Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin

Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin

The author uses a new database of EU product standards in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sectors to present the first empirical evidence that international standards harmonization is associated with increased partner country export variety. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shepherd, Ben
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
CDI
DIO
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
HARMONIZATION
ID
INTERNATIONAL BANK
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
IP
JA
MT
RCD
TRADE FACILITATION
USES
WEB
Microdata Set
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/11/8681816/product-standards-harmonization-trade-evidence-extensive-margin
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7606
id okr-10986-7606
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-76062021-04-23T14:02:34Z Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin Shepherd, Ben CDI DIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HARMONIZATION ID INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IP JA MT RCD TRADE FACILITATION USES WEB Microdata Set The author uses a new database of EU product standards in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sectors to present the first empirical evidence that international standards harmonization is associated with increased partner country export variety. A 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of internationally harmonized standards is associated with a 0.2 percent increase in partner country export variety, whereas a 10 percent increase in the total number of standards is associated with a nearly 6 percent decrease in product variety. Although small, the harmonization elasticity is statistically significant, and proves highly robust to sample changes and instrumental variables estimation using instruments motivated by political economy considerations. Moreover, it is found to be around 50 percent higher for low income countries, which suggests that they may be particularly constrained in adapting products to meet multiple standards. Numerical simulations show that these findings are consistent with a heterogeneous firms model of trade in which harmonization is beneficial at the extensive margin provided that any increases in compliance costs are not too large. 2012-06-08T21:30:01Z 2012-06-08T21:30:01Z 2007-11 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/11/8681816/product-standards-harmonization-trade-evidence-extensive-margin http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7606 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4390 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CDI
DIO
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
HARMONIZATION
ID
INTERNATIONAL BANK
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
IP
JA
MT
RCD
TRADE FACILITATION
USES
WEB
Microdata Set
spellingShingle CDI
DIO
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
HARMONIZATION
ID
INTERNATIONAL BANK
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
IP
JA
MT
RCD
TRADE FACILITATION
USES
WEB
Microdata Set
Shepherd, Ben
Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
relation Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4390
description The author uses a new database of EU product standards in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sectors to present the first empirical evidence that international standards harmonization is associated with increased partner country export variety. A 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of internationally harmonized standards is associated with a 0.2 percent increase in partner country export variety, whereas a 10 percent increase in the total number of standards is associated with a nearly 6 percent decrease in product variety. Although small, the harmonization elasticity is statistically significant, and proves highly robust to sample changes and instrumental variables estimation using instruments motivated by political economy considerations. Moreover, it is found to be around 50 percent higher for low income countries, which suggests that they may be particularly constrained in adapting products to meet multiple standards. Numerical simulations show that these findings are consistent with a heterogeneous firms model of trade in which harmonization is beneficial at the extensive margin provided that any increases in compliance costs are not too large.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Shepherd, Ben
author_facet Shepherd, Ben
author_sort Shepherd, Ben
title Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
title_short Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
title_full Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
title_fullStr Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
title_full_unstemmed Product Standards, Harmonization, and Trade : Evidence from the Extensive Margin
title_sort product standards, harmonization, and trade : evidence from the extensive margin
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/11/8681816/product-standards-harmonization-trade-evidence-extensive-margin
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7606
_version_ 1764402564948819968

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