IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/5525.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Proposals for WTO reform : a synthesis and assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Hoekman, Bernard

Abstract

This paper summarizes the major arguments and proposals to reform the modus operandi of the World Trade Organization --including decision-making procedures, negotiating modalities, and dispute settlement. Much has already been done to improve the internal and external transparency of World Trade Organization processes. Some proposals for structural reform ignore incentive constraints and the fact that the World Trade Organization is an incomplete contract that must be self-enforcing. Others -- such as calls for a"critical mass"approach to negotiations --can already be pursued (and have been). The agenda for international cooperation increasingly revolves around"behind-the-border"regulatory externalities that do not necessarily lend themselves to binding commitments in a trade agreement. This suggests a focus on strengthening notification/surveillance and developing more effective mechanisms for dialogue on regulatory policies that may create negative spillovers.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoekman, Bernard, 2011. "Proposals for WTO reform : a synthesis and assessment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5525, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5525
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2011/01/10/000158349_20110110095113/Rendered/PDF/WPS5525.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hiau LooiKee & Alessandro Nicita & Marcelo Olarreaga, 2009. "Estimating Trade Restrictiveness Indices," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(534), pages 172-199, January.
    2. Nuno Limão & Kamal Saggi, 2018. "Tariff retaliation versus financial compensation in the enforcement of international trade agreements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Economic Analysis of the Rules and Regulations of the World Trade Organization, chapter 13, pages 299-311, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    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. Ellero, Jeremy & Lagadec, Gael, 2014. "Le Pacifique insulaire dans le cadre d'échange multilatéral : quel accord de libre-échange pour les territoires français du Pacifique ?," MPRA Paper 60016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gregory Shaffer, 2015. "How the World Trade Organization shapes regulatory governance," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Franco Bruni, 2011. "Europe and the World’s Economy Governance: The Monetary and Financial Perspective," Chapters, in: Carlo Secchi & Antonio Villafranca (ed.), Global Governance and the Role of the EU, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Bouët, Antoine & Laborde, David, 2019. "Plurilateral agreements: a promising trade liberalization modality?," Conference papers 333112, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Ellero, Jeremy & Lagadec, Gael, 2014. "Le Pacifique insulaire dans le cadre d'échange multilatéral : quel accord de libre-échange pour les territoires français du Pacifique ?," MPRA Paper 60043, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Chris Milner, 2013. "Declining Protection in Developing Countries: Fact or Fiction?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 689-700, June.
    2. Estrades, Carmen, 2018. "Going backwards: Assessing the impact of NAFTA dissolution on Mexico," Conference papers 332956, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. Huy Quang Doan, 2019. "Trade, Institutional Quality and Income: Empirical Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Pierre, Boulanger & Aikaterini, Kavallari & Luise, Rau Marie & Martine, Rutten, 2013. "Trade openness and investment in North Africa: A CGE application to deep and comprehensive free trade areas (DCFTAs) between the EU and respectively Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia," 2013: Productivity and Its Impacts on Global Trade, June 2-4, 2013. Seville, Spain 152360, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    5. Hoekman, Bernard & Nicita, Alessandro, 2011. "Trade Policy, Trade Costs, and Developing Country Trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 2069-2079.
    6. Bouët, Antoine & Elbehri, Aziz & Nguyen, Duc Bao & Traoré, Fousseini, 2022. "Measuring Agricultural Trade Integration in Southeast Asia," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 37(2), pages 235-266.
    7. Götz, Christian & Heckelei, Thomas & Rudloff, Bettina, 2010. "What makes countries initiate WTO disputes on food-related issues?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 154-162, April.
    8. Fontagné, Lionel & Orefice, Gianluca & Piermartini, Roberta & Rocha, Nadia, 2015. "Product standards and margins of trade: Firm-level evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 29-44.
    9. Takatsuka, Hajime & Zeng, Dao-Zhi, 2016. "Nontariff protection without an outside good," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 65-78.
    10. Chad P. Bown & Patricia Tovar, 2016. "Preferential Liberalization, Antidumping, and Safeguards: Stumbling Block Evidence from MERCOSUR," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 262-294, November.
    11. Kym Anderson, 2006. "Reducing Distortions to Agricultural Incentives: Progress, Pitfalls, and Prospects," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1135-1146.
    12. de Melo, Jaime & Vijil, Mariana, 2014. "Barriers to Trade in Environmental Goods and Environmental Services: How Important Are They? How Much Progress at Reducing Them?," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 172425, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    13. Kym Anderson & Johan Swinnen, 2008. "Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Europe's Transition Economies," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6502, December.
    14. Aikaterini Kavallari & Marie-Luise Rau & Martine Rutten, 2013. "Economic Growth in the Euro-Med Area through Trade Integration: Focus on Agriculture and Food. Regional impact analysis," JRC Research Reports JRC84800, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    15. D. A. Izotov & K. I. Tochkov, 2020. "Interaction of the Russian Far East and Asia-Pacific Countries: Assessment of Institutional and Tariff Barriers to Trade," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 182-193, April.
    16. Fugazza, Marco & Maur, Jean-Christophe, 2008. "Non-tariff barriers in CGE models: How useful for policy?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 475-490.
    17. John Christopher Beghin & Anne-Célia Disdier & Stéphan Marette, 2017. "Trade restrictiveness indices in the presence of externalities: An application to non-tariff measures," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 5, pages 81-104, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Eyal RONEN, 2017. "Quantifying the trade effects of NTMs: A review of the empirical literature," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 263-274, September.
    19. Ana Paula Cusolito & Claire H. Hollweg, 2015. "Trade Policy Barriers: An Obstacle to Export Diversification in Eurasia," Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 2(4), pages 91-129, June.
    20. Gianluca Orefice, 2017. "Non-Tariff Measures, Specific Trade Concerns and Tariff Reduction," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(9), pages 1807-1835, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Theory&Research; Trade Law; World Trade Organization; Trade and Services; Free Trade;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:5525. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.