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Title: Developing Countries and Enforcement of Trade Agreements: Why Dispute Settlement Is Not Enough

Author(s): Chad P. Bown and Bernard Hoekman

Publication Date: September 2007

Keyword(s): developing countries, dispute settlement, enforcement, trade agreements and WTO

Programme Area(s): International Trade and Regional Economics

Abstract: Poor countries are rarely challenged in formal WTO trade disputes for failing to live up to commitments, reducing the benefits of their participation in international trade agreements. This paper examines the political-economic causes of the failure to challenge poor countries and discusses the static and dynamic costs and externality implications of this failure. Given the weak incentives to enforce WTO rules and disciplines against small and poor members, bolstering the transparency function of the WTO is important to make trade agreements more relevant to trade constituencies in developing countries. While our focus is on the WTO system, our arguments also apply to reciprocal North-South trade agreements.

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Bibliographic Reference

Bown, C and Hoekman, B. 2007. 'Developing Countries and Enforcement of Trade Agreements: Why Dispute Settlement Is Not Enough'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6459