Private standards as means of technology transfer

In this paper, I investigate the effects of private supermarket standards on international trade of manufactured food products. I hypothesize that private standards are means of technology transfer bringing advanced food safety management practices and skills from high-income countries to medium and low income countries. Specifically, the analysis focuses on the International Featured Standard (IFS) which is one of the most important private standards originating in Germany and France and applied in supermarkets throughout Europe. With the help of a full database of IFS certified firms, I build a macroeconomic gravity model of 88 countries for the years 2008 to 2013 and can show that the number of certified firms in exporting countries is positively correlated with trade of manufactured food products. The results suggest that spillover effects from certified firms increase the efficiency of non-certified and help the whole food producing industry to access international markets.