IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revint/v8y2013i3p389-414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Commerce and institutions: Trade, scope, and the design of regional economic organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Yoram Haftel

Abstract

The design of current regional economic organizations (REOs) is remarkably diverse. Some REOs address numerous economic issues, while others have only limited mandates. Some REOs have an independent bureaucracy and a legalized dispute settlement mechanism (DSM), while others do not. What determines this institutional variation? Thinking about these institutions as devices that generate credible commitment to a rule-based regional cooperation, institutionalists maintain that the intensity of commercial ties determine regional institutionalization and institutional independence. A number of studies question this logic and argue that it is “naïve.” Empirical evidence on the links between commerce, economic scope, and regional institutions is scant, however. Using an original data set that contains detailed information on the economic activities and institutional structure of twenty-eight REOs over three decades, this paper presents one of the first systematic analyses of these relationships. The empirical analysis indicates that the institutionalist wisdom is right after all. It shows that higher levels of regional trade are associated with greater institutionalization and economic scope, but only if implementation of signed agreements is accounted for, and that regional commerce and greater economic scope are associated with more independent bureaucracies and more legalized DSMs. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Yoram Haftel, 2013. "Commerce and institutions: Trade, scope, and the design of regional economic organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 389-414, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:8:y:2013:i:3:p:389-414
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-012-9162-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11558-012-9162-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11558-012-9162-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pevehouse, Jon & Russett, Bruce, 2006. "Democratic International Governmental Organizations Promote Peace," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 969-1000, October.
    2. Kyle Bagwell & Robert W. Staiger, 2009. "The WTO: Theory and Practice," NBER Working Papers 15445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Kahler, Miles, 2000. "Conclusion: The Causes and Consequences of Legalization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(3), pages 661-683, July.
    4. Giandomenico Majone, 2001. "Two Logics of Delegation," European Union Politics, , vol. 2(1), pages 103-122, February.
    5. Mansfield, Edward D. & Pevehouse, Jon C., 2000. "Trade Blocs, Trade Flows, and International Conflict," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(4), pages 775-808, October.
    6. AfDB AfDB, . "African Development Report 2000," African Development Report, African Development Bank, number 17 edited by Adeleke Oluwole Salami.
    7. Simmons, Beth A. & Danner, Allison, 2010. "Credible Commitments and the International Criminal Court," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 225-256, April.
    8. Baccini, Leonardo & Dür, Andreas, 2012. "The New Regionalism and Policy Interdependence," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 57-79, January.
    9. Edward D. Mansfield & Helen V. Milner & B. Peter Rosendorff, 2015. "Why Democracies Cooperate More: Electoral Control and International Trade Agreements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Edward D Mansfield (ed.), THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE, chapter 11, pages 227-263, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Smith, James McCall, 2000. "The Politics of Dispute Settlement Design: Explaining Legalism in Regional Trade Pacts," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(1), pages 137-180, January.
    11. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521635363.
    12. Simmons, Beth A., 2000. "International Law and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(4), pages 819-835, December.
    13. Baccini, Leonardo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2012. "Strategic side payments: preferential trading agreements, economic reform, and foreign aid," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45057, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2007. "Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 72-95, March.
    15. Thompson, Alexander, 2006. "Coercion Through IOs: The Security Council and the Logic of Information Transmission," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(1), pages 1-34, January.
    16. Mansfield, Edward D. & Milner, Helen V., 1999. "The New Wave of Regionalism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 589-627, July.
    17. Haftel, Yoram Z., 2007. "Designing for Peace: Regional Integration Arrangements, Institutional Variation, and Militarized Interstate Disputes," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(1), pages 217-237, January.
    18. Tim Büthe & Helen V. Milner, 2008. "The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 741-762, October.
    19. Edward D. Mansfield & Helen V. Milner & Jon C. Pevehouse, 2008. "Democracy, Veto Players and the Depth of Regional Integration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 67-96, January.
    20. Abbott, Kenneth W. & Snidal, Duncan, 2000. "Hard and Soft Law in International Governance," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(3), pages 421-456, July.
    21. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521632270.
    22. Koremenos, Barbara & Lipson, Charles & Snidal, Duncan, 2001. "The Rational Design of International Institutions," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(4), pages 761-799, October.
    23. Goldstein, Judith, 1996. "International law and domestic institutions: reconciling North American “unfair†trade laws," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 541-564, October.
    24. Poast, Paul, 2010. "(Mis)Using Dyadic Data to Analyze Multilateral Events," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 403-425.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Klaus H. Goetz & Ronny Patz & Eugénia Heldt & Henning Schmidtke, 2017. "Measuring the Empowerment of International Organizations: The Evolution of Financial and Staff Capabilities," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(s5), pages 51-61, August.
    2. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, 2015. "Delegation and pooling in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 305-328, September.
    3. Tobias Lenz & Besir Ceka & Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks & Alexandr Burilkov, 2023. "Discovering cooperation: Endogenous change in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 631-666, October.
    4. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i::p:51-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Yoram Z. Haftel & Tobias Lenz, 2022. "Measuring institutional overlap in global governance," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 323-347, April.
    6. Dreher, Axel & Mikosch, Heiner & Voigt, Stefan, 2015. "Membership has its Privileges – The Effect of Membership in International Organizations on FDI," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 346-358.
    7. Todd Allee & Manfred Elsig, 2016. "Why do some international institutions contain strong dispute settlement provisions? New evidence from preferential trade agreements," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 89-120, March.
