Regionalism in Services : A Study of ASEAN

Gootiiz, Batshur ; Mattoo, Aaditya

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CAPITALS;    ARCHITECTS;    EMPLOYMENT;    FOREIGN ENTRY;    FINANCIAL SERVICES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7498
RP-ID  :  WPS7498

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Can regionalism do what multilateralismhas so far failed to do—promote greater openness of servicesmarkets? Although previous research has pointed to the widerand deeper legal commitments under regional agreements asproof that it can, no previous study has assessed the impactof such agreements on applied policies. This paper focuseson the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whereregional integration of services markets has been linked tothriving regional supply chains. Drawing on surveysconducted in 2008 and 2012 of applied policies in the keyservices sectors of ASEAN countries, the paper assesses theimpact of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS)and the ambitious ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint, whichenvisaged integrated services markets by 2015. The analysisfinds that over this period, ASEAN did not integrate fasterinternally than vis-à-vis the rest of the world: policiesapplied to trade with other ASEAN countries were virtuallythe same as those applied to trade with rest of the world.Moreover, the recent commitments scheduled under AFAS didnot produce significant liberalization and, in a fewinstances, services trade policy actually became morerestrictive. The two exceptions are in areas that are not onthe multilateral negotiating agenda: steps have been takentoward creating regional open skies in air transport, and afew mutual recognition agreements have been negotiated inprofessional services. These findings suggest that regionalnegotiations add the most value when they are focused onareas that are not being addressed multilaterally.