The post-war world has seen remarkable advances in
prosperity and poverty reduction. Associated with these
advances has been an unprecedented expansion of
international trade and investment. Whereas international
trade was 25% of world GDP in 1960, it exceeds 60%
today (World Bank, 2015). This progression owes much to
technological advances as well as to consumers’ demand
for greater variety and quality as their incomes increase,
although trade and investment liberalization policies have
been instrumental. In particular the system of norms, laws
and regulations established multilaterally under the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization,
extended and deepened by bilateral and regional trade and
investment agreements such as the European Economic
Community, North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), hundreds of free trade agreements (FTA) and
over 2,000 bilateral investment treaties, has created an
environment where trade in most parts of the world and in
most sectors is largely open and predictable. For example,
according to a recent paper by World Trade Organization
(WTO) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) economists, 80% of developing
countries’ exports by volume now regularly enter advanced
countries duty free, compared to 55% 20 years ago (WTO,
2014).