POLI 441 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: De Jure, World Trade Organization, Selection Bias
23 Oct 2018
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A heated debate has emerged over this very question. Not a forgone conclusion: rose finds no effect for wto membership (and great effect for gsp). Tomz et al. do find a positive effect, yet only after redefining membership. Both employ a gravity model equation: wto membership, problematizing membership as binary category. Tomz et al. introduce notion of institutional standing, a type of de facto membership. Colonies of formal members had gatt rights and obligations. After gaining independence, they could invoke article xxvi:5( c ), and thereby become a contracting : other possibility: we could imagine de jure membership, but lack of de facto membership. Look at opt-out clause but do not consider binding overhang, a more likely place to find watering-down of commitments. Mfn access for non-members, china had been enjoying this, though we would have to account for uncertainty.
