The History, Economics and Politics of Multilateral World Trade

1
The History, Economics and Politics of
Multilateral World Trade

• From free trade by force to regulated trade
  through bargaining

2
The fall of mercantilism and the rise of free
trade

• Anglo-Dutch capitalism and the resulting impetus
  for trade, 1760-1914
• The intellectual accompaniment Ricardian
  comparative advantage
• Why free trade needed big navies consumers,
  producers, rent-seekers and lobbies
• The traditional protectionist instrument tariffs
  (including import bans)

3
The collapse of world trade, 1914-32

• World War I, and post-war concerns about
  international debt and balances of payments
• The US response to the 1929 equity and capital
  crisis a lesson in what not to do
• The European financial collapse, 1930-31
• Imperial Preference and the end of the gold
  standard

4
Collapse of trade as a cause of global war

• Frozen-out industrial economies and the pursuit
  of autarchy Germany, Italy, Japan
• Crashing world wealth and the rise of violent
  radicalism
• 1939-41 If you cant trade, steal. With tanks.

5
The Bretton Woods order

• Lets not do that again!
• The 3-legged stool for stability the IMF, the
  World Bank and the ITO
• The failure of the ITO and the GATT process
• Success by improvisation, 1948-1995 the
  reduction of tariffs on goods and the
  entrenchment of the MFN principle

6
The WTO

• Background the collapse of Bretton Woods and the
  rise of new trade issues agriculture, trade in
  services and intellectual property
• The Uruguay Round, 1986-93 developing countries
  in the party the Cairns Group
• The single undertaking approach
• Near breakdown and the Canadian deal the birth
  of the WTO

7
Uruguay to Doha

• The Dispute Settlement Mechanism
• The peace clause that wasnt developing
  countries and Cairns vs. the EU and Japan
• More new issues environment and labor standards,
  government procurement, anti-dumping abuse,
  medical patents, indigenous knowledge protection
• The fiasco in Seattle
• The launch of the Doha Development Round