ABSTRACT
Trade in services is commonly perceived to be something special. But it is still an open question what the main differences to trade in goods are. Peter Gray's paper contributes significantly to a better understanding of these differences. Gray makes an account of different types of services. International trade in "factor-embodied services" requires the spatial movement of producers or consumers across national borders. Gray stresses the importance of "special delivery systems" like branch offices or communication networks for the international provision of services. They might explain the striking gap between potential and actual trading performance. Gray has demonstrated elsewhere, how these two types of analysis could be integrated in a generalised theory. The comparatively low exposure of services to international competition points to particular impediments to trade that arise from specific properties of services or from government interventions in service markets.
