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Breach, Remedies and Dispute Settlement in Trade Agreements

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Abstract

We provide a simple but novel model of trade agreements that highlights the role of transaction costs, renegotiation and dispute settlement. The model allows us to characterize the appropriate remedy for breach and whether the agreement should be structured as a system of "property rights" or "liability rules." We then study how the optimal rules depend on the underlying economic and contracting environment. Our model also delivers predictions about the outcome of trade disputes, and in particular about the propensity of countries to settle early versus "fighting it out."

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  • Giovanni Maggi & Robert W. Staiger, 2009. "Breach, Remedies and Dispute Settlement in Trade Agreements," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1735, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1735
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    1. Kyle Bagwell, 2009. "Self-Enforcing Trade Agreements and Private Information," NBER Working Papers 14812, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-850, September.
    3. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2008. "The WTO Dispute Settlement System 1995–2006: Some Descriptive Statistics," Working Paper Series 740, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. Howse, Robert & Staiger, Robert W., 2005. "United States – Anti-Dumping Act of 1916 (Original Complaint by the European Communities)– Recourse to arbitration by the United States under 22.6 of the DSU, WT/DS136/ARB, 24 February 2004," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 295-316, July.
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    6. Wilfred J. Ethier, "undated". "Punishment and Dispute Settlement in Trade Agreements," EPRU Working Paper Series 01-14, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    7. T. N. Srinivasan, 2007. "The Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO: A Brief History and an Evaluation from Economic, Contractarian and Legal Perspectives," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 1033-1068, July.
    8. Beshkar, Mostafa, 2010. "Optimal remedies in international trade agreements," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 455-466, April.
    9. Susan Athey, 2002. "Monotone Comparative Statics under Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 187-223.
    10. Jee-Hyeong Park, 2009. "Enforcing International Trade Agreements with Imperfect Private Monitoring: Private Trigger Strategies and a Possible Role for the WTO," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd09-063, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    11. Baldwin, Richard, 1987. "Politically realistic objective functions and trade policy PROFs and tariffs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 287-290.
    12. Martin, Alberto & Vergote, Wouter, 2008. "On the role of retaliation in trade agreements," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 61-77, September.
    13. Park, Jee-Hyeong, 2009. "Enforcing International Trade Agreements with Imperfect Private Monitoring: Private Trigger Strategies and the Possible Role of the WTO," CEI Working Paper Series 2009-14, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    14. Giovanni Maggi & Robert W. Staiger, 2008. "On the Role and Design of Dispute Settlement Procedures in International Trade Agreements," NBER Working Papers 14067, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Steven Shavell, 2003. "Economic Analysis of Property Law," NBER Working Papers 9695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Park, Jee-Hyeong, 2009. "Enforcing International Trade Agreements with Imperfect Private Monitoring: Private Trigger Strategies and a Possible Role for the WTO," CCES Discussion Paper Series 19, Center for Research on Contemporary Economic Systems, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    17. Schwartz, Warren F & Sykes, Alan O, 2002. "The Economic Structure of Renegotiation and Dispute Resolution in the World Trade Organization," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 179-204, January.
    18. Beshkar, Mostafa, 2010. "Trade skirmishes safeguards: A theory of the WTO dispute settlement process," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 35-48, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kohler, Wilhelm & Stähler, Frank, 2019. "The economics of investor protection: ISDS versus national treatment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Phillip McCalman & Frank Stähler & Gerald Willmann, 2019. "Contingent trade policy and economic efficiency," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 155(2), pages 227-255, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade agreements; Breach remedies; Dispute settlementLength: 52 pages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law

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