This article attempts to consolidate research on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and basic social services, and analyzes the impact of the GATS on the provision of basic social services in developing countries. The article suggests that the general obligations of the GATS are expected to have a marginally beneficial impact on the provision of basic social services, to the extent they are implemented and integrated with the domestic reform agenda. This benefit is expected due to an increase in transparency and public availability of information. Second, making specific commitments in basic social services is likely to be marginally harmful, to the extent that Member countries lack regulatory capacity. This negative impact is expected due to restrictions on policy space. Third, scheduling basic social services under the GATS is quite de–linked from both – the problems faced in improving provision of basic social services, and the solutions that are suggested to address them. Finally, for a more complete picture of how the GATS may impact basic social services, there is need to look elsewhere, into the schedules of other sectors such as insurance and financial services, since poorly executed commitments can hamper policy space to introduce interventions in these allied sectors that affect the provision of basic social services.
Journal of World Trade