Capital Account Regulations and the Trading System: A compatibility review Edited by: Kevin P. Gallagher

This report published by Boston University’s Pardee Center is the outcome of a workshop co-sponsored last June in Buenos Aires, Argentina with the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES) in Argentina and Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University. It validates the concerns that there may be a number of incompatibilities between the ability to regulate cross-border finance and disciplines under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the myriad “free trade agreements” (FTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) that many nations have agreed to over the past decade and more. In general, the review found that FTAs and BITs are far more incompatible with the ability to regulate cross-border finance than is the WTO. The report offers concrete remedies to reconcile the ability to deploy capital account regulations with the trade and investment regime.

CAR_Trading_System (Download the full text in PDF format)