How Does the Trade Regime Affect International Trade?

This paper examines when and how international regimes affect patterns of cooperation in world affairs. We introduce the concept of participation in international agreements and show how it is both narrower and wider than formal membership. We then show, through an empirical analysis of the trade regime, that the GATT/WTO boosted trade among non-member participants at least as much, if not more, than among countries on the formal membership roster. Much of the benefits accrued to non-sovereign territories, which are often overlooked in studies of international relations. The paper also argues that researchers should model international agreements in a hierarchy, assessing the benefits of one agreement conditional on participation in others. In the area of trade, the effects of preferential agreements, the GATT/WTO, and the Generalized System of Preferences all depend on the presence or absence of higher-order agreements. These findings suggest a new agenda for research on international cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]