Observing multilateral trade agreements as a determinant of modern service exports: The case of Asia

• Main Authors: Ducusin, Mark Joseph, Ignacio, Miguel Lorenzo, Supangan, Arturo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Service industries > Asia; Commercial treaties; Economics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_econ/8; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=etdb_econ
• Institution: De La Salle University

Modern Service Exports have been an interest in the literature for its higher value-added in contrast to Manufacturing and Traditional Service Exports. This is likewise the case to its impact on economic development and its relationship with determinants for its growth. These determinants of export growth include changes to real exchange rates, specialization, and foreign direct investments. The goal of this study is to introduce Multilateral Trade Agreements (MTAs) as a determinant. There exists a research gap on its relationship and impact on Modern Services Exports. This is observed with the aid of datasets from the World Development Indicators and UN Conference on Trade and Development which covers 50 economies and 30+ year periods, but only 37 economies over a 25-year period are analyzed to limit misspecification caused by the incomplete data. Panel Regression methods such as Pooled, Fixed Effects and Random Effects are considered and evaluated on how to best observe the impact of MTA membership. In addition, this study attempts to extend this to compare the impact of MTAs between developed and developing economies. The findings of this study provided evidence to suggest that MTAs negatively affect an economy's MSEs, similarly being in the position of a developed economy places another penalty.