Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/57619 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERSD-2012-01
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
In this paper I sketch out the rough contours of the challenge faced by the WTO in dealing with non-tariff measures (NTMs) as seen from the economic theories of trade agreements. The key questions for the WTO - the answers to which largely dictate the choice between shallow and deep approaches to integration - appear to be two: (1) Is it the terms-of-trade problem or the commitment problem that WTO member governments seek to solve with their WTO membership?; and (2) Is it market clearing or offshoring/bilateral bargaining that is now the most prominent mechanism for the determination of international prices? I suggest that evidence on the first question points to the terms-of-trade theory and hence toward shallow integration, but that answering the second question may be the key to identifying the best way forward on NTMs for the WTO.
Subjects: 
terms of trade
commitment
border measures
behind-the-border measures
offshoring
bilateral bargaining
JEL: 
D62
F13
F55
H21
H23
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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