A comparative institutional analysis of agreements on product standards

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Costinot, Arnaud
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2007.11.004
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 197-213
• 关键词: product standards; Trade agreements; incomplete contracts; National treatment; Mutual Recognition

摘要

The WTO and the EU have chosen two different agreements on product standards. While the WTO's approach is primarily based on a National Treatment (NT) principle, the EU's approach crucially relies on a principle of Mutual Recognition (MR). This paper offers a first look at the comparative performance of these two principles. We show that standards are imposed for levels of externalities that are too low under NT and too high under MR. This suggests that NT should be preferred to MR when the amount of trade in goods characterized by high levels of externalities is large. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.