Backward Stealing and Forward Manipulation in the WTO

55 Pages Posted: 21 Apr 2004 Last revised: 23 Dec 2022

See all articles by Kyle Bagwell

Kyle Bagwell

Stanford University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Robert W. Staiger

Stanford University; University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: April 2004

Abstract

Motivated by the structure of WTO negotiations, we analyze a bargaining environment in which negotiations proceed bilaterally and sequentially under the most-favored-nation (MFN) principle. We identify backward-stealing and forward-manipulation problems that arise when governments bargain under the MFN principle in a sequential fashion. We show that these problems impede governments from achieving the multilateral efficiency frontier unless further rules of negotiation are imposed. We identify the WTO nullification-or-impairment and renegotiation provisions and its reciprocity norm as rules that are capable of providing solutions to these problems. In this way, we suggest that WTO rules can facilitate the negotiation of efficient multilateral trade agreements in a world in which the addition of new and economically significant countries to the world trading system is an ongoing process.

Suggested Citation

Bagwell, Kyle and Staiger, Robert W., Backward Stealing and Forward Manipulation in the WTO (April 2004). NBER Working Paper No. w10420, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=529000

Kyle Bagwell (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Department of Economics ( email )

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Robert W. Staiger

Stanford University ( email )

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University of Wisconsin - Madison - Department of Economics ( email )

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