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80
development in Asia (Bernard and Ravenhill 1995), the dispersion of economic and
political liberalism (Simmons, Dobbin, and Garrett 2006), bilateral investment
treaties (Elkins, Guzman, and Simmons 2006), public sector downsizing (Lee and
Strang 2006), and neoliberal tax policy (Swank 2006).
Deviating from the network theory concepts: cohesion and structural
equivalence, Beth A. Simmons, Frank Dobbin, and Geoffrey Garrett (2006) identify
four determinants of diffusion: coercion, competition, emulation, and learning.
These determinants of diffusion represent sources of diffusion and in all case reflect
a systemic understanding of the international community of states. The treatment of
diffusion by these analysts of international relations does not distinguish demand and
supply aspects of the adoption process but rather conceptualizes the adoption process
solely from the demand perspective.
Coercion refers to forced rather than voluntary adoption. Coercion may be in
the form of an aggressor or alternatively in the form of an imposed institutionalized
norm or standard. For example, responsible fiscal policy may be imposed on
members of the European Monetary Union based on policy directives undertaken by
the European Central Bank despite the presence of no central fiscal policy authority.
In the context of this examination of the proliferation of RTA notifications to
the GATT/WTO, it is difficult to identify a coercive force. Indeed, just the opposite
seems more likely as the GATT/WTO might prefer that states abandon RTAs and
focus on completing trade liberalization multilaterally.
Object Description
| Title | Riding the wave: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the popularity of RTA notifications to the GATT/WTO |
| Author | McClough, David Andrew |
| Author email | mcclough@usc.edu; dmcclou@bgsu.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Political Economy & Public Policy |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-07 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-10-18 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Katada, Saori N. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Nugent, Jeffrey B. Cartier, Carolyn |
| Abstract | The proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) notified to the GATT/WTO since the early 1980s deviates from the long-term trend and reflects participation of nearly every member of the United Nations. This dissertation seeks to explain the current wave of RTA notifications by supplementing the economic model of supply and demand with diffusion theory. Application of the supply and demand model is useful in distinguishing between changes in demand and changes insupply of RTAs. This distinction is seldom emphasized in the current literature examining RTAs. Recent applications of diffusion theory in the discipline of international relations offer a unique opportunity to include a dynamic force in the static analysis of the supply and demand model. Empirical analysis assesses the fit of the RTA diffusion pattern by comparing the RTA diffusion pattern to a cumulative standard normal distribution. The analysis indicates that the diffusion pattern of RTAs resembles the diffusion of an innovation through a social system.; The implication of this finding is that the adoption of an RTA as trade policy is not made independently of the decision by other states. Indeed, the analysis suggests interdependency between states. Further empirical analysis explores economic and political variables that may explain the decision to adopt the RTA as trade policy. The empirical analysis is unique in that survival analysis is utilized to assess the variation in duration to adopt an initial RTA since the early 1980s. A central discovery is that regional designation explains the variation in duration to adopt an initial RTA. Multiple regression analysis confirms the results generated using survival analysis and support the assertion that the proliferation of RTAs likely reflects changes in both the demand for RTAs and the supply of RTAs. This dissertation concludes by considering implications for the WTO resulting from the increase in RTA notifications. |
| Keyword | trade agreements |
| Coverage date | after 1980 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1675 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | McClough, David Andrew |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-McClough-2338 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume32/etd-McClough-2338.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 89 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 80 development in Asia (Bernard and Ravenhill 1995), the dispersion of economic and political liberalism (Simmons, Dobbin, and Garrett 2006), bilateral investment treaties (Elkins, Guzman, and Simmons 2006), public sector downsizing (Lee and Strang 2006), and neoliberal tax policy (Swank 2006). Deviating from the network theory concepts: cohesion and structural equivalence, Beth A. Simmons, Frank Dobbin, and Geoffrey Garrett (2006) identify four determinants of diffusion: coercion, competition, emulation, and learning. These determinants of diffusion represent sources of diffusion and in all case reflect a systemic understanding of the international community of states. The treatment of diffusion by these analysts of international relations does not distinguish demand and supply aspects of the adoption process but rather conceptualizes the adoption process solely from the demand perspective. Coercion refers to forced rather than voluntary adoption. Coercion may be in the form of an aggressor or alternatively in the form of an imposed institutionalized norm or standard. For example, responsible fiscal policy may be imposed on members of the European Monetary Union based on policy directives undertaken by the European Central Bank despite the presence of no central fiscal policy authority. In the context of this examination of the proliferation of RTA notifications to the GATT/WTO, it is difficult to identify a coercive force. Indeed, just the opposite seems more likely as the GATT/WTO might prefer that states abandon RTAs and focus on completing trade liberalization multilaterally. |
