Is The Use Of The WTO Dispute Settlement System Biased?

Henrik Horn, Petros C Mavroidis and Håkan Nordström

No 2340, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: The larger trading nations have been the main users of the WTO Dispute Settlement system during its first four years of existence (1995-1998). This has prompted a debate about whether the DS system is biased against smaller and poorer countries, for example, because of a lack of legal capacities and retaliatory power. This paper shows that a simple model in which countries bring disputes proportionally to the diversity and value of exports explains fairly well the dispute pattern. Differences in legal capacities appear to play some role, while 'power' considerations do not seem to matter.

Keywords: Dispute Settlement; WTO (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F02 F13 K33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)

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