RESOURCES

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND ENFORCEMENT OF TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY DISPUTE SETTLEMENT IS NOT ENOUGH. By Chad Brown and Bernard Hoekman. The World Bank, 2007. This paper describes how poor countries are rarely challenged in formal World Trade Organization trade disputes for failing to live up to commitments, thus reducing the benefits of their participation in international trade agreements. It examines the political-economic causes of the failure to challenge poor countries, and discusses the static and dynamic costs and externality implications of this failure. Given the weak incentives to enforce World Trade Organization rules and disciplines against small and poor members, bolstering the transparency function of the World Trade Organization is important for making trade agreements more relevant to trade constituencies in developing countries. Although the paper focuses on the World Trade Organization system, the arguments also apply to reciprocal North-South trade agreements. The paper is available online at www-wds.worldbank.org

EROSION OF TRADE PREFERENCES IN THE POST-HONG KONG FRAMEWORK: FROM TRADE IS BETTER THAN AID TO AID FOR TRADE.
UNCTAD, 2007. This study examines which products and countries have benefited the most from existing preferences granted by the United States, Japan and the European Union and what the likely effects will be of preference erosion. It asks what the relationship is between preference erosion and recent proposals for aid for trade and the Enhanced Integrated Framework for trade-related technical assistance to LDCs, a joint initiative of UNCTAD, the WTO, the International Trade Centre, UNDP, the IMF and the World Bank. The study finds that although there has been some progress in widening the scope of trade preferences for LDCs, the issue of erosion of trade preferences remains to be addressed to the satisfaction of many developing countries. The study is available online at www.unctad.org/en/docs/ldc20056_en.pdf

CLOTHING AND EXPORT DIVERSICATION - STILL A ROUTE TO GROWTH FOR LOW INCOME COUNTRIES? By Paul Benton and Membert Hoppe. The World Bank, 2007. This paper assesses whether the clothing sector can still be a driver of of export diversification and growth for today's low income countries. It takes into account key changes to the market for clothing; the emergence of India and China as exporting countries, the rise of global production chains; the removal of quotas from the global trading regime but the continued presence of high tariffs and substantial trade preferences
; the increasing importance of large buyers in developed countries and their concerns regarding risk and reputation; and the increased importance of time in defining sourcing decisions. The analysis identifies the quality of governance as an important determinant of sourcing decisions and that there appears to be a general bias against sourcing apparel from African countries, which is only partially overcome by trade preferences. The paper is available online at www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/GTN/Current%20Research/Clothing%20&%20Export%20Diversification.pdf

LIBERALIZATION OF TRADE IN HEALTH CARE SERVICES; BALANCING MODE 4 INTERESTS WITH OBLIGATIONS TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES. By Joy Kategekwa. South Centre, 2008. An increasingly important phenomenon in globalization is the movement of health service suppliers from developing to developed countries. This paper responds to concerns over what this movement means for pre-existing obligations on States, particularly the provision of universal access to basic health services. Developing countries are actively engaged in the WTO GATS negotiations for enhanced market access and national treatment commitments for the presence of their natural persons supplying services in developed country markets. This paper examines the possible clash between interests and obligations with thought going into possible policy options that governments may consider in attempting to balance the situation. This paper is available online at www.southcentre.org/publications/researchpapers/ResearchPapers16.pdf