WTO Posts

When I'm not rambling about Chavez, I'm preparing a doctoral dissertation about the World Trade Organization. Here are a few posts on that entirely unrelated topic.

First off, there's my attempt to syntethize, in non-technical language, why it is the current round of WTO negotiations is hopelessly deadlocked:

Primer on the WTO's Triangular Deadlock

Second is this short write-up on the way the deadlock is concentrated on just a handful of products:

Arroz con leche, te quiero proteger...

Next, a note on how the WTO's monstrously convoluted Agricultural Subsidy classification system came into being:

Creative Diplo-bureacrats and their Little Boxes

Then, a write-up summing up the outcome of the December 2005 WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong:

Taking Stock of Hong Kong

My post from Day 4 of the Hong Kong ministerial, explaining the European Union's oddly inflexible position:

Mandelson's Straightjacket

My post from Day 3 of the Hong Kong ministerial, noting the developing world's increased engagement with the negotiations:

The WTO Turned on its Head

This post from Day 2 of Hong Kong is an early attempt to deconstruct some of the more baffling aspects of WTO Diplo-bureaucratic jargon - particularly that most slipperly of formulations - "a balanced agreement."

Beginners' Guide to WTOese: "A Balanced Agreement"