The Paari School of Business at SRM University-AP is organising a Research Seminar titled “Deeper Agreements, Policy Uncertainty, And Cross-Border Services Expansion”. The session will feature Dr Banantika Datta, Assistant Professor at Jagdish Sheth School of Management (JAGSoM), Bengaluru, and Visiting Professor at IIM Amritsar, as the expert speaker.
Dr Datta holds a PhD in Economics from IIM Bangalore and is an economist specialising in international trade, services trade, labour mobility, and development economics. She has extensive experience across academia and industry, having conducted research projects with the World Health Organization (WHO) and worked in risk management at Deloitte.
The session is expected to benefit students, researchers, and faculty members interested in international trade, economic policy, global services markets, and development economics.
Abstract
This paper examines how services provisions within trade agreements shape services trade expansion and explores the mechanisms causing this impact. While the existing literature in international business and trade establishes that agreements increase trade, limited attention has been paid to how deeper agreements affect the global services markets. This paper argues that service provisions within trade agreements enhance service exports by moderating trade uncertainty between trading partners, thereby enhancing the institutional environment within which firms operate. Unlike goods trade, services trade is highly regulation-intensive, contract-dependent, and sensitive to policy reversals. Consequently, uncertainty surrounding market access, transaction costs, regulatory recognition, and dispute settlement mechanisms can significantly deter cross-border expansion by service providers. Increasingly, goods trade is supported by several services, which can result in higher exports of enabling and supporting services. Therefore, the paper examines the impact of service provisions within trade agreements by accounting for the volume of goods trade. The findings confirm that service provisions in trade agreements significantly enhance bilateral services exports, even after accounting for goods trade, advocating the need for deeper trade agreements with substantial commitments, strengthening institutional credibility between partner countries.
Key Details
- Date: September 16, 2026 (Wednesday)
- Time: 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM
- Venue: C402, C. V. Raman Block
- Topic: Deeper Agreements, Policy Uncertainty, And Cross-Border Services Expansion
- Speaker: Dr Banantika Datta (Assistant Professor, Jagdish Sheth School of Management, Bengaluru; Visiting Professor, IIM Amritsar)