Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10204
Authors: Bernard Hoekman; Petros C. Mavroidis
Abstract: Plurilateral agreements in the WTO context allow sub-sets of countries to agree to commitments in specific policy areas that only apply to signatories, and thus allow for ?variable geometry? in the WTO. Current WTO rules make it much more difficult to pursue the plurilateral route than to negotiate a preferential trade agreement outside the WTO. We argue that this is inefficient from a global welfare and trading system perspective and that WTO Members should facilitate the negotiation of new plurilateral agreements on regulatory matters.
Keywords: multilateralism; plurilateral agreement; regulatory cooperation; trade agreements; WTO
JEL Codes: F13; K32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| WTO rules (F13) | difficulties in negotiating plurilateral agreements (F13) |
| difficulties in negotiating plurilateral agreements (F13) | preference for preferential trade agreements (F13) |
| WTO rules (F13) | preference for preferential trade agreements (F13) |
| preference for preferential trade agreements (F13) | fragmentation in the trading system (F12) |
| increased use of plurilateral agreements (F13) | effective cooperation (P13) |
| WTO rules (F13) | inefficiency in global welfare (D61) |