Havana Charter: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study in detail the idea behind the International Trade Organization, and to see why the Havana Charter never actually took off. The author has tried to address the following issues in the article: 1) Whether the basic principles of the Charter are really sound and wise? 2) Are these principles fundamentally ill-suited to the conditions and problems of the modern world? 3) Are the short-run escape clauses of the Charter its biggest problem? 4) Whether the cooperation required between ITO and IMF justified in the Charter? 5) Does the Charter have any positives?

Keywords: ITO, Havana Charter

JEL Classification: F33