Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name:  Sauvé, Pierre
Author-Name-First: Pierre
Author-Name-Last: Sauvé

Title: Learning by Not Doing: Subsidy Disciplines in Services Trade
Abstract: Abstract
This paper explores the hitherto futile quest for developing disciplines on the trade- and investment-distorting effects of services subsidies. It sheds light on the multiplicity of factors that have weighed on the conduct of negotiations on subsidy disciplines in a services trade context at both the global and preferential levels, and advances a few thoughts on what the future may hold for the adoption of such disciplines. The analysis suggests that it is rather unlikely that WTO Members will any time soon reach a consensus on the matter of subsidy disciplines for services beyond those that currently (and timidly) obtain in the GATS and in many preferential trade agreements. The main reason behind such a conclusion stems from a marked rise in the value of preserving policy space in a trading environment characterized by considerably greater global market contestability than two decades ago.
Creation-Date:  2015-04-14
File-URL: http://www.wti.org/media/filer_public/fa/32/fa32afa5-17d8-4e35-a93f-07d39bca94b8/e15_subsidies_sauve_and_soprana_final.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version
Handle: RePEc:wti:papers:782