The WTO: Theory and Practice

Kyle Bagwell, Robert W. Staiger

NBER Working Paper No. 15445
Issued in October 2009
NBER Program(s):   ITI

We consider the purpose and design of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, GATT. We review recent developments in the relevant theoretical and empirical literature. And we describe the GATT/WTO architecture and briefly trace its historical antecedents. We suggest that the existing literature provides a useful framework for understanding and interpreting central features of the design and practice of the GATT/WTO, and we identify key unresolved issues.

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Acknowledgments

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