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Developing Countries and Enforcement of Trade Agreements: Why Dispute Settlement Is Not Enough

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Abstract

Poor countries are rarely challenged in formal WTO trade disputes for failing to live up to commitments, reducing the benefits of their participation in international trade agreements. This paper examines the political-economic causes of the failure to challenge poor countries and discusses the static and dynamic costs and externality implications of this failure. Given the weak incentives to enforce WTO rules and disciplines against small and poor members, bolstering the transparency function of the WTO is important to make trade agreements more relevant to trade constituencies in developing countries. While our focus is on the WTO system, our arguments also apply to reciprocal North-South trade agreements.

Suggested Citation

  • Bown, Chad, 2007. "Developing Countries and Enforcement of Trade Agreements: Why Dispute Settlement Is Not Enough," CEPR Discussion Papers 6459, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6459
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernard Hoekman, 2008. "The General Agreement on Trade in Services: Doomed to Fail? Does it Matter?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 295-318, December.
    2. Lili Yan Ing & Olivier Cadot & Janine Walz, 2016. "Transparency in Non-tariff Measures: An International Comparison," Working Papers DP-2016-23, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    3. Manfred Elsig, 2010. "The World Trade Organization at work: Performance in a member-driven milieu," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 345-363, September.
    4. Sekkat, Khalid, 2010. "Arab Economic Integration: Missing links," CEPR Discussion Papers 7807, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Bernard Hoekman & David Vines, 2007. "Multilateral trade cooperation: what next?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 311-334, Autumn.
    6. Wolfe, Robert, 2013. "Letting the sun shine in at the WTO: How transparency brings the trading system to life," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2013-03, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Developing countries; Dispute settlement; Enforcement; Trade agreements; Wto;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

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