WTO at the Margins

WTO at the Margins PDF Author: Roman Grynberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139460544
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
At a pivotal point in the history of the WTO, when development issues are at the heart of negotiations, how the larger and more powerful members address the legitimate concerns of its poorest and most vulnerable members will shape the perception of the institution throughout the century. This book aims not only to document almost ten years of experience of small states with the WTO but also to explain this experience. It takes an evidential theory approach to explaining the features characteristic to the trade and economic development of small island states. It then highlights the issues of concern to these states in relation to negotiations at the WTO. The experience of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries with the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is discussed, and the book ends with a discussion of key negotiating issues for the island states and institutional arrangements to facilitate reform.

Exploring the Intensive and Extensive Margins of World Trade

Exploring the Intensive and Extensive Margins of World Trade PDF Author: Gabriel J. Felbermayr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 39

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Book Description
World trade evolves at two margins. Where a bilateral trading relationship already exists it may increase through time (intensive margin). But trade may also increase if a trading bilateral relationship is newly established between countries that have not traded with each other in the past (extensive margin). We provide an empirical dissection of post-World-War-II growth in manufacturing world trade along these two margins. We propose a corner-solutions-versionʺ of the gravity model to explain movements on both margins. A Tobit estimation of this model resolves the so-called distance-puzzleʺ. It also finds more convincing evidence than recent literature that WTO-membership enhances trade.

product standards,harmonization,and trade: evidence from the extensive margin

product standards,harmonization,and trade: evidence from the extensive margin PDF Author: Ben Shepherd
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : CDI.
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
Abstract: The author uses a new database of EU product standards in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sectors to present the first empirical evidence that international standards harmonization is associated with increased partner country export variety. A 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of internationally harmonized standards is associated with a 0.2 percent increase in partner country export variety, whereas a 10 percent increase in the total number of standards is associated with a nearly 6 percent decrease in product variety. Although small, the harmonization elasticity is statistically significant, and proves highly robust to sample changes and instrumental variables estimation using instruments motivated by political economy considerations. Moreover, it is found to be around 50 percent higher for low income countries, which suggests that they may be particularly constrained in adapting products to meet multiple standards. Numerical simulations show that these findings are consistent with a heterogeneous firms model of trade in which harmonization is beneficial at the extensive margin provided that any increases in compliance costs are not too large.

WTO Membership and the Extensive Margin of World Trade

WTO Membership and the Extensive Margin of World Trade PDF Author: Gabriel J. Felbermayr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description


Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade?

Does WTO Membership Make a Difference at the Extensive Margin of World Trade? PDF Author: Gabriel J. Felbermayr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description


The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly But Unevenly

The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly But Unevenly PDF Author: Mr.Arvind Subramanian
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451859430
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
This paper furnishes robust evidence that the GATT/WTO has had a powerful and positive impact on trade. The impact has, however, been uneven. GATT/WTO membership for industrial countries has been associated with a large increase in imports estimated at about 40 percent of world trade. The same has not been true for developing country members, although those that joined after the Uruguay Round have benefited from increased imports. Similarly, there have been asymmetric effects among sectors, with WTO membership associated with substantially greater imports in sectors where barriers are low. These results are consistent with the history and design of the institution, which presided over significant trade liberalization by the industrial countries except in sectors such as food and clothing; largely exempted developing countries from the obligations to liberalize under the principle of special and differential treatment; but attempted to redress the latter by imposing greater obligations on developing country members that joined after the Uruguay Round.

The WTO at Ten

The WTO at Ten PDF Author: Giorgio Sacerdoti
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521863147
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
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Regulating Health and Environmental Risks Under WTO Law

Regulating Health and Environmental Risks Under WTO Law PDF Author: Lukasz Gruszczynski
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0199578923
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
The central problem that this book tackles is whether the system established by the SPS Agreement can address the existing and potential challenges of a new interdependent world. It provides a critical examination of the substantive provisions of the agreement and corresponding case law.

The Intensive Margin in Trade

The Intensive Margin in Trade PDF Author: Ana Fernandes
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484386175
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
The Melitz model highlights the importance of the extensive margin (the number of firms exporting) for trade flows. Using the World Bank’s Exporter Dynamics Database (EDD) featuring firm-level exports from 50 countries, we find that around 50 percent of variation in exports is along the extensive margin—a quantitative victory for the Melitz framework. The remaining 50 percent on the intensive margin (exports per exporting firm) contradicts a special case of Melitz with Pareto-distributed firm productivity, which has become a tractable benchmark. This benchmark model predicts that, conditional on the fixed costs of exporting, all variation in exports across trading partners should occur on the extensive margin. We find that moving from a Pareto to a lognormal distribution allows the Melitz model to match the role of the intensive margin in the EDD. We use likelihood methods and the EDD to estimate a generalized Melitz model with a joint lognormal distribution for firm-level productivity, fixed costs and demand shifters, and use “exact hat algebra” to quantify the effects of a decline in trade costs on trade flows and welfare in the estimated model. The welfare effects turn out to be quite close to those in the standard Melitz-Pareto model when we choose the Pareto shape parameter to fit the average trade elasticity implied by our estimated Melitz-lognormal model, although there are significant differences regarding the effects on trade flows.

The World Trading System

The World Trading System PDF Author: John Howard Jackson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262600279
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Since the first edition of The World Trading System was published in 1989, the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations has been completed, and most governments have ratified and are in the process of implementing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In the Uruguay Round, more than 120 nations negotiated for over eight years, to produce a document of some 26,000 pages. This new edition of The World Trading System takes account of these and other developments. Like the first edition, however, its treatment of topical issues is grounded in the fundamental legal, constitutional, institutional, and political realities that mold trade policy. Thus the book continues to serve as an introduction to the study of trade law and policy. Two basic premises of The World Trading System are that economic concerns are central to foreign affairs, and that national economies are growing more interdependent. The author presents the economic principles of international trade policy and then examines how they operate under real- world constraints. In particular, he examines the extremely elaborate system of rules that governs international economic relations. Until now, the bulk of international trade policy has addressed trade in goods; issues inadequately addressed by policy include trade in services, intellectual property rights, certain investment measures, and agriculture. The author highlights the tension between legal rules, designed to create predictability and stability, and the governments need to make exceptions to solve short-term problems. He also looks at weaknesses of international trade policy, especially as it applies to developing countries and economies in transition. He concludes with a look at issues that will shape international trade policy well into the twenty-first century.