Trade barriers or trade facilitators? The heterogeneous impact of food standards in international trade
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Date
2018-11Metadata
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World Econ. 2019; 42: 1057– 1076. https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12756 10.1111/twec.12756Abstract
Recent research shows that the effect of food standards can beheterogeneous across sectors or countries: theysometimes act as barriers to trade, but in other cases may lead to increased trade. I present empirical evidence on Norwegian seafood export showing that foreign food standards, measured by SPS notificationsto the WTO, generallyhave a negative impact on total exports, the number of exporters and their average exports. However, for fresh seafood,there is a positive counteracting effect. I present a theoretical explanation for this, suggesting that food standards reduce consumer uncertainty about quality and safety and therefore increase demand. Trade barriers or trade facilitators? The heterogeneous impact of food standards in international trade