Seminar in International Economics: The Balance of Concessions in the Trade Agreements (Online event)

The Competence Centre for International Economics Research (FIW) kindly invites to participate in the Seminar in International Economics on the topic

The Balance of Concessions in the Trade Agreements

Mostafa Beshkar
Indiana University

Thursday, 1st December 2022, 3:30 p.m. (CET)

Registration link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3CM9J2SPT0OFW7UjyEGCcQ

This presentation is based on a paper co-authored with Pao-Li Chang and Shenxi Song.

Abstract:
Reciprocity is a key principle governing the negotiations under the GATT/WTO agreement, which calls for a balance of concessions among the WTO members. In recent years, however, various politicians across the world have voiced concerns about their country's excessive obligations under the WTO and a lack of reciprocation by their trading partners. Our objective in this paper is to evaluate the degree to which the pattern of applied tariffs across WTO members deviates from a balanced-concession condition. To this end, we employ a quantitative trade model and use alternative definitions of reciprocity to measure the concessions received and given by each country from 1995 to 2011. We find that over time, concessions have become more unbalanced mostly due to an increase in trade imbalances.

The seminar series is organised by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) in co-operation with FIW, the Centre of Competence in International Economics. The seminar provides a forum for presentation and discussion of recent academic research in the field of international economics.