Concepts of Fairness in the Global Trading System*
Andrew G. Brown, Wellfleet MA and Robert M. Stern, University of Michigan
1. Introduction
How are we to assess the fairness of the global trading system as embodied in the GATT/WTO? Views
about what constitutes fairness differ widely, and there is surely no incontrovertible yardstick. But can we
be clearer about the criteria that are appropriate and what they mean in more operational terms?
Some would say that fairness is hardly a relevant idea in trade relations. There are the anti-
globalization advocates who view the trading system as being dominated by powerful governments and
corporations whose main concern is to enhance national interests and corporate profits to the possible
detriment of the less fortunate within their own societies or the societies of poorer nations; they find
capitalism to be inherently unfair. There are others who, though accepting the capitalist system, take a
realpolitik view of trade relations. They share a view long ago expressed by Thucydides (1934) in
describing how the much weaker Melians were called upon by the powerful Athenians to surrender their
city. The councilors of Melos appealed for fair treatment, but the Athenian ambassadors replied that
"...right, as the world goes, is only a question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can
and the weak suffer what they must."
We do not accept either of these views. We take capitalism as the institutional basis of the trading
system and we do not find the realpolitik view to be an accurate portrayal of modern trade relations. The
developed countries that - until recently - dominated GATT/WTO negotiations have observed "right" by
claiming to adhere, in principle, to reciprocity, Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) treatment, and national
treatment in their trade relations. Though there have been some large differences in political and
economic power, the stronger nations have not behaved in the manner portrayed by Thucydides; for, trade
* We wish to thank Dan Ciuriak, John Curtis, Alan Deardorff, Kimberly Elliott, Patrick Low, and members of the
Research Seminar in International Economics for helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper. We wish also
to thank Judith Jackson for typing and editorial assistance.
More intriguing information
1. Nurses' retention and hospital characteristics in New South Wales, CHERE Discussion Paper No 522. BODY LANGUAGE IS OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IN LARGE GROUPS
3. The name is absent
4. Review of “From Political Economy to Economics: Method, the Social and Historical Evolution of Economic Theory”
5. Literary criticism as such can perhaps be called the art of rereading.
6. Neural Network Modelling of Constrained Spatial Interaction Flows
7. EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES
8. L'organisation en réseau comme forme « indéterminée »
9. Job quality and labour market performance
10. On Social and Market Sanctions in Deterring non Compliance in Pollution Standards