This chapter provides an overview of the legal obligations of the WTO/GATT system and certain related national, bilateral, and plurilateral arrangements. It is intended for economists and other social scientists who seek a concise and accessible introduction to the core legal obligations of the...

Do WTO commitments reduce the risk of trade policy reversals? To address this question, we rely on the theoretical model of varying cooperative tariffs by Bagwell and Staiger (1990) to specify our empirical model for the probability of a tariff increase. We then study how WTO tariff commitments...

This study takes stock of the institutional setting, operational modalities, strengths and weaknesses of various forms of mutual recognition when used in different sector and country contexts. It aims to build a greater understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of one of the 11 mechanisms of...

The establishment of the WTO’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Agreement in 1995 changed the face of international intellectual property (IP) law and policy-making. TRIPS negotiators recognized that shortcomings and inconsistencies in IP protection can distort...

Trade policy has been one of the most important issues in agricultural economics for more than 200 years. Our focus here is on evaluating relatively recent contributions to the understanding of agricultural trade policy and trade agreements. We present some background concerning trade policies...

Until the beginning of this century, the GATT/WTO system worked. Economic research provided a compelling explanation. It showed that if governments maximize the well-being of their own countries broadly defined, GATT/WTO principles would facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation over their...