Bilateral Trade in Services: Insights from A New Research Dataset

This paper introduces the Bilateral Trade in Services (BiTS) research dataset. BiTS draws primarily on the non-estimated trade values from the OECD-WTO Balanced Trade in Services (BaTIS) database, which serves as the cornerstone of this work. By harmonizing BaTIS data with information from the UNCTAD-WTO Trade in Services Database, UN Comtrade, Eurostat, and other official sources under a consistent BPM6 classification standard, BiTS enables analysis of bilateral services trade patterns over an extended time period from 1985-2023. The dataset covers bilateral trade across 12 major services categories, 9 of which are further disaggregated into 26 distinct subcategories, all harmonized under a consistent BPM6 classification standard for the period 1985-2023. We illustrate the uses of this dataset through two applications. The first shows that "gravity forces" have become less powerful in explaining services trade patterns over time, due to a shift in the composition of trade towards less distance-sensitive services. The second documents that overall services trade remains resilient to growing geopolitical fissures, but that modern services appear more sensitive to geopolitical alignment than traditional services.