The second half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of international economic law as a major force in the international legal system. This force has been severely tested by the economic crisis of 2008. Unable to prevent the crisis, the existing legal mechanisms have struggled to react against its direst consequences. This book brings together leading experts to analyse the main causes of the crisis and the role that international economic law has played in trying to prevent it, on the one hand, and worsening it, on the other. The work highlights the reaction and examines the tools that have been created by the international legal field to implement international cooperation in an effort to help put an end to the crisis and avoid similar events in the future. The volume brings together eminent legal academics and economists to examine key issues from the perspectives of trade law, financial law, and investment law with the collective aim of reform of international economic governance.
Introduction
Reforming the trading and financial systems - Antonio Segura-Serrano
Finance
Global economic governance and banking regulation: redesigning regulation to promote stakeholder interests - Kern Alexander
Do we need a world financial organization? - Rosa Maria Lastra
Critical reflections on bank bail-ins - Emilio Avgouleas & Charles Goodhart
Staying global and neoliberal or going somewhere else? Banking regulation after the crisis - Mika Viljanen
State of necessity and sovereign insolvency - Vassili Paliouras
Trade Law
The WTO - a suitable case for treatment: is it ‘reformable’? - Friedl Weiss
Interdependence and WTO law - Chios Carmody
Reforming the law and institutions of the WTO: the dangers of unexpected consequences - Gregory Messenger
A history of success? Proportionality in international economic law - Valentina Vadi
Multilevel governance in food security regulation - with the example of Costa Rican rice - Carolina Palma
WTO and renewable energy: lessons from the case law - Paolo Davide Farah and Elena Cima
Investment
Economic crises, sovereign debt restructurings and the shifting landscape of international investment law - Catharine Titi
Index
'Students of integration will greatly profit from reading this book. There are various volumes that address each of the issues discussed here, but not from a holistic perspective. The value added lies in that this volume addresses the need for institutional cooperation in order to honour the mandate to integrate financial- trade- and any other policy where there are gains from cooperation.'
Petros C. Mavroidis, Columbia Law School, USA
Globalization proceeds in fits and starts, with periods of integration and periods of retrenchment. The Reform of International Economic Governance assembles a set of expert and insightful perspectives on where the gaps in governance lie in connection with finance, trade, and investment, and how these gaps may be filled. Highly informative, provocative, and forward-thinking.
Joel P. Trachtman, Tufts University, USA