Self-Enforcing Trade

The World Trade Organization—backbone of today’s international commercial relations—requires member countries to self-enforce exporters’ access to foreign markets. Its dispute settlement system is the crown jewel of the international trading system, but its benefits still fall disproportionately to wealthy nations. Could the system be doing more on behalf of developing countries? In Self-Enforcing Trade, Chad P. Bown explains why the answer is an emphatic “yes.”

“"When it comes to the world trading system, there is hardly a more timely and important issue than how the WTO can better serve developing countries. Chad Bown is uniquely qualified to provide the authoritative account of this issue from an economic and legal perspective, and does so admirably in this book." ”

"Chad Bown is rapidly joining the ranks of the most influential trade analysts of his generation. This book shows why. He examines the ways in which developing countries can effectively exercise their WTO-defined rights to access foreign markets, drawing on insights from economics, politics, and law. Both scholars and policymakers will profit from this masterly analysis." —Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor, Economics and Law, Columbia University

"In over sixty years of the multilateral trading system, the settlement of disputes has evolved from diplomatic consultations to a highly sophisticated and effective system to apply WTO law to particular disputes. In a deep and penetrating analysis, Chad Bown sheds new light on the reality. His analysis and suggestions are timely and important." —Alejandro Jara, Deputy Director-General, WTO

—Robert Staiger, Stanford University

"In this carefully researched book, Chad Bown offers a reader a clear and comprehensive analysis of the trade dispute settlement system. This is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary issues of world trade or in how nations deal with the competition that is a natural byproduct of globalization." —Judith Goldstein, Janet Peck Professor of International Communication and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University

"This is the most insightful work I have seen regarding the positioning of developing countries in WTO dispute settlement. The author masterfully explains the hurdles preventing developing countries from acceding to WTO adjudication, and advances meaningful and realistic proposals to overcome them. It is my hope that practitioners will read and engage, and that policymakers will be inspired by this excellent volume." —Petros C. Mavroidis, Columbia Law School and University of Neuchâtel

"Chad P. Bown is a fellow in Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution and an associate professor in the Department of Economics and International Business School at Brandeis University."

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