IMF Working Papers

Committing to Grow: The Full Impact of WTO Accessions

By André Brotto, Adam Jakubik, Roberta Piermartini, Fulvio Silvy

September 27, 2024

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Format: Chicago

André Brotto, Adam Jakubik, Roberta Piermartini, and Fulvio Silvy. "Committing to Grow: The Full Impact of WTO Accessions", IMF Working Papers 2024, 207 (2024), accessed January 4, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400289910.001

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

This paper studies the impact of the process of accession to the WTO on growth rates in a sample of 150 economies. Unlike GATT-era accessions, WTO accessions involve reforms that extend beyond conventional trade liberalization measures. Using information on the pace of negotiations and requests in the working party's meetings, we construct an index that tracks the progress of reforms in the pre-accession period. We estimate that economies that implemented reforms and made deeper commitments during their WTO accession negotiations grew on average 1.5 percentage points faster than they otherwise would have. These results are robust to instrumental variable estimation and falsification tests.

Subject: Econometric analysis, Estimation techniques, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, International trade, Tariffs, Taxes, Trade barriers, Trade policy

Keywords: Accession effect, Accession mode, Accession period, Commitment index, Estimation techniques, GATT-era accession, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Global, Structural reforms, Tariffs, Trade and growth, Trade barriers, Trade policy, WTO accession

Publication Details

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