431 research outputs found
Economic Development and the World Trade Organization After Doha
No full textThe author analyzes what actions could
be taken in the context of the World Trade
Organization's Doha negotiations to assist countries in
reaping benefits from deeper trade integration. He discusses
the policy agenda that confronts many developing countries
and identifies a number of focal points that could be used
both as targets and as benchmarks to increase the likelihood
that WTO negotiations will support development. To achieve
these targets, the author proposes a number of negotiating
modalities for both goods and services-related market access
issues, as well as rule-making in regulatory areas.
Throughout the analysis, the author refers to the work of J.
Michael Finger, whose numerous writings in this area have
not only greatly influenced the thinking of policymakers and
researchers on the interaction between trade policy,
economic development, and the GATT/WTO trading system, but
also provides a model for how to pursue effective policy research
Why the Doha Round matters to Asia and the Pacific
No full textDiscussions on breaking the impasse between the US and China are continuing following last month's landmark meeting of WTO members. This column argues that allowing Doha to languish for years is deeply dangerous. The author asserts that failure to conclude Doha this year would put a dagger at the heart of the multilateral system. With the rise of China, the decline of US trade leadership, turmoil in the Middle East, and a damaged and imbalanced global economy, the world needs multilateralism more than ever
Food Aid and the WTO: Can New Rules Be Effective?
No full textA new Agreement on Agriculture from the Doha Development Agenda negotiations is certain to contain binding rules on food aid shipments. Negotiating parties are concerned that food aid has been used as a form of export competition policy, and they seek the use of coercive WTO legislation to prevent the disposal of surplus agricultural commodities as food aid. Current Uruguay Round food aid guidelines are contrasted with the most recent Doha Development Agenda proposals, and the prospective effectiveness of new rules is assessed. Food aid rules will be difficult to enforce within the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding. Also, exogenous policy changes in donor countries are reducing the relevance of rules that target food aid as a means of surplus disposal. The future of international food aid governance in the event of a Doha Round collapse is also discussed.agricultural trade, development economics, export competition, food aid, WTO, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, O13, O19, Q17, F13,
Tariffs, Transport Costs and the WTO Doha Round: The Case of Developing Countries
No full textThe WTO Doha Round of multinational trade negotiations is labelled the “development round” to highlight the fact that progress could be achieved through the enhanced integration of the poor countries into the world economy. Since the trade agenda focuses to a large extent on the levels of direct and indirect trade barriers as well as other aspects of trade and competition policy, an important aspect of the relative trade performance of developing countries has been neglected somewhat. This paper argues that, in addition to trade barriers, other trade costs, such as communications and transport costs, have to be taken into account. These other costs can be significantly higher in developing countries, which impedes their successful integration into world markets.developing countries, transport costs, WTO Doha Round, International Relations/Trade,
The Doha Talks and the Bargaining Surplus in Agriculture
No full textThe Doha Round has been slow to achieve a reduction in the level of agricultural protection. This remains the case notwithstanding the substantial economic benefits that would arise from a more liberal agricultural trading regime. We provide one explanation for this slowness using a simple bargaining model. We demonstrate that the bargaining countries received a substantial fiscal gain from reducing government expenditures in the run-up to the Uruguay Round. This fiscal pressure was sufficient to block rent seekers who wanted farm payments to continue. Since the Uruguay Round these fiscal constraints have been reduced and the same pressure to reach a bargain and control rent-seeking behaviour is not present in the Doha Round.Doha Round, rent seeking, bargaining, International Relations/Trade,
"Globalization and the Changing Trade Debate: Suggestions for a New Agenda"
No full textThe failure of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in July 2006 was the first major collapse of a multilateral trade round since World War II. Research Associate Thomas I. Palley sees the failure as an event that could mark the close of a 60-year era of trade policy largely centered on increasing market access and reducing tariffs, quotas, and subsidies. Doha’s demise represents an opportunity to challenge the intellectual dominance of the current WTO paradigm, to expose the failings of the neoliberal model of economic development, and to reposition the global trade debate.
