TY  - JOUR
AU  - Tang,Man-Keung
AU  - Wei,Shang-Jin
TI  - The Value of Making Commitments Externally: Evidence from WTO Accessions
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14582
PY  - 2008
Y2  - December 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14582
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14582.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Man-Keung Tang
International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20431
E-Mail: mtang@imf.org

Shang-Jin Wei
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University
Uris Hall 619
3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027-6902
Tel: 212/854-9139
E-Mail: shangjin.wei@columbia.edu
AB  - This paper studies the value of external commitment to policy reforms in the case of WTO/GATT accessions. The accessions often entail reforms that go beyond narrowly defined trade liberalization, and have to overcome fierce resistance in the acceding countries, as reflected in protracted negotiations. We study the growth and investment consequences of WTO/GATT accessions, with attention to a possible selection bias. We find that the accessions tend to raise income , but only for those countries that were subject to rigorous accession procedures. Policy commitments associated with the accessions were helpful, especially for countries with poor governance.
ER  -