Help or hindrance ? the impact of harmonized standards on african exports
By Witold Czubala, Ben Shepherd, John S. Wilson. 2007
146 citations recorded by the source corpus.
The authors test the hypothesis that product standards harmonized to de facto international standards are less trade restrictive than ones that are not. To do this, the authors construct a new database of European Union (EU) product standards. The authors identify standards that are aligned with ISO standards (as a proxy for de facto international norms). The authors use a sample-selection gravity model to examine the impact of EU standards on African textiles and clothing exports, a sector of particular development interest. The authors find robust evidence that non-harmonized standards reduce African exports of these products. EU standards which are harmonized to ISO standards are less trade restricting. Our results suggest that efforts to promote African exports of manufactures may need to be complemented by measures to reduce the cost impacts of product standards, including international harmonization. In addition, efforts to harmonize national standards with international norms, including through the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, promise concrete benefits through trade expansion.
Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Strategy and Management
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/835d97c25f7e7c402f81f0b7cf5508701e3d328f
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In Economics and Econometrics
In Strategy and Management
Citations in the corpus
- Why trade facilitation matters to Africa1 (2009, unknown): “Czubala et al. (2007) examine the impact of EU standards on African textiles and clothing exports.”
- The Economics of Standardization: An Update (2010, background): “…including: Baller (2007), Blind and Jungmittag (2001, 2005), Blind (2001), Chen and Mattoo (2004), Chen et al (2006), Clougherty & Grajek (2008), Czubala et al (2007), Disdier et al (2007), Fontagné et al (2005), Grajek (2004), Henry de Frahan & Vancauteren (2006), Kim & Reinert (2009),…”
- Non-Tariff Measures and Standards in Trade and Global Value Chains (2015, unknown): “adherence to ISO standards and mutual recognition of certification as a “harmonized” certification mechanism (Czubala et al., 2009; Blind et al., 2013).”