Trade and Domestic Policy Linkage in International Agreements

25 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2001

See all articles by Josh Ederington

Josh Ederington

Miami University - Farmer School of Business

Date Written: November 2000

Abstract

A central question in discussions of integrating negotiations over domestic policy (e.g., environmental policy or labor standards) into traditional trade agreements is the degree to which the trade policy and domestic policy provisions of an agreement should be explicitly linked. For example, should the WTO enforce domestic policy obligations with the threat of the suspension of trade concessions? This paper considers the conditions under which linking trade and domestic policy agreements within a self-enforcing agreement is beneficial, and argues that the benefits of such policy linkage may be lower than is commonly thought.

Keywords: trade policy, environmental standards, labor standards, international agreements

JEL Classification: F1, F13, K33, H2

Suggested Citation

Ederington, Josh, Trade and Domestic Policy Linkage in International Agreements (November 2000). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=259253 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.259253

Josh Ederington (Contact Author)

Miami University - Farmer School of Business ( email )

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