North-South Standards Harmonization and International Trade

Olivier Cadot (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) , Anne-Célia Disdier (6, 7) , Lionel Fontagné (7, 8, 9, 10)

1 CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research
2 CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications
3 FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International
4 UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne
5 BFSH1
6 PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques
7 PSE - Paris School of Economics
8 CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales
9 Department of Economics
10 CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne

Recent years have seen a surge in economic integration agreements (EIAs) and the development of non-tariff measures (NTMs). As a consequence, a growing number of EIAs include provisions on NTMs. This paper focuses on provisions on technical regulations. We investigate whether the technical requirements contained in North-South Agreements affect international trade. More particularly, using a gravity equation, we assess to what extent North-South harmonization of technical barriers creates or reinforces a hub-and-spoke trade structure potentially detrimental to the integration of Southern countries in world economy.

Mots clés: Economic integration agreement; Technical provisions; Harmonization; Hub-andspoke trade structure

Domaines: Economies et finances

Olivier Cadot, Anne-Célia Disdier, Lionel Fontagné. North-South Standards Harmonization and International Trade. 2012. ⟨hal-00961733⟩