Telecommunications reform within Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization

Jesper Jensen, Thomas Rutherford () and David Tarr

No 3501, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: In World Trade Organization (WTO) accession negotiations, telecommunications is always a sector that receives close scrutiny by the WTO Working Party, and the extent of market access and nondiscriminatory treatment of multinational telecommunications companies in Russia has been a significant issue in Russia’s accession negotiations. The authors use a computable general equilibrium model of the Russian economy to assess the role of telecommunications in the discussions regarding Russian accession to the WTO. The results show that reduction of barriers to foreign direct investment in telecommunications will bring substantial gains to the Russian economy, including an increase in the productivity of Russian labor and capital. Despite the fact that multinationals use Russian labor less intensively than Russian firms, demand for Russian labor employed in telecommunications should increase, following reductions in barriers to foreign direct investment that are included in the context of WTO accession. This is because the overall demand for telecommunication services should increase due to the growth effects of the liberalization of barriers against foreign direct investment generally and the reduction in tariffs. Russian capital owners in telecommunications will likely be sought as joint venture partners and can restructure and obtain gains as partners with foreign firms. Wholly owned Russian firms are likely to experience losses.

Keywords: International Terrorism&Counterterrorism; ICT Policy and Strategies; Environmental Economics&Policies; Decentralization; Economic Theory&Research; Economic Theory&Research; ICT Policy and Strategies; Environmental Economics&Policies; Banks&Banking Reform; Public Sector Economics&Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-02-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-cmp and nep-com
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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