Lamy: World Trade at the Final Crossroad, but will the West give in?

Pascal Lamy's commentary at the Inquirer last December 7, 2006 conveniently forgot to mention the Cororaton et.al paper published by the World Bank, which stated that using the computable general equilibrium model (CGE), the current Doha round of WTO negotiations will adversely affect rural households in the Philippines because of increased import prices and decreased export demand for agricultural products. Poverty is expected to slightly increase and will affect rural households, unemployed, and self-employed. Consumption prices are expected to rise more on average than household nominal incomes. A Doha accord will also increase world prices. See Cororaton, Caesar B., John Cockburn, and Erwin Corong (2006). Doha Scenarios, Trade Reforms, and Poverty in the Philippines: A CGE Analysis. IN Poverty and the WTO: Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda, Hertel, Thomas W. and L. Alan Winters, Editors. Palgrave Macmillan and the World Bank, pp. 375-402.