In international relations, short-run incentives for non-cooperation often dominate. Yet, (external) institutions for enforcing cooperation are hampered by national sovereignty, supposedly strengthening the role of selfenforcing mechanisms. This paper examines their scope with a focus on...

Since its inception in 1995, more than 312 disputes have been raised under the WTO Dispute Settlement System. Despite the obvious success of this system, several shortcomings call for a revision under the auspices of the Doha Development Round. With a computable general equilibrium model we...

Almost all WTO dispute panels exceed their statutory time limits. This is often seen to indicate a more general problem for panels to manage their tasks. The time required varies considerably across panels however, suggesting that they do not face the same problems. To shed light on these...

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become an indelible feature of the international trading landscape. Most, if not all, RTAs contain provisions that establish procedures for resolving disputes among their signatory members. Yet, the design and functioning of these dispute settlement...

Even though the World Trade Organization (WTO) ensures equal access to the dispute settlement system, the legal process is still highly costly, an aspect that primarily affects poorer developing countries. It is feared that this imbalance discourages developing countries from filing and...

The present study develops an equilibrium displacement model (EDM) to evaluate the impacts of a free trade agreement (FTA) on the profits of individual farmers. The parameters representing the share of profit within revenue and the elasticity of cost with respect to quantity in the cost function...

We develop a 2×2×2 model with the following features: (1) one sector is perfectly competitive while the other is oligopolistic; (2) one country has unemployment while the other attains full employment; (3) oligopolists move internationally; and (4) the ownership of each oligopolist is...

Ecological labels are a market-oriented environmental policy instrument which is applied in a rising number of countries. Products have to meet several criteria in order to qualify for a label. Criteria on production processes of goods can potentially conflict with international trade rules....

The main objective of this study is to investigate empirically the effect of free or preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on Pakistan's export performance (value of exports, number of exporters and number of products per exporter) during the period 2003 to 2010. The analysis covers the South...