Do good institutions foster trade? Many trade agreements, and notably those of the European Union, introduce institutional provisions in addition to strictly free-trade measures. In this article, we are interested in the influence of democracy and the fight against corruption on trade. We use a...

Free trade zones (FTZ) have become widespread with the liberalisation of international trade and investment. They are a key player in the deepening of the global value chain (GVC). However, little is known about their contribution to world trade due to a lack of information on their location and...

(english) Core labour standards defined by the ILO in 1998 are universal, but applied very differently across countries. Compliance is much higher in high income countries. However, the causality between improved labour standards and economic growth remains a controversial issue. Export-led...

For several years, preferential trade agreements have been oriented towards initiating a deep integration process including a ?democratic? clause. We can consider the inclusion of such a clause as a political choice to promote democracy. However, it can also be viewed as a pre-condition for...

Le nouveau cycle de négociations multilatérales(« Round »)ouvert à Doha en 2001, s’est enlisé et n’a pu aboutir à un accord final dont la ratification par les États-Unis ne serait d’ailleurs pas acquise. Ce retard s’explique notamment par l’évolution du contexte qui est...

Globalization probably had less impact on regional inequalities than fiscal distortions

Alors que l'Europe poursuit son processus d'intégration économique et met en place sa monnaie unique, on assiste aujourd'hui à une multiplication des accords "régionaux" de libre-échange, notamment en Amérique du Nord (ALENA) et en Amérique latine (Mercosur). Ces accords ne sont-ils...

This text presents the following articles about the World Trade Organisation. It opposes a « liberalist » conception of multilateralism to a cooperative interpretation. The first one stresses the role of the organisation to liberalise the international trade. The second one emphasises its...