Publication

This paper examines the G20 leaders' November 2008 commitment to resist protectionism and makes recommendations for improving their response to this phenomenon. The authors argue that focusing on international monitoring and short-term responses to the global economic crisis do little to deal with the underlying causes of protectionism. Instead, they contend, G20 leaders should sponsor domestic transparency arrangements in individual countries to provide public advice about the economy-wide costs of domestic protection. The resulting increase in public awareness of those costs would counter the powerful influence which protectionist domestic interests exercise over national trade policies.