Access to Standards, Access to Markets: ISO Access, Quality Infrastructure, and International Trade

Christian Lessmann and Zhixiao Yao

No 12923, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper studies whether access to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) matters for trade and through which margin. Building on historical ISO membership information and a domestic-inclusive structural gravity framework for 185 trading partners from 1980 to 2016, the paper distinguishes one-sided ISO access from joint ISO access. Trade involving one ISO access country is about 63 percent higher than trade between countries without ISO access. The main empirical signal comes from this one-sided margin rather than from an additional joint access premium. The effect is more visible when the ISO access country is the exporter, and country level evidence on ISO certification uptake is consistent with an exporter-side standardization and certification-capacity channel. The paper identifies ISO access as an upstream quality infrastructure channel of trade. The findings imply that standardization and certification capacity can help countries overcome non-tariff barriers and upgrade exports.

Keywords: ISO access; quality infrastructure; certification; international standardization; international trade; non-tariff barriers; structural gravity; export upgrading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 F13 F14 F15 F53 L15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-opm
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