Agriculture's 'multifunctionality' and the WTO

Legislated Protection and the WTO∗

Tariff bindings and administered protection are two characteristics of the WTO that are little understood. Tariff bindings place a ceiling on tariffs that is not always reached, while administered protection ensures that all sectors have access to some minimum import protection, effectively creating a floor for protection. How do these policies affect applied MFN tariff rates that are enacted t...

Redesigning the WTO

Redesigning the WTO for the 21 Century November 9, 2009 The Program in International Finance and Economic Policy (IFEP) at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), in conjunction with Columbia University’s Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Study Center, presented a panel discussion about the present and future of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Debra Steger, Professo...

The WTO, Looking Ahead

In this Essay, I would like to focus simply on some key points which I believe are central to the WTO’s present, and also to its future. This Essay begins by discussing the importance of the rule of law to the WTOs work. Part II talks about changes that have come with an expanding membership. Part III concludes with a review of recent events and an optimistic outlook for the WTO.

BROKEN PROMISES: TRADE, AGRICULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE WTO Trade, Agriculture and Development in the WTO

WTO Membership and Corruption

Despite widespread belief that membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) improves the quality of governance, there is no convincing empirical evidence. Here, we investigate whether WTO membership has a causal effect on firm-level reports of political corruption using a nonparametric partial identification approach to bound the average treatment effect (ATE). We also analyze conditional A...