This paper illustrates how the work of the WTO's standing committees is fuelling regulatory cooperation between WTO members, and inspiring RTA negotiators. We explore, as a case study, how the WTO TBT Committee has shaped provisions on international standards in RTAs, and focus on the extent to...

On 23rd February 2017, SUERF and EY organized a conference on "Brexit and the Implications for Financial Services" at EY's offices, Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London. While the outcome of the Brexit negotiations remains highly uncertain, the conference discussed the burning questions for...

This paper scrutinizes the effects of investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) and national treatment provisions in a two-period model where foreign investment is subject to domestic regulation and a holdup problem. It shows that ISDS can mitigate the holdup problem and increases aggregate...

The paper discusses the economic theory of international antitrust institutions. Economic theory shows that non-coordinated competition policies of regimes that are territorially smaller than the international markets on which business companies compete violate cross-border allocative efficiency...

The International Competition Network (ICN) celebrates its 20th birthday in 2020. It governs global competition by providing a cooperative forum for (mostly national) competition authorities from all around the world. In the absence of binding global competition rules and antitrust laws, it...

More than 25 years ago the multilateral development banks (MDBs) began establishing independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs), such as the World Bank's Inspection Panel, to address concerns about MDB accountability to those communities and groups who were harmed by their decisions and...

The mushrooming of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) has represented a puzzle in international economics and international relations since the mid-1990s. A possible explanation is that PTAs are not so much about trade per se, but that PTAs are a strategic instrument in the international...

This Article considers whether the IFIs should play a role in the implementation and enforcement of international humanitarian law. It consists of 6 parts. Part I is a short introduction to the topic. Part II is a brief overview of the structure and functions of the IFIs. Part III describes the...

This essay argues why, although an international competition policy may throw up certain benefits, the WTO is not an appropriate forum for such a globally binding competition policy. Given the complexity in dealing with multiple competition regimes in an increasingly globalised world of...