Leveling-up: explaining the depth of South-South trade agreements

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that not all preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are alike. Trade agreements between developed and developing countries (North-South PTAs) tend to be characterized by great depth, such that they include chapters for many trade-related regulatory issues, including intellectual property, foreign investment, and investor-state dispute settlement, among other things. In this way, North-South PTAs are thought to be different from South-South PTAs (between developing countries), which are shallower and focus on removing traditional tariff barriers to trade, as opposed to tackling trade-related regulatory issues. However, some developing countries appear to prefer deeper ..