In this paper, we first describe the characteristics of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that are the basis of the framework of the multilateral trading system. We then provide an overview of concepts of fairness in trade agreements. Thereafter, we offer a critique of the efficiency criterion in assessing multilateral trade agreements, taking issue with T.N. Srinivasan’s (2006) analysis and t...

As discussed in earlier chapters, the global regime of IPRs protection strengthened dramatically in the 1990s, primarily through TRIPs but also through unilateral initiatives and intellectual property chapters in regional trade agreements. I presented the legal structure of TRIPs in chapter 2, and defined the concepts in chapter 3 in order to set the stage for the positive economic analysis of ...

On April 24 and 25, 2009, the Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute joined with Southern Methodist University to cosponsor a conference on Globalization, Political Economy and Trade Policy at SMU’s Collins Executive Education Center. Nine scholarly papers were presented and discussed in three sessions. The first session consisted of two papers describing offshoring’s impact on the distrib...

AbstractThis paper examines the impasse in the current Doha Development Round negotiations andasks how the rules of the WTO could be changed to facilitate multilateral negotiations andto increase the welfare of the Member countries. It considers possible changes to the methodof negotiation. As examples of rules which are outdated, it considers the rules relating toregional trade agreements and ...

This article examines the effect of overlapping institutions in trade policy, where the World Trade Organization, preferential trade agreements, and other economic negotiation venues give states many options for negotiating rules and settling disputes. This article argues that overlapping institutions influence trade politics at three stages: selection of venue, negotiation of liberalization co...

RLabonté et al entitle their paper in this issue of the International Journal of Health Policy and Management “The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Is It Everything We Feared for Health?” Tantalisingly, they do not directly answer the question they pose, and in this commentary, we suggest that it is the wrong question; we should not ‘fear’ the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at all, rather we should ...