The existing practice of accession to the World Trade Organization by the least-developed countries (LDCs) is frequently criticized for being overly onerous. Critics and academics have explained the onerous nature of the accession process in several ways. This article draws attention to the gaps...

Since the WTO was established in 1995, 33 economies have joined the organization. This has resulted in over 20,000 pages of legal documents defining their specific terms of membership. These accessions have brought the WTO’s total membership to 161 economies, comprising more than 7 billion...

Since the WTO was established in 1995, 33 economies have joined the organization. This has resulted in over 20,000 pages of legal documents defining their specific terms of membership. These accessions have brought the WTO’s total membership to 161 economies, comprising more than 7 billion...

To date, government procurement has been effectively carved out of the main multilateral rules of the WTO system. This paper examines the systemic and other ramifications of this exclusion, from both an economic and a legal point of view. In addition to relevant elements of the WTO Agreements,...

The objective of the paper is to explore and give an overview of two central policy alternatives to improve the integration between the European Union and developing countries by removing barriers to trade: trade preferences and trade facilitation. After reviewing the relevant literatures and...

Much potential for trade liberalization exists in industries and markets with trade barriers that are prohibitive for all or many firms. In standard political economic theories of trade policy, observed prohibitive barriers must be globally optimal according to static government preferences,...