    8. Markus Gastinger & Andreas Dür, 2021. "Joint bodies in the European Union's international agreements: Delegating powers to the European Commission in EU external relations," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 611-630, December.
    9. Baccini, Leonardo & Dür, Andreas & Elsig, Manfred, 2015. "The politics of trade agreement design: revisiting the depth-flexibility nexus," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62303, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Rana Arslan Tariq, 2015. "Trade and Conflicts: Do Preferential Trade Agreements Matter?," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(4), pages 561-574, December.
    11. Fabio Franchino & Camilla Mariotto, 2021. "Noncompliance risk, asymmetric power and the design of enforcement of the European economic governance," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 591-610, December.
    12. Yoram Z. Haftel & Stephanie C. Hofmann, 2019. "Rivalry and Overlap: Why Regional Economic Organizations Encroach on Security Organizations," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(9), pages 2180-2206, October.
    13. Libman, Alexander & Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2016. "Региональные Организации: Типы И Логика Развития [Regional Organizations: Typology and Development Paths]," MPRA Paper 79383, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Michael Zürn & Alexandros Tokhi & Martin Binder, 2021. "The International Authority Database," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442, September.
    15. Leslie Johns, 2014. "Depth versus rigidity in the design of international trade agreements," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(3), pages 468-495, July.
    16. Diana Panke, 2020. "Regional cooperation through the lenses of states: Why do states nurture regional integration?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 475-504, April.
    17. Soo Yeon Kim, 2021. "Investment commitments in PTAs and MNCS in partner countries," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 415-442, November.
    18. Zürn, Michael & Tokhi, Alexandros & Binder, Martin, 2021. "The International Authority Database," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442.
    19. Jon CW Pevehouse & Timothy Nordstrom & Roseanne W McManus & Anne Spencer Jamison, 2020. "Tracking organizations in the world: The Correlates of War IGO Version 3.0 datasets," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(3), pages 492-503, May.
    20. Lee, Jiwon & Wittgenstein, Teresa, 2017. "Weak vs. Strong Ties: Explaining Early Settlement in WTO Disputes," ILE Working Paper Series 7, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    21. Tristan Kohl & Steven Brakman & Harry Garretsen, 2016. "Do Trade Agreements Stimulate International Trade Differently? Evidence from 296 Trade Agreements," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 97-131, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julia Gray & Jonathan Slapin, 2012. "How effective are preferential trade agreements? Ask the experts," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 309-333, September.
    2. Yoram Z. Haftel & Alexander Thompson, 2006. "The Independence of International Organizations," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(2), pages 253-275, April.
    3. Andreas Dür & Leonardo Baccini & Manfred Elsig, 2014. "The design of international trade agreements: Introducing a new dataset," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 353-375, September.
    4. Leonardo Baccini, 2010. "Explaining formation and design of EU trade agreements: The role of transparency and flexibility," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(2), pages 195-217, June.
    5. Baccini, Leonardo, 2010. "Explaining formation and design of EU trade agreements: the role of transparency and flexibility," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45565, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Inken Borzyskowski & Felicity Vabulas, 2019. "Hello, goodbye: When do states withdraw from international organizations?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 335-366, June.
    7. Baccini, Leonardo & Dür, Andreas & Elsig, Manfred & Milewicz, Karolina, 2011. "The design of preferential trade agreements: A new dataset in the Making," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2011-10, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    8. Antoni Estevadeordal & Kati Suominen, 2008. "Sequencing Regional Trade Integration and Cooperation Agreements," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 112-140, January.
    9. Rana, Arslan Tariq & Kebewar, Mazen, 2014. "The Political Economy of FDI flows into Developing Countries: Does the depth of International Trade Agreements Matter?," EconStor Preprints 91501, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Jonas Tallberg & Thomas Sommerer & Theresa Squatrito, 2016. "Democratic memberships in international organizations: Sources of institutional design," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 59-87, March.
    11. Besir Ceka and Brian Burgo, 2014. "Discovering Cooperation: A Contractual Approach to Institutional Change in Regional International Organizations," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers p0388, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    12. Baccini,Leonardo & Fiorini,Matteo & Hoekman,Bernard M. & Altomonte,Carlo & Colantone,Italo, 2021. "Global Value Chains and Deep Integration," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9598, The World Bank.
    13. Kolcava, Dennis & Nguyen, Quynh & Bernauer, Thomas, 2019. "Does trade liberalization lead to environmental burden shifting in the global economy?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 98-112.
    14. Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "How Does Democratic Accountability Shape International Cooperation?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(1), pages 28-55, February.
    15. Terrence L. Chapman, 2007. "International Security Institutions, Domestic Politics, and Institutional Legitimacy," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(1), pages 134-166, February.
    16. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Jana von Stein & Erik Gartzke, 2008. "International Organizations Count," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 52(2), pages 175-188, April.
    17. Saori N. Katada, 2010. "Political Economy of East Asian Regional Integration and Cooperation," Working Papers id:3059, eSocialSciences.
    18. Aysegul Aydin, 2010. "The deterrent effects of economic integration," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(5), pages 523-533, September.
    19. Nicole Jenne, 2013. "Whither the push and pull for integration: Taking stock of Latin America’s declaratory regionalism," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/82, European University Institute.
    20. Edward D. Mansfield & Helen V. Milner & Jon C. Pevehouse, 2008. "Democracy, Veto Players and the Depth of Regional Integration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 67-96, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regional economic organizations; Institutional design; Regional trade; Economic interdependence; Legalization; Implementation; F13; F53; F55;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:8:y:2013:i:3:p:389-414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.