Is there something really new about "land grab" except its extent? What is wrong with an investment contract allowing the holder to buy a farm and to export wheat to Saudi Arabia, or soybeans and maize as cattle feed to Korea, or to plant and process sugar cane and palm oil into ethanol for...

The paper investigates the origins of the "special" status of developing countries in multilateral trade lawmaking, and traces the form that their special treatment has taken throughout the history of the trade regime. The paper takes issue with the influential view that the special treatment of...