Vogt, Achim (2024). Essays on Non-Tariff Measures in International Trade. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern
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Abstract
The role of non-tariff measures (NTMs) in international trade has been central in recent debates on regional integration. While some NTMs are exclusively and primarily designed to limit market access of foreign firms, others fulfill non-trade-related, (non-)economic policy objectives, too, or are exclusively and primarily designed to address market failures with implications for international market access as a spillover, mostly unintended effect. This dissertation is a collection of four empirical papers on technical non-tariff measures in international trade. It provides a detailed descriptive account of cross-country and sectoral patterns of NTMs and defines a trade cost function of NTMs that differentiates between differences in regulatory stringency and structure. On this basis, it analyzes global value chain related determinants of technical NTMs in the context of a standard political economy model of trade policy formation. Furthermore, it derives a parameterization of the trade cost function in a state-of-the-art gravity model that captures trade cost and demand-side effects of standard-like NTMs, as well as estimates corresponding impacts on trade flows. Finally, the dissertation assesses the trade-cost-related trade and macroeconomic effects of regulatory developments between 2012 and 2017 in a general equilibrium model accounting of international inter-sectoral input-output linkages. The three main findings are the following: First, similar to tariffs, countries are less likely to impose trade restrictive NTMs against their own value added content in trade. In the light of potential re-shoring and increasing use of local content requirements, this implies that we can expect more trade restrictive NTMs in the future. Second, regulatory harmonization and divergence promote and restrict trade, respectively, while, more generally, standard-like measures positively relate to quality appreciation, which warrants a differentiated treatment of such policies in gravity models of trade. Third, capturing bilateral regulatory differences in the trade cost function quantitatively matters for assessing trade and real income effects of regulatory developments.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
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| Dissertation Type: | Cumulative |
| Date of Defense: | 23 May 2024 |
| Subjects: | 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 320 Political science 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 340 Law 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 380 Commerce, communications & transportation |
| Institute / Center: | 02 Faculty of Law > Department of Economic Law > World Trade Institute 10 Strategic Research Centers > World Trade Institute 03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Hammer Igor |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Apr 2025 13:21 |
| Last Modified: | 23 May 2025 22:25 |
| URI: | https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/6039 |
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