This article examines how the WTO can encourage member states to prod multinationals to ensure that as they stimulate trade, they do not undermine internationally accepted norms for labor, human rights and the environment. The article shows how these issues are seeping into WTO deliberations and...

Corruption (the abuse of entrusted authority for illicit gain) is pervasive, hard to measure, and damaging both to economic growth and human rights. Corruption is also intimately associated with trade. However, the international organization governing trade, the WTO, says nothing about...

The WTO system has democratic rights spillovers. In this paper, we show how GATT and WTO rules induce memberstates to advance several democratic rights: specifically political participation, due process and access toinformation. We use qualitative and quantitative tools to examine this process....

The most famous economist of the 20th century, John Maynard Keynes, had an evocative image of capitalism. He believed that markets were propelled by animal spirits. These spirits could yield growth, but at times must be domesticated to ensure that the law of the jungle-eat or be eaten--does not...

This article examines the context and impact of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). I hyppothesize that EITI is not as effective as it could be because the governments, firms, and NGOs involved in EITI have very different visions of EITI. In EITI, firms are supposed to...

In this article, I focus on the potential trade spillovers of Chinese policies to maintain employment. Chinese leaders are determined to maintain employment and have long ignored employment laws that could empower workers. But in 2007, China reformed its labor laws and allowed wide public...

As the major players in globalization, firms often operate in states where human rights may not be respected. Without direct intent, firms may be complicit in human rights violations. In 2008, John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative on business and human rights, developed a framework for...

The WTO says nothing about corruption. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative analysis to examine whether the GATT/WTO, without deliberate intent, helps nations improve governance and fight corruption. Under GATT/WTO rules, policymakers are obligated to act in an evenhanded manner, to...