Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/269323 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
FERDI Working Paper No. P42
Publisher: 
Fondation pour les études et recherches sur le développement international (FERDI), Clermont-Ferrand
Abstract: 
Recent years have seen a surge in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the development of non-tariff measures (NTMs). As a consequence, a growing number of RTAs include provisions on NTMs. This paper investigates the effect of standards-harmonization clauses contained in many North-South Agreements on international trade. Using a gravity equation, we find that (i) North-South harmonization of technical regulations reinforces a hub-and-spoke trade structure potentially detrimental to the development of South-South trade and (ii) harmonization on regional standards hurts Southern exports to the North. Thus, standards-harmonization provisions included in many recent North-South RTAs miss their target and contribute to marginalize Southern countries in the worldeconomy.
JEL: 
F13
F15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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