Critical analysis of the OECD's International Trade Indicators (TRADE) in the context of Brazil's accession process to the organization

Result of Service Research results will contribute to a deeper knowledge of the methodology of OECD indicators related to the area of international trade and critical analysis of these indicators, focusing on the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), which can be used in the technical review of Brazil.

Work Location Brasília

Expected duration 180 Days

Duties and Responsibilities Brazil is qualified as a key partner of the OECD, having adopted several of its legal instruments and has assumed the position of member or participant in some organs of the organization. Discussions on the country's membership in the OECD were opened in January 2022 by the Governing Board. In June, the Accession Roadmap was published, which sets out the terms and conditions for Brazil's accession process to the Organization. To become a member of the OECD, a country must align its policies and institutional and governance structure with the organization's standards. In short, the OECD standards are its legal instruments, sets of policy principles and guidelines; its values are centered on individual freedom, democracy and the rule of law, while its principles are open market, transparency and the pursuit of sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Among the policy areas in Brazil that will be covered in the Organization's technical review, according to the Accession Roadmap, are the topics of open trade and investment. In these areas, the aim is to reinforce trade opening and investment in the candidate country, adopting competitive, sustainable and transparent practices. In addition, it aims to strengthen rules-based international trade, with the World Trade Organization at the center of the system. The document also highlights the importance of better integrating small and medium-sized companies into global value chains and dismantling unnecessary (including non-tariff) barriers to international trade. Within the OECD, the topic of trade is subdivided into several topics, many of which consist of trade connections with other areas of interest to the Organization. The main topics are: agricultural trade, aid for trade, digital trade, export credits, fossil fuel subsidies, global value chains and trade, government procurement, industrial subsidies and leveling the playing field, local content requirements, regional trade agreements, resilient supply chains, non-tariff measures, international trade and balance of payments statistics, trade in services, small and medium enterprises and trade, trade and environment, trade and gender, trade and investment, trade and jobs, trade facilitation and trade in raw materials. These topics can serve to identify the scope of the trade area, as well as to verify its transversal characteristics, which connect the theme to other areas of the OECD. The technical review, on the topic of trade, will largely take place in the Trade Committee and Working Group on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees. The body will address topics, such as commitment to transparency and openness in decision-making on business policies and practices; commitment to market access for agricultural and non-agricultural goods and services; commitment to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights; commitment to OECD standards and best practices on export credit policies and practices; commitment to demonstrate leadership in WTO reform efforts and multilateral negotiations as befits OECD members. To assess the quality of the country's commitments, in addition to institutional and legal aspects, specific indicators produced, collected or organized by the OECD will be used. In terms of indicators and statistical data relating to trade, information on monthly trade, trade by commodity, trade in services, value added in trade can be mentioned, as well as a set of data that connect trade with other topics, such as, for example, environmental goods, digital transformation (digital trade) and agriculture (balance of nutrient exports). Of greater interest are the composite indicators that assess the quality of certain policies, considering the open trade principles that govern the organization. Examples of these indicators are the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) and the Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (DSTRI). This project will map all these trade indicators but will pay more attention to the services trade restrictiveness index. The Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) It is essential to elucidate the relevance of the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), which consists of a complex indicator that assesses, through cumulative weighting procedures, the degree of regulatory restriction for the trade in services in each country. Through this indicator, which transforms qualitative aspects into numbers, important comparisons can be made between the regulatory environments of the country's service sector. It can be seen, for example, that the general restrictions on trade in legal services in Brazil, South Korea and Spain are like each other, and much higher than those found in Australia, Chile, and Costa Rica. The formation of the STRI The STRI system was designed to simplify and capture the complexity of national policies and rules on international trade in services. It seeks to reconcile, through a simple system, measures that are linked to each other and, in some cases, obey a certain hierarchy. The methodology is inferred from sectoral studies, expert opinions, and the literature on composite indicators. The STRI is a central element of the OECD's assessment of the liberalization of trade in services and establishes a simple-to-use metric to compare countries' market opening. The STRI qualifies as a composite indicator formed based on aggregated individual indicators, within the framework of the OECD's multidimensional assessment. It consists of assigning scores to each of the 22 service sectors in the 46 countries that are participating, according to the degree of openness or closure of each sector to international trade. The STRI is the primary measure of identification of Most Favored Nation (MFN) restrictions and does not consider specific concessions, such as regional trade agreements or mutual recognition of rules agreements. The scoring and weighting system applies to the STRI database which currently contains 46 countries, but at the time of publication of the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Scoring and Weighting Methodology, there were only 40 in 18 sectors. The STRI database contains information about laws and regulations that are documented with reference to the source. The effective implementation of laws and regulations and companies' perceptions of such implementations are not considered in the STRI database and indices. Restrictions are grouped under the same five areas across all industries: - Restrictions on entry of foreigners; - Restrictions on the movement of people; - Other discriminatory measures; - Barriers to competition; - Regulatory transparency. There is a group of measures that are common to all sectors, but the degree of restriction of general measures may vary across sectors within the same country. The scoring and weighting system is based on a simple structure: - Points from 0 (non-restrictive) to 1 (restrictive) are assigned to policy measures individually; - Under each of the five restriction areas, the same weights are assigned to all measures; - Weight is assigned to the five areas according to their relative importance. Experts distributed 100 points among the five policy areas according to the relative importance criteria applied by them. The weights applied are the result of criteria defined by these experts. Thus, the same area has different weights in different sectors. This structure looks quite simple. However, not all measures in the database are binary, and some measures are linked, and some are evidently more important than others. As it is based on static and interpretable legal and institutional restrictions, the STRI is one of the OECD's indicators that are most susceptible to criticism and contestation, in addition to enabling consistent proposals for improvement, based on the reality of the countries. Therefore, the proposed study is part of the broader effort of IPEA and other organizations in Brazilian society to understand the requirements for accession to the OECD. The focus will be on critical understanding of trade indicators, focusing on understanding and critical appreciation of STRI. The option to concentrate most of the analysis on the STRI stems from the originality and complexity of the index, as well as the likely influence on the technical review that will take place in the Trade Committee in the process of accession of Brazil.

Qualifications/special skills- Doctorate in economic, sciences or social sciences or law or international relations -minimum of 3 years of professional or teaching experience in the areas of international trade, cooperation and international regulatory systems, non-tariff regulatory barriers, and/or related areas. publications in the consultancy area

Languages- Fluency in Portuguese and English

Additional Information Outputs/ Works Assignment:

Product 1. Preliminary report containing the Introduction, Methodology - Part 1 (The role of the OECD in international trade governance and the issue of trade in Brazil's Accession Road Map). To be submitted 45 days after start date. Product 2 - Preliminary Report on Part 2 (Mapping OECD Indicators on International Trade). To be submitted 105 days after start. Product 3 - Report containing Part 3 (Critical Appraisal of the Trade in Services Restriction Index (STRI). To be submitted 180 days after start

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.