Im Binnenhandel bietet die staatliche Gerichtsbarkeit kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) einen effektiven Rechtsschutz für ihre Transaktionen. Einen vergleichbar effektiven Rechtsschutz kann der Staat aber jenseits seiner Grenzen nur bedingt gewährleisten. Aufgrund ihrer systematischen...

This paper develops a model of the WTO dispute settlement process (DSP) to study the recent proposal by legal scholars to subsidize litigation costs. The high cost of litigation, so the argument, is a major obstacle for developing countries to using the DSP to enforce developed countries?...

Free Trade has always been highly contested, but both the arguments about it and the treaties that regulate it have changed dramatically since the Second World War. Under the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) regime, objections to free trade were essentially economic, and...

This paper develops a model of the WTO dispute settlement process (DSP) to study the recent proposal by legal scholars to subsidize litigation costs. The high cost of litigation, so the argument, is a major obstacle for developing countries to using the DSP to enforce developed countries'...

We argue that participation in international agreements is influenced by their design characteristics, notably commitment levels, measured by the specificity of obligations, and compliance mechanisms, measured by monitoring, enforcement, assistance, and dispute settlement provisions in treaties....

Dem deutlichen Zuwachs des weltweiten Handelsvolumens in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten müsste auch eine Zunahme von Handelsstreitigkeiten in der Justiz gegenüberstehen. Tatsächlich aber nehmen die Fallzahlen in Handelssachen vor staatlichen Gerichten stetig ab. Zur Erklärung dieses Umstands...

Positive integration among states, defined as the correction of negative externalities from liberalisation, is generally assumed to be very difficult to achieve on the European level, let alone on the international or global level. The political transaction costs of achieving positive...

Economic theory has made considerable progress in explaining why sovereign countries cooperate in trade. Central to most theories of trade cooperation are issues of self-enforcement: The threat of reprisal by an aggrieved party maintains the initial balance of concessions and prevents...