Do WTO Members Have More Liberal Trade Policy?

38 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2002 Last revised: 16 Jan 2022

See all articles by Andrew Kenan Rose

Andrew Kenan Rose

University of California - Haas School of Business; NUS Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 2002

Abstract

This paper uses 68 measures of trade policy and trade liberalization to ask if membership in theWorld 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 negative rule is that WTO members tend to have slightly more freedom as judged by the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom.

Suggested Citation

Rose, Andrew Kenan and Rose, Andrew Kenan, Do WTO Members Have More Liberal Trade Policy? (November 2002). NBER Working Paper No. w9347, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=353757

Andrew Kenan Rose (Contact Author)

University of California - Haas School of Business ( email )

Berkeley, CA 94720
United States
510-642-6609 (Phone)
510-642-4700 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/arose

NUS Business School ( email )

15 Kent Ridge Dr
Singapore, 119245
Singapore

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
76
Abstract Views
1,152
Rank
482,506
PlumX Metrics