India, developmental multilateralism and the Doha ministerial conference

Multilateralism and the Doha Round: A Stock-Taking

The Doha Round, notwithstanding some recent injection of impetus, has a desultory nowit’s-on-now-it’s-off quality to it. To most this lacklustreness is a frustration. If only it could be brought to conclusion, the world would be so much better off, especially if one is to believe the estimates of the gains from trade liberalization that the Round would deliver (an increase in global welfare of ...

Failure of the WTO Ministerial Conference at Cancun: Reasons and Remedies

Suicide prevention discussed at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Mental Health.

“We, the Ministers of Health of Member States in the European Region of the World Health Organization . . . acknowledge that mental health and mental well-being are fundamental to the quality of life and productivity of individuals, families, communities and nations, enabling people to experience life as meaningful and to be creative and active citizens. We believe that the primary aim of menta...

Feasible Multilateralism and the Effects of Regionalism

Recent research has underlined the efficiency of the GATT/WTO rules from the standpoint of politically motivated governments, emphasizing that the current multilateral rules are capable of delivering a politically efficient equilibrium. Such an equilibrium is, however, economically inefficient. Global free trade, in particular, is generally unattainable even in a fully cooperative world, provid...

Multilateralism versus Regionalism!?

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze ...