We find that prior to World Trade Organization membership, countries set import tariffs 9 percentage points higher on inelastically supplied imports relative to those supplied elastically. The ...magnitude of this effect is similar to the size of average tariffs in these countries, and market power explains more of the tariff variation than a commonly used political economy variable. Moreover, US trade restrictions not covered by the WTO are significantly higher on goods where the United States has more market power. We find strong evidence that these importers have market power and use it in setting noncooperative trade policy.
We use 6-digit bilateral trade data to document the effect of WTO/GATT membership on the extensive and intensive product margins of trade. We construct gravity equations for the two product margins ...motivated by Chaney (2008). The empirical results show that standard gravity variables provide good explanatory power for bilateral trade on both margins. Importantly, we show that the impact of the WTO is concentrated almost exclusively on the extensive product margin of trade, i.e. trade in goods that were not previously traded. In our preferred specification, WTO membership increases the extensive margin of exports by 25%. At the same time, WTO membership has a negative impact on the intensive margin. Based on novel comparative statics results about how fixed and variable trade costs impact the product margins of trade, our results suggest that WTO membership works by reducing primarily the fixed rather than the variable costs of trade.
•We document the effect of WTO/GATT membership on the extensive and intensive margins of trade.•We construct gravity equations for the two product margins motivated by Chaney (2008).•WTO membership increases the extensive margin, but has a negative impact on the intensive margin.•Our results suggest that WTO membership works by reducing primarily the fixed rather than the variable costs of trade.
A preocupação socioambiental está prevista em vários acordos firmados na Organização Mundial do Comércio. Contudo a sua implementação na atualidade para coibir o dumping socioambiental por exemplo é ...um desafio. Essas barreiras são muitas vezes internas, ou seja, tradicionalmente submetidas à soberania dos estados membros e, portanto, de fora do âmbito de abrangência do multilateralismo da OMC. Contudo há casos que devem ser apontados como indicativos de mudança e a temática socioambiental foi objeto de diversos painéis do órgão de solução de controvérsias, a articulação de discussões temáticas e a participação de outros agentes além dos Estados nacionais, ainda que de forma indireta indicam mudanças. O artigo analisa a prática das barreiras técnicas e regulatórias, faz um resumo de alguns casos que foram objeto de decisão no Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias, discorre a respeito dos padrões de sustentabilidade voluntários e obrigatórios e termina com a constatação de que a participação da sociedade tem se dado de forma indireta, via estudos, consultorias e participação via amicus curiae. A abordagem foi qualitativa para descrever alguns casos de exemplificativos para fundamentar a possível constatação aqui trazida de que a OMC enfrenta o desafio estrutural de inserir preocupações socioambientais na sua forma de interpretação e na aplicação de suas regras e para tanto esforços precisam ser feitos para o aumento de sua legitimidade para lidar com questões transdisciplinares.
Antidumping and retaliation threats Blonigen, Bruce A; Bown, Chad P
Journal of international economics,
08/2003, Volume:
60, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We propose and test two ways in which retaliation threats may dampen the antidumping (AD) activity we observe. First, the threat of retaliatory AD actions may make a domestic industry less likely to ...name a foreign import source in an AD petition. Second, the prospect of a GATT/WTO trade dispute may make government agencies less likely to rule positive in their AD decision. Using a nested logit framework, we find evidence that both retaliation threats substantially affect US AD activity from 1980 through 1998.
This paper surveys estimates of the value of the GATT/WTO's contributions to global welfare through providing a forum for negotiating reductions in policy‐induced distortions to trade flows, ...including through the process of accession by new members. After reviewing measures of the price‐distorting effects of trade‐related policies, it assesses estimates from global simulation models of the welfare effects of trade liberalizations prior to the WTO's Doha round, including the net benefits and transfers associated with implementing the Uruguay Round agreement on trade‐related intellectual property rights, and then reviews estimates of the potential welfare effects of a Doha round agreement to cut tariffs and subsidies. Econometric estimates of past trade and related effects of the GATT/WTO are then examined, before turning to estimates of the benefits of WTO accession and of potential benefits from WTO‐sponsored trade facilitation. The paper concludes that while it remains difficult to attribute reforms directly to the GATT/WTO, the overall body of evidence presented supports the economic profession's consensus that this institution has contributed substantially to global economic welfare.
Abstract
Individuals, businesses, and governments increasingly use data to create new services delivered via the internet. In so doing, they are creating a new economy built on cross-border data ...flows. The USA, the European Union, and China are using domestic and foreign policies to reap data-based economies of scale and scope. Essentially, they have created three distinct data realms with different approaches to data governance. As a result, they have fostered a new digital divide: between the three data behemoths and other countries that are rule takers. This situation presents the WTO with a challenge and an opportunity. These three data realms could undermine the ability of the WTO to govern trade in data flows, but it also creates pressures for the three data realms to use WTO mechanisms to find common ground among their approaches. Moreover, it could provide an incentive to WTO members to create new rules governing trade in data.
We estimate the effects of trade facilitation on export diversification, as measured by two extensive margins: the number of products exported by destination and the number of export destinations ...served by product. To address causality we use only exports of new products, or exports to new destinations. We find a positive impact of trade facilitation on the extensive margins of trade. The results are robust to alternative definitions of extensive margins, different sets of controls, and various estimation methods. Simulation results suggest substantial extensive margin gains from trade facilitation reform in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The present article has examined the effect of the duration of the membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and/or the World Trade Organization (WTO) (and not the mere ...membership in the GATT/WTO) on the growth of human development, considered as a measure of citizens' welfare. We hypothesize that by reducing economic growth volatility, the membership duration would promote human development. The analysis has relied on a panel dataset of 148 developed and developing countries, over the period from 1990 to 2019, and provided support for the theoretical hypothesis. Interestingly, the membership duration is always associated with a higher growth of human development, regardless of countries' degree of economic growth volatility. However, the lower the level of economic growth volatility, the larger is the positive effect of the membership duration on the growth of human development. Finally, the effect of the membership duration on the human development growth rate is heterogenous across countries, reflecting the stringency of countries' accession procedures to the GATT/WTO.
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