Services and services trade matter for development in a least developed country like Zambia. Services include finance, communications, transport, distribution, health, education and tourism. Services 'trade' encompasses cross border trade in road and air transport, consumption by foreigners of tourism services, foreign direct investment in banking, communication, and distribution, and temporary migration of doctors and teachers.
But in practice, Zambia has so far derived only limited benefits from services trade. It has underperformed both in terms of its services exports and in terms of widening access to services for its firms, farms and households, despite a significant degree of liberalization.
The study concludes that the current crisis of access in Zambia, and hence the diminishing faith in reform, are attributable to the fact that the Government and donor organizations behaved as if they had complete faith in the power of markets. They moved aggressively, but unevenly, on the elimination of barriers to entry, sluggishly on the development of regulations to deal with market failure, and only notionally on the implementation of access-widening policies.
Zambian policy makers and trade negotiators need to be fully informed about both the opportunities for expanding trade in services, unilaterally, regionally, multilaterally, and the domestic pre-conditions for successful services liberalization. International negotiations can be harnessed to deliver much-needed reform, but there is also a danger that unbridled mercantilism could produce outcomes that are antithetical to development. The challenge is to ensure that international commitments reflect good economic policy rather than the dictates of domestic political economy or international negotiating pressure. That is a key rationale for the present study.
Services Trade for Zambia's Development: An Overview; A.Mattoo & L.Payton
Services in the Zambian Economy; J.Arnold & A.Mattoo
Telecommunications: The Persistence of Monopoly; J.Arnold, B.Guermazi & A.Mattoo
Financial Services: Dealing with Limited and Unequal Access; J.de Luna Martinez
Air Transport: Revitalising Yamoussoukro; C.Schlumberger
Tourism: Unfulfilled Promise; O.Cattaneo
Migration from Zambia: Ensuring Temporariness through Cooperation; M.Amin & A.Mattoo
Accountancy: The Importance of Appropriate Standards; N.Gathinji & J.Hegarty
AADITYA MATTOO is Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He is leading a project on international trade in services, specializes in trade policy analysis and the operation of the WTO, and is helping enhance policy-making and negotiating capacity in developing countries. Prior to joining the Bank in 1999, he was Economic Counselor at the Trade in Services Division, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva. He also served as Economic Affairs Officer in the Economic Research and Analysis and Trade Policy Review Division of the WTO. Mr. Mattoo taught economics at the University of Sussex and Churchill College, Cambridge University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from King's College, University of Cambridge, and M.Phil in Economics from St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He is co-editor of Development, Trade and the WTO: A Handbook, Moving People to Deliver Services, and Domestic Regulation and Services Trade Liberalization, and has written extensively on trade and trade in services.
LUCY PAYTON works with the Trade Team of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. She contributes to the department's advisory work on trade policy and works on a number of trade related research projects. She is currently focused on analysing legal and regulatory barriers to trade in the insurance, banking, telecommunications and other services sectors. Prior to that, she did a cross-country empirical analysis of the effectiveness of government funded export promotion agencies. Lucy holds a Masters in International Relations and International Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
Description
Services and services trade matter for development in a least developed country like Zambia. Services include finance, communications, transport, distribution, health, education and tourism. Services 'trade' encompasses cross border trade in road and air transport, consumption by foreigners of tourism services, foreign direct investment in banking, communication, and distribution, and temporary migration of doctors and teachers.
But in practice, Zambia has so far derived only limited benefits from services trade. It has underperformed both in terms of its services exports and in terms of widening access to services for its firms, farms and households, despite a significant degree of liberalization.
The study concludes that the current crisis of access in Zambia, and hence the diminishing faith in reform, are attributable to the fact that the Government and donor organizations behaved as if they had complete faith in the power of markets. They moved aggressively, but unevenly, on the elimination of barriers to entry, sluggishly on the development of regulations to deal with market failure, and only notionally on the implementation of access-widening policies.
Zambian policy makers and trade negotiators need to be fully informed about both the opportunities for expanding trade in services, unilaterally, regionally, multilaterally, and the domestic pre-conditions for successful services liberalization. International negotiations can be harnessed to deliver much-needed reform, but there is also a danger that unbridled mercantilism could produce outcomes that are antithetical to development. The challenge is to ensure that international commitments reflect good economic policy rather than the dictates of domestic political economy or international negotiating pressure. That is a key rationale for the present study.
Contents
Services Trade for Zambia's Development: An Overview; A.Mattoo & L.Payton
Services in the Zambian Economy; J.Arnold & A.Mattoo
Telecommunications: The Persistence of Monopoly; J.Arnold, B.Guermazi & A.Mattoo
Financial Services: Dealing with Limited and Unequal Access; J.de Luna Martinez
Air Transport: Revitalising Yamoussoukro; C.Schlumberger
Tourism: Unfulfilled Promise; O.Cattaneo
Migration from Zambia: Ensuring Temporariness through Cooperation; M.Amin & A.Mattoo
Accountancy: The Importance of Appropriate Standards; N.Gathinji & J.Hegarty
Authors
AADITYA MATTOO is Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He is leading a project on international trade in services, specializes in trade policy analysis and the operation of the WTO, and is helping enhance policy-making and negotiating capacity in developing countries. Prior to joining the Bank in 1999, he was Economic Counselor at the Trade in Services Division, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva. He also served as Economic Affairs Officer in the Economic Research and Analysis and Trade Policy Review Division of the WTO. Mr. Mattoo taught economics at the University of Sussex and Churchill College, Cambridge University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from King's College, University of Cambridge, and M.Phil in Economics from St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He is co-editor of Development, Trade and the WTO: A Handbook, Moving People to Deliver Services, and Domestic Regulation and Services Trade Liberalization, and has written extensively on trade and trade in services.
LUCY PAYTON works with the Trade Team of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. She contributes to the department's advisory work on trade policy and works on a number of trade related research projects. She is currently focused on analysing legal and regulatory barriers to trade in the insurance, banking, telecommunications and other services sectors. Prior to that, she did a cross-country empirical analysis of the effectiveness of government funded export promotion agencies. Lucy holds a Masters in International Relations and International Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
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