Transparency, Trade Costs, and Regional Integration in the Asia Pacific

The authors show in this paper that increasing the transparency of the trading environment can be an important complement to traditional liberalization of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Our definition of transparency is grounded in a transaction c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Helble, Matthias, Shepherd, Ben, Wilson, John S.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ACCOUNTING AGRICULTURE ALTERNATIVE INSTRUMENTS ANTIDUMPING APPLIED TARIFF BASIC TRADE POLICY BENCHMARKS BENEFITS OF TRADE BENEFITS OF TRADE FACILITATION BILATERAL TARIFFS BILATERAL TRADE BILATERAL TRADE DATA BINDING CONSTRAINTS BUSINESS REGULATION CAPACITY BUILDING COMMERCIAL POLICY COMPARATIVE ANALYSES COMPETITIVENESS COMPETITIVENESS OF FIRMS CONTRACT ENFORCEABILITY CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT COST ANALYSIS COUNTERFACTUAL SIMULATIONS CUSTOMS CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION CUSTOMS PROCEDURES CUSTOMS REGULATIONS DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DOMESTIC CURRENCIES DOMESTIC PRODUCERS DUMMY VARIABLE DUMMY VARIABLES ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS ECONOMETRICS ECONOMIC COOPERATION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC WELFARE ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION EMERGING ECONOMIES ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES EQUIPMENT EXCHANGE RATES EXPENDITURE EXPORT CLEARANCE EXPORT FORMALITIES EXPORT GROWTH EXPORT MARKET EXPORT MARKETS EXPORT PERMITS EXPORTER EXPORTERS EXPORTS FACTOR ANALYSIS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FREE TRADE FUTURE RESEARCH GDP GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODEL GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS GLOBAL INTEGRATION GOVERNANCE INDICATORS GOVERNMENT ACTION GOVERNMENT ACTIONS GOVERNMENT POLICIES GRAVITY EQUATION GRAVITY MODEL GRAVITY MODELS GROSS VALUE HOMOGENEOUS GOODS HUMAN CAPITAL IMPORT BARRIERS IMPORT SHARE IMPORT TARIFFS IMPORTS INCOME INCOME GROUP INCOME GROUPS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS INSTRUMENT INTERMEDIATE GOODS INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT FLOWS INTERNATIONAL MARKETS INTERNATIONAL TRADE INTERNATIONAL TRADING INTERNATIONAL TRADING SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS INVENTORIES INVESTMENT CLIMATE INVESTOR CONFIDENCE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY LOW-INCOME ECONOMIES LOW-INCOME ECONOMY MARKET ACCESS MARKET ENTRY MARKET SIZE MIDDLE-INCOME ECONOMIES MULTILATERAL SYSTEM NATIONAL MARKET NON-TARIFF BARRIERS OPEN COUNTRIES OUTPUT PATTERN OF TRADE POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL ECONOMY OF REFORM POLITICAL STABILITY PRODUCTION COSTS PROPERTY RIGHTS QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS REGIONAL INTEGRATION REGIONAL TRADE RETURN RULE OF LAW SPECIALIZATION STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TARIFF BARRIERS TARIFF BINDINGS TARIFF DATA TARIFF DISPERSION TARIFF LINE TARIFF LINES TARIFF POLICY TARIFF RATE TARIFF RATES TARIFF SCHEDULE TAX TAX RATES TECHNICAL COOPERATION TECHNICAL REGULATIONS TRADE BARRIERS TRADE CONTEXT TRADE COSTS TRADE EFFECTS TRADE FACILITATION TRADE FLOWS TRADE IN GOODS TRADE IN SERVICES TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRADE LIBERALIZATION EFFORTS TRADE PERFORMANCE TRADE POLICY TRADE POLICY ENVIRONMENT TRADE POLICY REVIEW TRADE POLICY REVIEW MECHANISM TRADE REMEDIES TRADE VOLUMES TRADING TRADING VOLUMES TRANSACTION TRANSACTION COST TRANSACTION COSTS TRANSPARENCY TRANSPORT COSTS TRUST FUND UNIFORM TARIFFS URUGUAY ROUND VALUE ADDED WELFARE GAINS WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS WORLD ECONOMY WORLD TRADE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM WTO
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/11/8698313/transparency-trade-costs-regional-integration-asia-pacific http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7573

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Summary:	The authors show in this paper that increasing the transparency of the trading environment can be an important complement to traditional liberalization of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Our definition of transparency is grounded in a transaction cost analysis. The authors focus on two dimensions of transparency: predictability (reducing the cost of uncertainty) and simplification (reducing information costs). Using the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies as a case study, the authors construct indices of importer and exporter transparency for the region from a wide range of sources. Our results from a gravity model suggest that improving trade-related transparency in APEC could hold significant benefits by raising intra-APEC trade by proximately USD 148 billion or 7.5 pecent of baseline trade in the region.

Transparency, Trade Costs, and Regional Integration in the Asia Pacific

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