Modal Estimates of Services Barriers

This paper presents improved approaches to measurement of services barriers by using alternativeweighting methods and improved econometric specifications the data include barriers affecting each modeof services supply and additional sector-specific regulatory variables. We provide an illustration of theseimprovements for banking, insurance, telecom (fixed and mobile), professional (engineering) anddistribution services in selected countries in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America andthe Middle East. We report sector-specific restrictiveness indices at aggregate and modal levels along withaggregate and modal tax equivalents. We also provide confidence intervals for each estimated taxequivalent to take into account the limitations in the estimation techniques. Indeed these limitations lead usto argue against a strict interpretation of the empirical results and in favor of a more flexible, qualitativeinterpretation, combined with rank ordering of countries for indicative purposes.