Analysis of predictability and accountability transparency practices and FTA on trade growth in selected countries of the Asia-Pacific region: a descriptive-causal approach

Abstract

Trade policy is a vital tool in structuring the rules of the international trade and important to nation's trade performance and at the same time serves as a crucial instrument in securing regional growth. To exemplify this key function in the international trade system, trade policy utilizes two critical policy measures: transparency practices and free trade agreement (FTA) (Collins-Williams and Wolfe 2010; Badinger 2008). Transparency refers the "degree to which trade policies and practices, and the process by which they are established, are open and predictable" (Collins-Williams and Wolfe 2010, p. 552). Consistently, FTA is a policy measure that diminishes trade barriers among trading partners and facilitates easier flow of trade and investment in each set of conditions agreed by the parties (Fukunaga 2015). While extant literature portrays transparency and FTAs Abstract Generally, trade policies exclude provision for predictability and accountability as transparency measures and facilitates trade consensus that enhance market access, reduce trading costs, and promote cooperation. In analyzing the trajectories on transparency, free trade agreement (FTA), and trade growth, many scholars investigate international trade norms on how countries play a proactive role to increase competition and improve transparency but limited in scope on the inter-linkages between these three variables that contribute to trade and economic growth. This paper intends to address this missing link by examining the causal relationships between the two transparency measures, FTA, and trade growth from a sample of 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region using panel regression analysis. Results show a significant impact in trade growth affected by a percent changed in predictability and FTA measures. While increase in trade disputes, i.e., less accountability transparency measure tends to decrease trade growth. By determining the effects of transparency practices and FTAs in the international trade arena, the study concludes that these trade policy tools are important parameters to boost trade growth. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

The Effects of Foreign Direct Investment, Trade, Aid, Remittances and Tourism on Welfare under Terrorism and Militancy

“…Similarly, while empirical studies on the effects of trade on growth outcomes has received extensive attention in the literature (e.g., Theodorou, 2017;Grossman and Helpman, 2018;Perkins, Castaño and Montemayor, 2018), the welfare effects remain under-researched (e.g., Bhagwati, 2018;Behling, 2018). For example, Dollar and Kraay (2003) provided evidence of a strong effect of trade on growth.…”