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Reciprocity Across Modes of Supply in the World Trade Organization : A Negotiating Formula

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2000-06
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2014-08-28
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Negotiations on trade in services at the World Trade Organization (WTO) have so far produced little liberalization beyond levels countries have undertaken unilaterally. One reason: limited application of the traditional negotiating principle of reciprocity. In particular, participants have failed to exploit the scope of the services agreement (General Agreement on Trade in Services -GATS) for the exchange of market-access "concessions" across different modes of supply - cross-border delivery and the movement of capital and workers. Using the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek framework, the authors propose a negotiating formula that generalizes the fundamental WTO principle of reciprocity to include alternative modes of delivery. Adoption of this formula as a basis for negotiations could bring greater commitments to liberalization on all modes of delivery, producing substantial gains in global welfare and more balanced outcomes.
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Mattoo, Aaditya; Olarreaga, Marcelo. 2000. Reciprocity Across Modes of Supply in the World Trade Organization : A Negotiating Formula. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2373. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19831 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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