We consider the purpose and design of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, GATT. We review recent … developments in the relevant theoretical and empirical literature. And we describe the GATT/WTO architecture and briefly trace its … central features of the design and practice of the GATT/WTO, and we identify key unresolved issues …

. But in reality, most WTO disputes involve disagreements of interpretation concerning the agreement, or instances where the … agreement is simply silent. And some have suggested that the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) might serve a useful purpose by …

The WTO has delivered policy outcomes that are very different from those likely to emerge out of the recent wave of … preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Should economists see this as an efficient institutional hand-off, where the WTO has carried … economics literature on international trade agreements and argue on this basis that the WTO is not passé. Rather, and subject to …

Over the WTO years, the frequency of disputes and court rulings has trended downwards. Such trends are sometimes … offer evidence that the predictions of our model are consistent with WTO trade dispute data, and we take a first step …

I explore whether the world trading system of the twentieth century can be adapted to address the challenges of the … that are sometimes identified as warranting changes in the design of the GATT/WTO. I argue that the "terms-of-trade" theory … current challenges facing the WTO …

question, providing detailed coverage on three key design features of the GATT/WTO: reciprocity, nondiscrimination as embodied … GATT/WTO, and we argue that an economic perspective can go a long way toward revealing a consistent logic to the inclusion …