Trading Profiles and Developing Country Participation in the WTO Dispute Settlement System

Arbeitspapier

It has been alleged since its inception that the WTO Dispute Settlement (DS) mechanism is biased against developing countries, as manifested in e.g. allegedly too low rates of dispute initiation. To shed light on this issue, this study analyses the determinants of developing country participation in the DS system, using bilateral industry-level trade data, and a data set on dispute initiation that is significantly richer than what has been employed in the literature. But the study also points to a number of fundamental conceptual and data problems that beset the whole empirical literature that seeks to draw policy conclusions based on country participation in the DS system. While perhaps appreciated by researchers working in this area, these problems appear to go unnoticed by practitioners drawing on this literature.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 730

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations ; International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations ; International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
• Subject: WTO ; Dispute Settlement ; Developing Countries ; Dispute Initiation ; WTO-Regeln ; Handelskonflikt ; Internationale Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit ; Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen ; Entwicklungsländer ; Welt

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Francois, Joseph ; Horn, Henrik ; Kaunitz, Niklas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/81296
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET