Latin American Journal of Trade Policy

Beyond crisis: multilateralism in the World Trade Organization in the second decade of the XXI century

2022-08-09T19:25:12+00:00

The aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of performance of the World Trade Organization in the second decade of the twenty first century, as a multilateral institutionalized cooperation mechanism. While academic literature has emphasized the ‘crisis’ and deficits of this Organization in this work we argue in favor of a perspective that acknowledges a complete assessment of the processes that take place in this area of International Relations. Thus we propose to conceptualize the performance of the WTO from the perspective of multilateralism, identifying a triple process where there are elements of weakening, but also power disputes and pragmatism. The paper presents evidence to support how these three features of multilateralism at the international trade regime affect the main functions of the WTO: legislative, administrative and dispute resolution. The findings reaffirm the relevance of a non-binary approach to multilateralism that goes beyond the notion of crisis/non-crisis; and advance in the recognition of a more complex conceptualization of multilateralism as an expression of international order. In addition, the results encourage the specific research on the participation and influence dynamics of the actors with less relative power, that become visible in this broaden narrative of the WTO functioning.

Constitutional visions of the World Trade Organization: between development, the free market, and marginality. The case of Colombia

2023-01-11T14:56:56+00:00

This article analyzes the background rule used by the Colombian Constitutional Court when it mentions and operates the World Trade Organization (WTO) sources in its rulings. We examined in the light of two conceptual frameworks: "the Synthesis of the 20th Century" and the "fundamental rules that condition the resolution of a case." To do this, through the jurisprudential review methodology, we analyzed 60 constitutionality rulings handed down by the Colombian Constitutional Court between 1995 and 2022, in which there was a direct mention of the WTO. Within this search, we found that of the 60 rulings, only 19 mention the WTO in their central reasoning or use some of its sources or regulatory considerations to support the decisions made. In our findings, we find that the mention of the WTO is used by the Court to justify and constitutionally support the free market that, under the premise of an absence of exercises of power, is understood as an economic project that promotes and strengthens social and economic development of the States.

Heterogeneous Effects of Monetary Policy on Industries: Evidence from Publicly Traded Firms in Peru

2022-07-28T05:56:46+00:00

This paper studies the effects of a monetary policy shock on the industry’s profitability through publicly traded firms in Peru. I use a monetary policy shock that controls the possible endogeneity between the monetary policy with the economic activity and the Central Bank’s anticipation of economic events. I use two profitability measures: ROA and Net Profits. The methodology is Local Projections (LP) because it allows for control of the persistence of monetary policy shocks; in case of biases, it is usually smaller than the traditional methodologies used, such as vector autoregressive (VAR), and because Local Projection is parsimonious. The results I find are heterogeneous and differentiated in terms of quantification and persistence for those dependent variables through industries. These results suggest the existence of a strong credit channel in the transmission mechanism of a monetary policy shock.

Chinese MSMEs internationalization in Latin American markets under the Belt and Road Initiative

2022-11-27T07:21:08+00:00

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is an essential topic for business research and development policies. By reviewing previous literature and macroeconomic data, and following a deductive method, this study explains MSMEs' contribution to national development, that is, a positive effect in terms of employment, regional economies, technological innovation, andincome distribution. In addition, we focus on Chinese MSMEs' internationalization and competitive advantages in Latin American markets as a natural extension of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Additionally, we explain the essential role of the Belt and Road Initiative in Chinese companies’ internationalization, particularly in building a platform for MSMEs operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. After conclusions we suggest further research directions.

The underlying factors and the probability of Peruvian sanitary and phytosanitary measures notifications of the agricultural sector to the WTO

2023-01-20T13:25:25+00:00

Previously, a series of determinants of the sanitary and phytosanitary regulatory activity have been identified, such as scientific and legal capacities, national production, among others. Although the main determinants are oriented towards regulatory matters, it is not possible to discard that sanitary and phytosanitary measures are used as barriers to trade. In the case of Peru, being one of the WTO Members that has issued a major number of notifications, the underlying factors related to this kind of measure have not been previously analyzed. In this sense, through Probit and Logit models, it has been possible to identify the factors that affect the probability of Peruvian sanitary and phytosanitary notifications. The results indicate that, contrary to what was expected, in the Peruvian case, the increase in scientific and legal capacities would generate fewer sanitary measures. This would suggest that this country applies more measures than necessary, that could be used as barriers to trade.

Global Activity in the field of Safeguard Measures in 2022. Stocktaking in the light of notifications made to the WTO Committee on Safeguard

2023-04-28T21:30:17+00:00

Overview of global activity regarding the conduct of safeguard investigations and the imposition or extension of safeguard measures during the year 2022, in light of notifications made by WTO members in that year.