期刊名称：Discussion Paper Series / Department of Economics, New York University
出版年度：2007
卷号：1
出版社：New York University
摘要：What do trade negotiators negotiate about? There are two distinct theoretical approaches in the economics
literature that offer an answer to this question: the terms-of-trade theory and the commitment theory. The termsof-
trade theory holds that trade agreements are useful to governments as a means of helping them escape from
a terms-of-trade-driven Prisoners¡¯ Dilemma. The commitment theory holds that trade agreements are useful to
governments as a means of helping them make commitments to the private sector. These theories are not mutually
exclusive, but there is little direct evidence on the empirical relevance of either. We attempt to investigate
empirically the purpose served by market access commitments negotiated in the World Trade Organization. We
find broad support for the terms-of-trade theory in the data. We claim more tentatively to find support in the data
for the commitment theory as well.
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