Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/90668 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERSD-2003-02
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
This paper discusses how information and communication technology (ICT) affects the quality and reach of consumer services. These services need to be provided locally, but consist of several components, some of which can be digitised and transmitted over long distances. A general equilibrium model is developed and numerical simulations in a stylised two-factor, two-region, centre-periphery setting are presented. Trade in intermediate services improves the quality of consumer services enormously in the periphery, but may reduce the quality at the centre. Trade in intermediate services also has a dramatic impact on skilled workers' wages in the periphery, both relative to unskilled workers in their own region and relative to skilled workers at the centre and leads to a more equal distribution of income both between the centre and the periphery and within the periphery.
Subjects: 
Trade in services
transaction costs
income distribution
ICT
JEL: 
D23
F12
F13
R12
R13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
298.5 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.