Faculty Sponsor: Prof. David J. Kuenzel
Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Tristan Dwiputra Loa
Tristan Loa is a rising senior from Jakarta, Indonesia, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Physics. Some non-academic interests over the summer include rock climbing, soccer, and cooking. Throughout the semester, he works in IMS as a classroom technician or the CFA as an audio technician. After graduating from Wesleyan, Tristan plans to pursue a career in international economics or relations.
Abstract: This research project investigates the impact of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism on countries’ trade policy choices amidst the current crisis in the Appellate Body. With no new judges appointed since 2016, the inability to appeal panel reports raises concerns about enforcement and consequences for trade rule violations. Using data from the EUI WTO Dispute Settlement and Case Law project and The World Bank’s Temporary Trade Barriers Database, I analyze the relationship between the number and length of disputes and the amount of WTO agreement-violating temporary protection measures. Preliminary regression analysis indicates a positive correlation, suggesting that countries resort to more protectionist measures outside WTO law when involved in numerous disputes. Future research would include additional regression techniques such as instrumental variable regressions will be applied and examine specific country-targeted protectionism and dispute involvement to identify possible underlying relationships for the preliminary regression results.
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