Title: Policy Relevant Research and the Doha Development Agenda: Could We Do Any Worse
1Policy Relevant Research and the Doha Development
Agenda Could We Do Any Worse?
- Simon J. Evenett
- World Trade Institute, Bern
- simon.evenett_at_wti.org
2Organisation of this presentation
- What are the potential contributions of
policy-relevant research on the Doha Development
Agenda (DDA)? - Documenting the dearth of serious and influential
research on the DDA. - Identifying the right general questions about the
DDA.
3What are the potential contributions of
policy-relevant research on the DDA?
- What contribution, if any, could the DDA make to
the prospects of developing countries? - Research could inform
- National negotiators in Geneva/Cancun about
merits of different proposals. - Policy options available to decision makers in
national capitals. - Design of aid, capacity building, and technical
assistance programmes.
4Criteria for policy-relevant research
- The following components should found in any
strong body of development-related
policy-relevant research on a given trade
subject - Detailed evidentiary base.
- Established analytical tools for WTO-related
matters. - Relevance for developing countries.
- Includes evaluation of actual policy proposals.
- Includes evaluation of possible policy options.
- On this criteria, how well does research on a
number of trade matters under consideration at
the WTO stack up?
5Key to understand following charts
6Evaluation of existing research
7How influential are available analyses? Evidence
from the Singapore Issues
- Examine the following sources to see what
evidence is being cited by - Trade officials in their submissions to the WTO.
- Scholars.
- Civil society, especially those in developing
countries. - Are these groups learning from each other?
- In tables that follow a blank cell indicates no
or very few cites a grey cell means few
citations and a black cell indicates lots of
citations and clear evidence of inter-group
discourse. - Important caveats to this exercise
8What are participants citing? Government
procurement
9What are participants citing? Competition policy
10Summary on the dearth of influential research
- When it comes to the issues beyond trade in
goods, available research falls down on just
about every criteria. - Weak evidentiary base on policies in place
measures of cross-border and national
transactions and measures of impediments to such
transactions. - Little analytical work relevant to DCs.
- Little relevance to issues discussed at the WTO.
- Little interchange between policymakers,
scholars, and civil society. - Also, very few analyses of social and
environmental aspects of potential or actual
reforms. - Supply-side causes of this unsatisfactory outcome.
11Now, Now, Simon, be constructive identifying
classes of questions about the DDA
- The biggest question What contribution, if any,
will the DDA make to the prospects of developing
countries? - This can be broken down into three further
questions - Questions about the appropriate scope of the DDA
and the priorities for developing countries. - Questions about the appropriate institutions and
fora to address each element of the DDA. - Questions about who participates in the Doha
Round and associated initiatives. - I would be nervous if experts from any one field
attempted to answer these questions.
12Digging deeper scope of the DDA
- Scope-related claims made about the DDA
- Its all about market access
- Agricultural liberalisation is the key
- Implementation costs are significant for
developing countries - Securing the benefits of open borders requires
new trade rules - Etc
- Even when setting priorities across policy areas,
research is needed on the pros and cons of
proposed initiatives in each policy area. - How might research on each policy area proceed?
13Analysing the DDA-related proposals in a given
policy area a road map
- What is the key development issue at stake? (Not
the key negotiating issue). Includes overview of
relevant evidence. - What are the existing types and possible types of
international collective action (ICA) in this
policy area? - What is the economic case for each type of ICA?
Which type of ICA is preferable? - What is the economic case for undertaking the
preferred type of ICA in the WTO? - What proposals have actually been advanced in
this policy area at the WTO? - How do those proposals stack against the
arguments advanced in 3.-4. above? Includes any
estimates of potential effects of those proposals
and implications for policy options available. - Are there other initiatives in this policy area
that might better advance development than those
currently proposed at the WTO?
14Concluding remarks
- Lets return to the title of the talk Policy
Relevant Research and the Doha Development
Agenda Could We Do Any Worse? - Yes, but we can do a lot better too!
- Hopefully I have provided some indications of the
questions, subject matter etc. that could improve
the quality of discourse during the Doha Round.