Regionalism versus multilateralism

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Regionalism versus multilateralism, Volume 1

Author:	Winters, L. Alan;	Collection Title:	Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 1687
Date Stored:	2001/04/21	Document Date:	1996/11/30
Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper	Language:	English
Major Sector:	(Historic)Economic Policy	Report Number:	WPS1687
Sub Sectors:	Trade	SubTopics:	Rules of Origin; Environmental Economics & Policies; Economic Theory & Research; Payment Systems & Infrastructure; Trade Policy; Free Trade; Trade and Regional Integration
Volume No:	1

Summary: The author focuses on whether regionalism sets up forces that encourage or discourage evolution toward globally free trade. Although models can be built suggesting either conclusion, these models are still so abstract that they should be viewed as parables rather than sources of testable predictions. This paper presents more conclusions about research strategy than about the world we live in. Among the conclusions reached is that the term multilateralism needs to be defined in every instance. Also, sector-specific lobbies are a danger if regionalism is permitted because they tend to stop blocs from moving all the way to global free trade. While regionalism's direct effect on multilateralism is important, the indirect effect is more because it changes the ways in which groups of countries interact and respond to shocks in the world economy. Furthermore, regionalism, by allowing stronger internalization of the gains from trade liberalization, seems likely to facilitate freer trade when it is initially highly restricted. Lastly, the possibility of regionalism probably increases the risks of catastrophe in the trading system because it essentially coerces trading partners to come to the multilateral negotiating table and regionalism, being motivated by insurance incentives and "shiftable externalities."


Official Documents Official, scanned versions of documents (may include signatures, etc.)
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 76 pages	Official version*	5.32 (approx.)
	Text	Text version**


Light-Weight Documents Lighter (less MB) documents which may or may not be the final, official version
File Type		Description	File Size (mb)

	PDF 76 pages	WPS1687	3.03

* The official version is derived from scanning the final, paper copy of the document and is the official,
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** The text version is the OCR text of the final scanned version and is not an accurate representation of the final text.
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