Do WTO members have more liberal trade policy?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rose, AK
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1996(03)00071-0
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 209-235
• 关键词: empirical; measure; GATT; International; Tariff; barrier; multilateral; free; data

摘要

This paper uses 68 measures of trade policy and liberalization to ask if membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is associated with more liberal trade policy. Almost no measures of trade policy are significantly correlated with GATT/WTO membership. Trade liberalizations, when they occur, usually lag GATT entry by many years, and the GATT/WTO often admits countries that are closed and remain closed for years. The exception to the rule is that WTO members tend to have slightly more freedom as judged by the Heritage Foundation's index. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.