Trade in agriculture is linked to a whole range of economic, environmental, societal and future interests. For this reason, international regulation of trade in agricultural goods is highly contentious. While mainly directed towards an opening of markets, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture also...

The common mantra in telecommunications regulatory fora (be it national, regional or international) now goes along the lines of 'deregulation-good; regulation-bad' and competition is said to be the ultimate answer to basically every question. A generalised dictum like this is in itself suspicious...

The paper implementing the imperfect competitive equilibrium model, increasing returns to scale, the coordination failure problem and the learning-by-doing argument discusses the economic efficiency of local content requirements (LCRs). It is shown that the LCRs are economically unjustifiable...

We study a two-sector, two-period model with learning externalities in the modern sector and imperfectly integrated capital markets. We find that higher capital market integration lowers the requirements on the learning pattern necessary for free trade to lead to an equilibrium with maximal...

To study how financial development depends on trade openness and different types of institutions, we present a political economy model in which the elite can repress the financial market at some cost. The elite can persuade the government to set an interest rate ceiling, and it can then channel...

In the occasion of the US - Gambling ruling, this paper attempts to draw the dividing line between the four most important, from a liberalisation viewpoint, GATS provisions that appear to overlap in several instances, i.e. Articles VI, XVI, XVII, and XVIII. After demarcating the purview of these...

A necessity test is a tool that reflects the balance between two potentially conflicting interests or challenges - the one being primarily domestic in nature, the other more international or multilateral in character. The domestic challenge stems from each country's prerogative to regulate in...

This paper describes a close analysis of the functioning of WTO decision-making intended to provide a better view on the various reform proposals put forward in recent years. After explaining that these proposals are meant to enhance either the efficiency or the legitimacy of decision-making, we...

America's foreign policy appears to be in a shambles. Whatever Washington's reactions to the shock of Iraq will be in the upcoming years, the fate of the US will be connected to the fate of the international system and its institutionalised face, the UN. Through its eminence in the world, the US...