Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås
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Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås was a Research Professor (part time) at NUPI until the summer of 2024. She worked on trade and trade policy issues, focusing on the interaction between trade policy, trade, technology and labour market adjustments.
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Clear all filtersTelecommunications: the underlying transport means for services exports
This paper analyses the role of telecommunications as the means of transport for services exports with a focus on computer and other business services from India. Telecommunications are typically dominated by major suppliers which need to be regulated and exposed to competition to fulfil their role. The paper notes that India took sweeping unilateral reforms in the telecommunications sector in the 1990s, but has been reluctant to bind reforms in international trade agreements. It goes on to show that India is lagging other lower middle income countries on international measures of connectivity and that connectivity is strongly related to timely adjustment of policy to changing market conditions and technology. Second, using gravity estimates, I find that connectivity is an important driver for trade in computer and other business services. In particular, broadband connectivity significantly reduces the rate at which exports fall off with distance and extends the reach of exports to distant markets.
The WTO Reference Paper meets EU common regulatory policy in CETA
International trade and investment in telecommunications are governed by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its Annex and Reference Paper (RP) on telecommunications. This paper discusses whether the 25-year old WTO framework is still fit for purpose. It makes two contributions to the literature. First, it offers a systematic comparison between the provisions in the RP, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and EU common regulatory framework. GATS builds on an outdated classification of telecommunications which is repeated in the CETA. The RP obliges countries to regulate interconnection, which is also largely repeated in CETA, although regulatory forbearance is permitted. CETA does not offer new market access in telecommunications to either party. Second, the paper investigates empirically whether binding regulation in trade agreements strengthen market openness, measured by imports of telecommunications services, and finds that it does not. The paper concludes that trade agreements may not be suitable for international cooperation on telecommunications regulation. Trade agreements run the risk of making regulation hostage to unrelated trade policy issues while adopting the RP runs a risk of legal obligations to over-regulate telecommunications.
Is Skype a telecommunications company - and why does it matter?
Telecommunications constitute the core of the digital economy. EU regulation of the sector aims at promoting connectivity and access to very high capacity networks. To that end, and to keep up with technical developments, the regulatory framework is revised from time to time with a view to roll back regulation as competitive markets take hold. Whether or not an activity falls under the regulatory framework for telecommunications, which is the main category under electronic communications services, makes a huge difference as the recent ECJ decision on Skype illustrates.
Utrikeshandel løner och rørlighet
Labour market churning in Sweden is similar to other European countries. Trade is associated with labour market dynamics mainly through the reallocation of workers. If a firm change export status, workers in the firm is more likely to move to another firm in the same industry, but less likely to move to another sector. High-skilled workers are more likely to change occupation. Those who change job are less likely to obtain a wage rise, except those who change occupation who also gain higher wages. The share of employment in trading firms has, however, declined over time. While the female share of employment has been constant over the last 15 years, the female share in trading firms has declined. Both these observations are driven by an expansion of non-traded services.
Make or buy : offshoring of services functions in manufacturing
About 40% of employment in manufacturing is in services functions. This paper examines how employment in services function in manufacturing is affected by offshoring. It finds that the impact is small on average but depends strongly on the complexity of the value chain, the policy environment and ICT maturity. Manufacturing employment is more services intensive the longer the value chain. In-house IT functions complement and support offshored IT functions, while offshored R&D functions tend to replace in-house R&D.