Standards and Trade Performance: the UK Experience

This paper analyzes the effects of standards on U.K. trade performance. The results suggest that U.K. strength in standards improves the U.K. trade balance but can also act to make the U.K. market more open. The results also contradict two common views of the effects of standards: first, that standards activity in one country is canceled out by competing standards activity in another and, second, that international standards are the only ones that give trade advantage while 'idiosyncratic' national standards are largely irrelevant. The findings indicate that standards promote intraindustry trade and that 'idiosyncratic' standards can promote exports.