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National Treatment in the GATT

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  • Horn, Henrik

Abstract

The National Treatment clause (NT) is the first-line defence in the GATT (and in most other trade agreements) against opportunistic exploitation of the inevitable incompleteness of the agreement. This paper examines the role of NT as it applies to internal taxation under the GATT. It is shown that despite severely restricting the freedom to set internal taxes, NT may improve government welfare. But it will not completely solve the incomplete contract problem it is meant to remedy. Furthermore, it requires a high degree of economic sophistication on behalf of trade negotiators in order for this beneficial effect to materialize.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5450.

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Date of creation: Jan 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5450

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Keywords: GATT; National Treatment; non-discrimination; trade agreement; WTO;

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References

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  1. Josh Ederington, 2001. "International Coordination of Trade and Domestic Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1580-1593, December.
  2. Kyle Bagwell & Robert W. Staiger, 1999. "Domestic Policies, National Sovereignty and International Economic Institutions," NBER Working Papers 7293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Kyle Bagwell & Robert W. Staiger, 1997. "An Economic Theory of GATT," NBER Working Papers 6049, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Horn, Henrik, 2006. "National Treatment in the GATT," Working Paper Series 657, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  5. Brian R. Copeland, 1990. "Strategic Interaction among Nations: Negotiable and Non-negotiable Trade Barriers," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 84-108, February.
  6. Pierpaolo Battigalli & Giovanni Maggi, 2003. "International agreements on product standards: an incomplete-contracting theory," Working Papers 229, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Costinot, Arnaud, 2008. "A Comparative Institutional Analysis of Agreements on Product Standards," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt09f6660d, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
  2. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2008. "The Permissible Reach of National Environmental Policies," Working Paper Series 739, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 20 Jun 2008.
  3. Sergei Guriev & Mikhail Klimenko, 2010. "Duration and Term Structure of Trade Agreements," Working Papers w0150, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
  4. Naoshi Doi & Hiroshi Ohashi, 2012. "Empirical Analysis of the National Treatment Obligation Under the WTO: The Case of Japanese Shochu ," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-834, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
  5. Henrik Horn & Giovanni Maggi & Robert W. Staiger, 2010. "Trade Agreements as Endogenously Incomplete Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 394-419, March.
  6. Horn, Henrik, 2006. "National Treatment in the GATT," Working Paper Series 657, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  7. Horn, Henrik, 2009. "The Burden of Proof in National Treatment Disputes and the Environment," CEPR Discussion Papers 7316, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  8. Horn, Henrik, 2011. "The burden of proof in trade disputes and the environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 15-29, July.
  9. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2009. "Burden of Proof in Environmental Disputes in the WTO: Legal Aspects," Working Paper Series 793, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  10. Ralph Ossa, 2008. "A 'New Trade' Theory of GATT/WTO Negotiations," CEP Discussion Papers dp0877, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  11. Robert W. Staiger & Alan O. Sykes, 2009. "International Trade and Domestic Regulation," NBER Working Papers 15541, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. Li, Na & Ker, Alan P., 2011. "Trade Agreements, Political Economy and Endogenously Incomplete Contracts," Working Papers 116850, Canadian Agricultural Trade Policy Research Network.

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