interest. We find robust evidence that non-harmonised standards reduce African exports of these products. EU standards which are harmonised to ISO standards are less trade restricting. Our results suggest that efforts to promote African exports of manufactures may need to be complemented by measures to reduce the cost impacts of product standards, including international harmonisation. In addition, efforts to harmonise national standards with international norms, including those through the World Trade Organisation Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, promise concrete benefits through trade expansion.
format	Journal Article
author	Czubala, Witold Shepherd, Ben Wilson, John S.
author_facet	Czubala, Witold Shepherd, Ben Wilson, John S.
author_sort	Czubala, Witold
title	Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
title_short	Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
title_full	Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
title_fullStr	Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
title_full_unstemmed	Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports
title_sort	help or hindrance? the impact of harmonised standards on african exports
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5563
_version_	1764395496658436096

Help or Hindrance? The Impact of Harmonised Standards on African Exports

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