Measuring Trade Impediments to Services within APEC

The measurement of impediments to trade in services within the APEC region is addressed in this paper. This work builds upon major methodological and practical issues encountered in measuring such impediments in the 1995 PECC Survey of Impediments to Trade and Investment in the APEC Region. Conceptual and measurement issues in deriving partial equilibrium estimates of the effects of service trade impediments are discussed. The feasibility and use of partial estimates, especially price-impact measures, as a means of benchmarking competitive outcomes is examined. A current joint research project involving the Australian National University, the Australian Industry Commission and the University of Adelaide will be drawn upon in which a seven step approach is being developed to identify, evaluate and measure the impact of Australian impediments to services trade. Australia’s telecommunications sector is used as a case study of how to measure the domestic economic efficiency gains of regulatory reforms. Some important areas for future work, including the link to services trade of foreign direct investment controls, are highlighted. Such work should be of interest to economic modellers as it will provide some insights into how partial measures of impediments can be constructively used to model the economic gains from trade liberalisation of services within APEC.