Accession to WTO and Asymmetric Globalization

In this paper, using LSDV approach to testing the effects of accession to GATT/WTO in a panel of developed and developing countries, we find that accession, on average has positive effects on the GDP and export of developed countries and has negative impact on GDP of many developing countries with the negative effects on export for a number of them. Especially in Africa this negative effects is remarkable and this results, while shed some light on the conflicts in the literature on links between trade policy and growth, point to the challenges confront many countries in the process of globalization. It is shown that for 31 out of 46 developing countries in the sample the effects of membership on GDP are negative while only for 15 out of 46 the impact on export is negative.