TY  - JOUR
AU  - Subramanian,Arvind
AU  - Wei,Shang-Jin
TI  - The WTO Promotes Trade, Strongly But Unevenly
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10024
PY  - 2003
Y2  - October 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10024
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10024.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Arvind Subramanian
Peterson Institute for International Economics
1750 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC  20036
E-Mail: asubramanian@piie.com

Shang-Jin Wei
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University
Uris Hall 619
3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027-6902
Tel: 212/854-9139
E-Mail: shangjin.wei@columbia.edu
AB  - Contrary to the recent literature that concludes that the GATT/WTO has been completely ineffective in promoting world trade, this paper furnishes robust evidence that the institution has had a powerful and positive impact on trade. The impact has, however, been uneven. GATT/WTO membership for industrial countries has been associated with a large increase in imports estimated at about 44 percent of world trade. The same has not been true for developing country members, although those that joined after the Uruguay Round have benefited from increased imports. Similarly, there has been an asymmetric impact between sectors. These results are consistent with the history and design of the institution.
ER  -