Publisher's Synopsis
The Economic Paper series is designed to bring to public attention crucial economic issues which are of concern to developing countries. In recent years the series has examined issues such as the instability of capital flows, the position of small states in the global economy, the implications of new trade agreements, agriculture and food security, money laundering and the reform of global financial arrangements. The publications are readable and aimed at academics, policymakers, students and people with a general interest in understanding these topical issues. This paper focuses on the accession process for new WTO membership. The basic premise is that the commitments demanded are too onerous for new members. It argues that the whole process is fundamentally flawed and, in fact, forces applicant countries to accept demands that are not required under WTO agreements. Section 2 is a brief discussion of the process of accession and highlights the inherent flaws. Section 3 focuses on one of the crucial international trade agreements, the General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS) and provides sector-specific commitments by countries. Section 4 uses a series of statistical tests to verify whether acceding countries have made a significantly higher number of specific commitments than existing WTO members. Section 5 makes some concluding observations. The paper uses a strong body of econometric evidence to support its claim that acceding countries undertake greater commitments than those made by WTO members of a similar development status.
