Trade in International Transport Services: The Role of Competition

Abstract

We are concerned with trade in transport services (not cabotage but rather international shipping, transport, and related logistical services) and the importance of competition and market structure in the sector. We examine implications of liberalization for profits, trade, and national gains from trade. Though past GATS maritime negotiations involved the maritime nations, we also flag interests of consuming nations (particularly poorer developing countries). We further illustrate issues raised in the analytical section through a computational example, to provide a rough sense of orders of magnitude and the importance of the issues raised for basic gains from improved market access.

JEL Classification: F14