Research on the Formation Mechanism and Influencing Factors of Competition Policy in RTAs

The competition policy provisions in regional trade agreements are intended to safeguard market competition environment, protect market competition interests and promote international economic cooperation. However, due to the difference in economic size and market development, there are differences in competition policy among regional trade agreements. Using the Deep-trade-agreement database published by the World Bank, this paper empirically tests the formation mechanism and influencing factors of the signing and enforcement effect of competition policy provisions in regional trade agreements from 1996 to 2015 by analyzing the level and depth of competition policy provisions. The empirical results show that: the two countries’ technology similarity, institutional quality and foreign direct investment have significant effects on the signing of competition policy provisions and the effect of law enforcement, and the effect is more significant in the south-north model than in the south-south model.