Transcript
  • 0:25    |    
    Introduction
  • 2:10    |    
    The WTO: World Trade Organization
    • Organization
      • The Ministerial Conference
      • The General Council
      • Sub-Councils
      • Small staff, small budget
    • History
      • 1944 Bretton Woods Conference
      • 1945 tariff reduction talks
      • United Nations charter: ITO
      • Results: GATT agreements / Havana charter
    • Goals of the tariff negotiations
      • Raise standard of living
      • Insure full employment
      • Promote exports and imports
      • Develop full use of world resources
      • Increase volume of trade
    • Articles and principles
      • Agreement to reduce non-tariff barriers
      • First article: contracting parties must respect most-favored nation agreements
      • Second article: tariff concessions
      • Third article: national treatment
      • Article six: antidumping
      • Basic principles
      • Exceptions to GATT obligations
    • The need for ammendments
      • Successful reduction of tariff rates
      • Unsuccessful at eliminating quotas
      • Sense of unfairness: are Latin American bananas really bananas?
      • Negotiating rounds
      • First four rounds
    • 1987 Uruguay round
      • Agreement on agriculture
      • Textile agreement
      • Trade in services
      • Intellectual property rights
      • Dispute resolution
    • Successes and criticisms
      • Huge increase in volume and value of trade
      • A darn good job
      • A voluntary organization
      • Example: Mexican tuna
      • Lack of transparency
      • Not democratically elected
      • Harms the poor people
    • Summary
  • 49:53    |    
    The IMF: International Monetary Fund
    • History
    • Objectives
      • Originally oversaw fixed exchange rates, but...
      • ... with the abandonment of the gold standard...
      • ... IMF found a new role as a lender.
      • IMF provides low interest loans
    • Criticisms
      • Problems with IMF loans
      • Is there a need for the IMF?
      • Does the IMF exacerbate financial crises?
      • Does the IMF create a moral hazard?
    • Problems
      • Very low success rates
      • IMF vs. private capital markets
      • Private capital in the 19th century
      • Benefits of private capital
    • What should the IMF be doing?
  • 1:16:15    |    
    The World Bank
    • Objectives
    • Loan size
    • Mission shift
    • Success or failure?
  • 1:27:03    |    
    Conclusions
  • 1:30:20    |    
    Q and A
    • What do you think about the enforcement mechanisms that IMF uses to force governments to pay the loans?
    • In your opinion, is the WTO government driven, is it production driven, or should it be consumer driven?
    • Is there a way to limit the loans that the government can get from international organizations?


International Agencies

New Media  | 05 de julio de 2001  | Vistas: 3466

After World War II, many organizations were formed in order to facilitate trade and contribute to make this world a better place. Karol Boudreaux describes the organizational structure, objectives and criticism of three of these post-World War II organizations: The World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. She explains that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which were created in 1946, have shifted their original mission and objectives. The World Bank, for example, used to focus on eradicating poverty through making loans for infrastructure, but now it focus on AIDS, malaria, and promoting environmental sensitivity. The World Trade Organization, on the other hand, was not officially founded until 1995, and it was created to implement the agreements of trade. Furthermore, Boudreaux lists some of the criticisms that have been made about these institutions such as their lack of transparency and the difficulty of accomplishing their goals.




Conferencista

Karol Boudreaux is a senior fellow at the Mercantus Center and…