文档介绍：Institutions in International
Relations: Understanding the
Effects of the GATT and the WTO
on World Trade
Judith L+ Goldstein, Douglas Rivers, and
Michael Tomz
Abstract The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ~GATT! and the World
anization ~WTO! have been touted as premier examples of international
institutions, but few studies have offered empirical proof+ This prehen-
sively evaluates the effects of the GATT0WTO and other trade agreements since World
War II+ Our analysis anized around two factors: institutional standing and insti-
tutional embeddedness+ We show that many countries had rights and obligations, or
institutional standing, in the GATT0WTO even though they were not formal mem-
bers of the agreement+ We also expand the analysis to include a range of -
mercial agreements that were embedded with the GATT0WTO+ Using data on dyadic
trade since 1946, we demonstrate that the GATT0WTO substantially increased trade
for countries with institutional standing, and that other embedded agreements had
similarly positive effects+ Moreover, our evidence suggests that international trade
agreements plemented, rather than undercut, each other+
When and how do international institutions promote cooperation? Few questions
are as fundamental to international relations or as salient for world leaders+ Due to
the contributions of Keohane and others, we now have sophisticated theories about
the emergence and effects of international institutions, but empirical research has
not proceeded apace+1 As Frieden and Martin point out, “theoretical work on inter-
An earlier version of this article was presented at the 99th Annual Meeting of the American Political
Science Association, Philadelphia, August 28–31, 2003+ We thank Tim Büthe, Joanne Gowa, Miles
Kahler, Andrew Rose, Arthur Stein, Richard Steinberg, and seminar participants at Stanford Univer-
sity, the University of Chicago ~PIPES!, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Univ