We argue in this paper that the second-best nature of trade-policy intervention makes it likely that the issue of time consistency viii be an important consideration in determining both the extent and the efficacy of such intervention in most environments. The point is seen most directly by noting that a tariff is both a tax on consumers and a subsidy to producers of the import-competing good. Since first-best intervention typically calls for targeting each distortion with a separate tax/subsidy, the tariff will be a more effective policy tool if its consumption tax aspect can be separated from its production subsidy dimension. Consequently, if production decisions are made prior to consumption decisions, a government with sufficient policy flexibility will be tempted to surprise producers with policies other than those announced in an effort to make this separation. This leads optimal trade policy intervention to be time-inconsistent in a wide range of environments. We explore this idea in general terms and illustrate the results with specific examples.
We test empirically for evidence that government tariff-setting behavior depends on the degree of discretion with which policy-makers are endowed. We do this by studying government tariff choices under two distinct environments. One environment is that of tariffs set under the Escape Clause (Section 201 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974). We argue that these decisions afford the government with ample opportunity to reoptimize, and with correspondingly little ability to commit. The other environment is the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations and the determination of the set of exclusions from the general formula cuts. We argue that these decisions provided the government with a much diminished opportunity to reoptimize, and with a correspondingly greater ability to commit. Comparing decisions made in these two environments allows us to ask whether the degree of policy discretion has a measurable impact on trade policy decisions. Our findings suggest that it does.
Since the first edition of The World Trading System was published in 1989, the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations has been completed, and most governments have ratified and are in the process of implementing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In the Uruguay Round, more than 120 nations negotiated for over eight years, to produce a document of some 26,000 pages. This new edition of The World Trading System takes account of these and other developments. Like the first edition, however, its treatment of topical issues is grounded in the fundamental legal, constitutional, institutional, and political realities that mold trade policy. Thus the book continues to serve as an introduction to the study of trade law and policy. Two basic premises of The World Trading System are that economic concerns are central to foreign affairs, and that national economies are growing more interdependent. The author presents the economic principles of international trade policy and then examines how they operate under real- world constraints. In particular, he examines the extremely elaborate system of rules that governs international economic relations. Until now, the bulk of international trade policy has addressed trade in goods; issues inadequately addressed by policy include trade in services, intellectual property rights, certain investment measures, and agriculture. The author highlights the tension between legal rules, designed to create predictability and stability, and the governments need to make exceptions to solve short-term problems. He also looks at weaknesses of international trade policy, especially as it applies to developing countries and economies in transition. He concludes with a look at issues that will shape international trade policy well into the twenty-first century.
All three parts [of the book] are without question extremely detailed and thorough treatises of the three different instruments of contingent protection. The case law of the DSB as well as policy proposals put forward in the Doha Round are referred to and analysed extensively. Every part of the book is an excellent and very thoughtful work on the respective instrument and will be helpful for everyone working in the field. Christoph Herrmann, Common Market Law Review Although the legal landscape is littered with literature about the WTO, antidumping, safeguards, subsidies and countervailing measures, the missing piece has been a comprehensive text tying together the law and economics of these topics. Mavroidis, Messerlin and Wauters fill this gap. The authors form an unparalleled triumvirate who successfully draw on their complementary legal-economic experiences from policymaking, practitioner expertise and academic scholarship to comprehensively examine contingent protection. In a single book, they manage to explain the economics to the lawyers, the law to the economists, and the increasing importance of contingent protection policies to everyone. Chad P. Bown, Brandeis University, US The new book by Petros Mavroidis, Patrick Messerlin and Jasper Wauters, The Law and Economics of Contingent Protection in the WTO, fills a gap in the international trade literature by providing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary (law and economics) treatment of three of the most arcane and least well-understood trade protection regimes permitted under the GATT/WTO, i.e., anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. The authors expertly weave together both a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the complex legal rules and case law with an economic critique of the law governing each of these three regimes. The book is a tour de force and will become the standard reference work for scholars, policy makers, and practitioners specializing in these areas. Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Canada Trade barriers that are contingent on the existence of specific conditions dumping by, or subsidization of, exporters, and injury of domestic firms have historically been used intensively by many OECD countries and are now increasingly applied by developing countries. This volume provides an excellent discussion and accessible analysis of WTO rules on contingent protection and the rapidly expanding case law. The authors have done a major service to both legal practitioners and trade policy analysts with an interest in this area. Bernard Hoekman, The World Bank, US In this important book, three of the leading authors in the field of international economic law discuss the law and economics of the three most frequently used contingent protection instruments: anti-dumping, countervailing measures, and safeguards. When discussing countervailing measures, the authors also discuss legal challenges against prohibited and/or actionable subsidies. The authors choice is mandated by the fact that the effects of a subsidy cannot always be confined to the market of the WTO Member wishing to react against it. Assuming there are effects outside its market, an injured WTO Member can challenge the scheme as such before a WTO Panel. Taking the three agreements for granted as a starting point, the book provides comprehensive discussion of both the original contracts, and the case law that has substantially contributed to the understanding of these agreements. The agreements discussed by the authors provide generally worded disciplines on Members and leave a lot of discretion to the investigating authorities of such Members. A great number of the many questions that arise in the course of a domestic trade remedies investigation are not explicitly addressed in these agreements. In such a situation, the authors highlight the important role that the judge has to play. Much like domestic investigating authorities adopt a line which is either more liberal
Ten years after the 2008 financial crisis we are again facing the possibility of economic turmoil as the Fed and other central banks exit their unconventional monetary policies by raising interest rates and shrinking their balance sheets. This book brings together leading scholars and former policymakers to draw lessons from the decade of unconventional monetary policies relied upon to stimulate the global economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The articles included in this book combine historical perspectives and forward-looking views of the Fed’s exit strategy and monetary normalization, along with the arguments for a rules-based monetary policy both at the domestic and international levels.
This timely volume presents the latest thinking on the monetary policy rules and seeks to determine just what types of rules and policy guidelines function best. A unique cooperative research effort that allowed contributors to evaluate different policy rules using their own specific approaches, this collection presents their striking findings on the potential response of interest rates to an array of variables, including alterations in the rates of inflation, unemployment, and exchange. Monetary Policy Rules illustrates that simple policy rules are more robust and more efficient than complex rules with multiple variables. A state-of-the-art appraisal of the fundamental issues facing the Federal Reserve Board and other central banks, Monetary Policy Rules is essential reading for economic analysts and policymakers alike.
Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an incomplete contract among sovereign countries. Trade policy flexibility mechanisms are designed to deal with contractual gaps, which are the inevitable consequence of this contractual incompleteness. Trade policy flexibility mechanisms are backed up by enforcement instruments which allow for punishment of illegal extra-contractual conduct. This book offers a legal and economic analysis of contractual escape and punishment in the WTO. It assesses the interrelation between contractual incompleteness, trade policy flexibility mechanisms, contract enforcement, and WTO Members' willingness to co-operate and to commit to trade liberalization. It contributes to the body of WTO scholarship by providing a systematic assessment of the weaknesses of the current regime of escape and punishment in the WTO, and the systemic implications that these weaknesses have for the international trading system, before offering a reform agenda that is concrete, politically realistic, and systemically viable.
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
Handbook of Commercial Policy explores three main topics that permeate the study of commercial policy. The first section presents a broad set of basic empirical facts regarding the pattern and evolution of commercial policy, with the second section investigating the crosscutting legal issues relating to the purpose and design of agreements. Final sections cover key issues of commercial policy in the modern global economy. Every chapter in the book provides coverage from the perspectives of multilateral, and where appropriate, preferential trade agreements. While most other volumes are policy-oriented, this comprehensive guide explores the ways that intellectual thinking and rigor organize research, further making frontier-level synthesis and current theoretical, and empirical, research accessible to all. - Covers the research areas that are critical for understanding how the world of commercial policy has changed, especially over the last 20 years - Presents the way in which research on the topic has evolved - Scrutinizes the economic modeling of bargaining and legal issues - Useful for examining the theory and empirics of commercial policy
