Dopo circa sette anni di trattative il Doha Development Round, il grande negoziato multilaterale lanciato in ambito Wto nel 2001, vive ancora un periodo di incertezza e più scenari restano aperti circa il suo esito finale. Questo libro vuole fare il punto sull'andamento dei negoziati ed offrire un'analisi rigorosa dei principali temi al centro delle trattative. Una volta tracciata l'evoluzione del Doha Round nel suo complesso e in riferimento ai tre principali tavoli negoziali - agricoltura, accesso al mercato per i prodotti non-agricoli e servizi -, i diversi contributi approfondiscono tanto l'impatto della liberalizzazione multilaterale sui diversi mercati e settori, quanto specifici aspetti relativi al mercato del lavoro e alla politica commerciale dell'Unione europea. Il principale valore aggiunto della ricerca, che ha generato i lavori qui raccolti, è l'unione di valutazioni qualitative e stime quantitative per analizzare gli effetti di possibili accordi finali del negoziato commerciale, con particolare attenzione alle conseguenze e alle prospettive future di molti rilevanti comparti produttivi dell'economia italiana.

The World Trade Organization’s Doha Round has been plagued by difficulties and a lack of concrete progress. This book offers a detailed and critical evaluation, on the basis of quantitative simulations, of the evolution and causes of the WTO negotiation problems by also taking into consideration the far-reaching implications upon the trade and economic prospects of the European and Italian economy.

In light of the in-depth analysis of the Doha Round the authors offer realistic assessments regarding the future of the multilateral trading system, the European and Italian interests in the present round, the principal players in the negotiations, and the market access implications of different scenarios.

The volume begins with a detailed analysis of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) tracing the developments in the negotiation (chapter 1). Then, specific chapters are devoted to the main issues under discussion: agriculture (chapter 2), manufactures (chapter 3), services (chapter 4).

The second part of the book provides a quantitative study of the economic effects of possible liberalization scenarios using a computable general equilibrium model. After the description of the model and the scenarios (chapter 5), the overall results are presented with a special emphasis on Italy (chapter 6). There has been no comprehensive quantitative analysis highlighting the consequences for the Italian economy of the multilateral negotiations under way so this book fills this gap.

In the third part, the authors offer a more detailed analysis of the impact on agricultural (chapter 7) and manufacturing (chapter 8) trade flows. The simulation results shows that multilateral trade liberalization does not seem to lend support to the widespread fears that it might cause serious disruptions to Italian and European labor markets (chapter 9). Finally, a theoretically based political economy model is estimated in order to analyze the role of special interest groups in the determination of the EU trade policy (chapter 10).

This book brings together many leading Italian scholars and Universities in the field of trade and trade policy and draws from a research project financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Technological Research under the National Research Programs.

It gives a very comprehensive account of the Doha Round and the future perspectives of the WTO and it will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners as well as students of trade politics, international organizations, development and international political economy.