NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Product Standards Coalitions in a Market Without Borders

Alessandra Casella

NBER Working Paper No. 5853*
Issued in December 1996
NBER Program(s):   IFM    ITI

Traditional analyses of standards in international trade identify standards as government regulations and investigate the potential for distortion of trade flows. In reality, however, private industry groups exercise critical influence on the determination of technical standards. The composition of these groups is affected by technology and market conditions, and in an integrated market the alliances of private firms are likely to cross national boundaries, generating harmonization bottom. across economic activities and across countries, economic integration should bring increased harmonization across countries and finer differentiation across products. Empirical evidence from the United States and the European Union, although mostly anecdotical, supports this prediction.

*Published: Casella, Alessandra. "Product Standards And International Trade: Harmonization Through Private Coalitions?," Kyklos, 2001, v54(2/3), 243-264.

You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format from SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.

Information about Free Papers

You should expect a free download if you are a subscriber, a corporate associate of the NBER, a journalist, a site with your domain name in ".GOV", or a resident of nearly any developing country or transition economy.

If you usually get free papers at work/university but do not at home, you can either connect to your work VPN or proxy (if any) or elect to have a link to the paper emailed to your work email address below. The email address must be connected to a subscribing college, university, or other subscribing institution. Gmail and other free email addresses will not have access.

E-mail:

Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX

 
Publications
Activities
Meetings
Data
People
About

National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; 617-868-3900; email: info@nber.org