Digital trade integration : global trends

Recent initiatives devoted to mapping digital trade policies warn against rising regulatory divergence in crucial policy areas for the digital economy, including data policies, content access and telecom infrastructure. Evidence-based analysis on the impact of digital regulatory heterogeneity and on the ability of digital policies to achieve their desired policy objective should inform the design of new initiatives to foster a predictable and safe regulatory environment for the digital economy

Data governance models and geopolitics : insights from the Indo-Pacific region

Cyberspace is widely recognised as an “object of geopolitical competition” between countries advocating for an open internet space and countries that aim to use this space as a tool for control. The Indo-Pacific region represents one of the most contested and strategically significant domains, principally because of the role of China, which hosts the world’s largest cohort of internet users and also the most sophisticated internet censoring and monitoring regime. Regulation of the internet has moved from attempting to regulate the flow of information into countries to also including attempts to regulate the data flowing out of countries, efforts which in both cases appear to have economic and political rationales that are often hard to disentangle.3 The flow of information into a country can be regulated with different policies, including censorship and filtering (which can happen in different layers of the internet infrastructure) and also with market access restrictions, which can take the form of strict licensing regulations, joint-venture requirements, maximum foreign equity shares and nationality requirements which can apply to certain sectors sensitive to the spread of information, e.g. online news, social media and blogs, among others. On the other hand, the flow of information out of a country can be restricted through regulation of the processing and transfer of data, which can consist in requiring certain data to be processed within the borders of the country or companies to meet certain conditions before data can be transferred abroad. Regulation of cross-border data flows has become a major focus of geopolitical contestation, reflecting the importance of data as a strategic asset in the digital era and the symbolic importance data privacy and security have assumed in general discourse on democracy vs autocracy. This paper characterises the data policies that apply in 15 Indo-Pacific economies and the emerging pattern of bilateral and plurilateral cooperation on cross-border data flows. A premise of the analysis is that differences in data regulation and the patterns and types of international cooperation between states provide insights into the inclusive and exclusive geopolitical dynamics in the region

The Digital Trade Integration database : description of pillars and indicators

This paper serves as a supplement to the Digital Trade Integration database. It details the structure of the database and its indicators, and it provides key definitions, the methodology for data collection and the main resources used for data collection

Digital trade, data protection and EU adequacy decisions

Using a structural gravity model, we assess whether EU adequacy decisions on data protection are associated with bilateral digital trade. Controlling for digital-relevant bilateral covariates, including preferential trade agreements and other binding data flow arrangements, we find that countries that received EU adequacy exhibit an increase in digital trade between 6-14 percent, representing a trade cost reduction up to 9 percent. This is mostly driven by the EU granting adequacy to the U.S., reflecting the dominance of the EU and U.S. in global digital trade. We also find that countries that have an EU adequacy determination exhibit greater digital trade among each other, suggestive of a network or club effect. Complementary country-specific analysis of post-adequacy digital trade performance using synthetic control methods confirms the positive effects of adequacy.This work was partially supported by the ESRC Centre of Inclusive Trade Policy, UK (Hoekman

Preparing students for the digital era : lessons learned from FabLabs in school

In this study, we randomly expose Italian high school students from different majors to creative activities taught by FabLabs and assess the impact of this exposition on students’ career aspirations, university choice, interest and confidence in STEM university courses, attitude towards STEM subjects, creativity, and grit. We find that giving students the possibility to join FabLab activities has overall a positive impact on all the variables assessed, except for career aspirations and creativity. This working paper represents a preliminary assessment and is limited to estimating the effect of having the possibility to join FabLab activities. A refined analysis will also investigate the effect on students who have participated in the activities, for whom we expect to find a stronger positive effect

Data flows and national security : a conceptual framework to assess restrictions on data flows under GATs security exception

Available in January 2019Purpose The paper aims to explore the national security implications of a potential for a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute on data flow restrictions. It proposes a basic conceptual framework to assess data flows' restrictions under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) security exception. Design/methodology/approach If a case were to be brought before the WTO dispute settlement, the defender could support its case by invoking the security exception. This paper analyzes three main arguments that could be brought up: protection from cyber espionage, protection from cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and access to data needed to prevent terrorist threats. These three cases are analyzed both legally and technically to assess the relevance of restrictions on data flows under GATS security exception. This analysis can, more generally, inform the debate on the protection of national security in the digital era. Findings In the three cases, restrictions on data considered critical for national security might raise the cost of certain attacks. However, the risks would remain pervasive and national security would not be significantly enhanced both legally and technically. The implementation of good security standards and encryption techniques appears to be a more effective way to ensure a better response to cyber threats. All in all, it will be important to investigate on a case by case basis whether the scope of the measure (sectors and data covered) is considered proportionate and whether the measure in question in practice reduces the exposure of the country to cyber espionage, cyberattacks and terrorist threats. Originality/value This paper represents a contribution to the literature because it is the first paper to address systematically the issue of data flows and national security in the context of a GATS dispute and because it provides a unique perspective that looks both at legal and technical arguments.Columbia University SIPACarnegie Corporatio

Do data policy restrictions inhibit trade in services?

This paper examines whether restrictive data policies impact trade in services over the internet. We have collected comparable information on a variety of policy measures that regulate data for a wide group of countries for the years 2006-2016. This information is compiled in a weighted index that assesses the restrictiveness of these countries’ data policies. We distinguish between policies regulating the cross-border movement of data and policies regulating the domestic use of data. Using econometric estimations, we show that strict data policies negatively and significantly impact imports of data-intense services. Therefore, countries applying restrictive data policies, in particular with respect to the cross-border flow of data, suffer from lower levels of services traded over the internet. This negative impact is stronger for countries with better developed digital networks. The results of our analysis are significant and hold for various robustness checks

Digital Innovation in East Asia :Do Restrictive Data Policies Matter? World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series, No. 9124.

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Patterns of trade restrictiveness in online platforms: A first look

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Digital trade regulatory environment. Opportunities for regulatory harmonization in Africa

This report provides empirical evidence to inform the negotiations and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Af-CFTA Agreement with a view to promoting intra-African trade1. It presents insights for the ongoing negotiations on the Digital Trade Protocol by identifying policy areas with high potential to foster digital trade in the African region. It does so through a gravity model by estimating empirically the relation between the regulatory regime for digital trade imposed by African countries and digital trade flows—defined as trade in information and communication technology (ICT) goods and digitally enabled services—to identify policies that have a stronger negative relation with digital trade between African countries and the rest of the world. The report also provides further insight for intraregional negotiations and lays out additional empirical analysis based on regulatory heterogeneity across African countries to identify how regulatory harmonization across policy areas could support digital trade in the region