The politics of trade agreement design: revisiting the depth-flexibility nexus

Baccini, Leonardo ORCID: 0000-0002-6027-9192, Dür, Andreas and Elsig, Manfred (2015) The politics of trade agreement design: revisiting the depth-flexibility nexus. International Studies Quarterly, 59 (4). 765 - 775. ISSN 0020-8833

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Abstract

Existing research indicates the interrelated nature of different dimensions of the design of international institutions. In particular, it shows the greater flexibility of deep agreements. We argue—and demonstrate empirically—that the positive relationship between depth and flexibility holds for preferential trade agreements (PTAs). But we add two qualifications to the conventional wisdom that depth and flexibility go hand in hand. First, we argue that the positive relationship between depth and flexibility proves weaker for democracies than for nondemocracies. Second, when making deep agreements more flexible, countries also add strings to the use of the additional flexibility provisions. An original data set on the design of 587 PTAs allows us to test our arguments. Both descriptive evidence and multivariate statistics support the theoretical expectations. The findings contribute to the literatures on the design of international institutions and the causes and consequences of PTAs.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/isq
Additional Information:	© 2015 International Studies Association
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited:	12 Jun 2015 08:54
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2024 07:15
Funders:	Swiss National Science Foundation's NCCR Trade Regulation
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/62303

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