The Old and the New: The Effects of the WTO on International Trade

1 This paper analyzes the effects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on trade among its members in its first decade of existence, 1995-2004. The analysis focuses on a key variable: the timing of membership. The paper examines how trade among WTO members was affected by the regime’s accession rules and the timing of members ’ entry into the WTO. The paper distinguishes between “standing members, ” or those who were members of the GATT as well as the WTO, the “early adopters, ” those who entered the regime during the Uruguay Round or in the first year of the WTO’s creation, and the “later entrants ” who gained membership via the lengthy and complex accession process after 1995. The empirical analysis evaluates how WTO member trade has fared under the regime, both between members of the same group and between members of different groups. The paper assesses the effect of the WTO on trade creation, or the degree to which trade expanded after states entered into the regime. The results of the analysis show positive but divergent effects among the groups, suggesting that old and new members of the WTO have benefited in different ways from participation in the regime