Economic Papers

4 primary works

Liberalising Labour Mobility Under the GATS

by Professor Alan Winters, Terrie Walmsley, Zhen Kub Wang, and Roman Grynberg

Published 1 January 2002

Paying the Price for Joining the WTO

by Roman Grynberg, Victor Ognivtsev, and Mohammad A. Razzaque

Published 1 January 2002

An Evaluation of the Terms of Accession to the World Trade Organization

by Roman Grynberg, Manleen Dugal, and Mohammad A. Razzaque

Published 1 May 2006

The relevant provisions for accession to the WTO do not provide an adequate legal basis for the process. Its inherent flaws have resulted in demands on acceding countries which are invariably onerous and bear little or no relation to their size, significance or development status. This book uses econometric tools to conduct a comparative assessment of commitments in the goods and services sectors. For the services sector, the authors find that at all three levels of services classification the commitments of post-Uruguay Round acceding countries far exceed those of their WTO member counterparts. In the goods sector, apart from the much greater binding coverage rate, the bound tariff rate for acceding countries is much lower than their WTO member counterparts. The book also provides country specific commitment comparisons after controlling for the level of economic development of the countries. In conclusion, the authors make brief recommendations for reform of the process of accession, in light of the costs incurred by applicant countries in the process.

The European Development Fund and Economic Partnership Agreements

by Roman Grynberg and Alice Clarke

Published 1 September 2006

African, Caribbean and Pacific countries face a huge transformation as they attempt to adapt to a more liberalised global market. They have agreed to negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union to assist with this adaptation. The European Development Fund is the main instrument of the EU for helping these countries. This Economic Paper argues that despite the commitments about aid made at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, by the EU, the EDF is under-resourced. Moreover, there are serious doubts as to the effectiveness of the fund in providing time-sensitive assistance to ACP states with adjustment. Instead, the contributors propose a separate EPA adjustment facility. If EU countries meet their target aid figures, they could fund both the traditional EDF programmes and an EPA adjustment programme. For economists and international trade specialists concerned with the effects of trade liberalisation on developing economies.