Special Treatment and Policy Space for the Developing Economies in the Multilateral Trade Regime
No full textThe contemporary multilateral trading system comprises members ranging from high- to very low-income countries; this range has a bearing on the operations of the multilateral trade regime. Presence of a large number of low-income members is the new systemic reality. Special and differential treatment (SDT) has operated for the developing economies, principally for the small, low-income ones, for many decades. The concept of SDT grew in three basic stages, on which this article elaborates. Theoretically this concept was meaningful and significant, but in reality it has not engendered substantial benefits to the intended beneficiary groups, the developing economies. The Uruguay and the Doha Rounds of multilateral trade negotiations (MTNs) reaffirmed faith in SDT. The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) was clear about reaffirming the importance of SDT to the multilateral trade regime and referred to it as an integral part of the WTO Agreement. During the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún and the subsequent WTO meeting in Geneva in July 2004, small developing countries held together as the Group-of-Ninety (G-90). They made their presence felt in the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference as well. As SDT has not spawned large benefits for the target groups of countries, there is a pressing need to refine the concept. Academics and policy makers have debated over what future shape SDT should take so that it will be able to meet the expected goals. Taking these concerns into account, this article presents a comprehensive set of recommendations.International Relations/Trade,
The political Economy of WTO with special reference to NAMA Negotiations
No full textThe dissatisfaction of developing countries with the new Trade Round surfaced first in the WTO meeting in Seattle in autumn 1999. The Round was finally launched in Doha in 2001. Nevertheless, since the, the negotiations has faced with difficulties and deadlocks. The author argues that such difficulties are rooted in the economic philosophy behind the design of GATT/WTO rules and in their implementation by developed countries. The interrelated issues of conflict of ideology/interests and imbalances in the power relationship between developing and developed countries are the main cause of the inherent bias in the world trading system against developing countries. Such bias prevailed right from the time of the inception of the Breton Woods System as an alternative to the Keynes’s proposal and the Havana charter. The combination of these factors has been reflected in a number of contradictions, double standards and asymmetries not only in GATT/WTO rules in favour of developed countries and their large corporations. It has also influenced the negotiation of developed countries with developing countries during the so-called “Doha Development Round” The author refers to the particular example of negotiation on NAMA, in some details, to highlight inconsistencies between the objectives/spirit of the agreed text of the Doha Round and subsequent proposals made by developed countries. If these proposals were to be agreed upon they would limit policy space of developing countries necessary for their industrialization. It may, in fact, lock many of them in production and exports of primary commodities and at best, resource-based and assembly operations. He further argues that unless these asymmetries are addressed, there will be a great risk of the collapse of the international trading system with its adverse socio-political consequences for the international community. Drawing on the experience of successful early and late industrializers and the failure of recent across-the-board and universal trade liberalization, he proposes the necessary changes in WTO rules commensurate with industrialization and development.WTO, political economy, Non-agricultural market access, trade, trade policy, developing countries, industrial policy, trade negotiations
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE DISAPPOINTING DOHA ROUND OF TRADE NEGOTIATIONS
No full textThis paper stresses the importance of political as well as economic factors for understanding negotiating outcomes in multilateral trade negotiations such as the Doha Round. In particular, it is argued that economic factors of the type traditionally emphasized by economists in their classrooms are by themselves inadequate for analysing the negotiating process. A variety of political economy factors are discussed as explanations for the disappointing results of the Doha Round. Copyright 2007 The Author Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Kinetic Roof Structure: Msheireb Heart of Doha
No full textAbstractBarahat Al Nouq is the central square of the heart of Doha, capital of Qatar. Following traditional Arabic architecture, the new roof construction is reinterpreting ancient building elements which already functioned adaptive and responding. This is also the case with the new retractable roof with its movable membrane covered shading panels
- …
