Non-reciprocal trade preferences and provisions in the GATT/WTO that allow developing countries greater leeway to retain or use protectionist policies are two of the central planks of so-called special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing countries in the multilateral trading system. This paper surveys the literature on the rationales, institutional features, and economic effectiveness of SDT. A large literature has emerged on SDT in the last 50 years, by both proponents and opponents. We summarize a number of key contributions on the subject, with a special emphasis on the evaluation of the impact of SDT, especially preferential market access.
Non-reciprocal trade preferences and provisions in the GATT/WTO that allow developing countries greater leeway to retain or use protectionist policies are two of the central planks of so-called special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing countries in the multilateral trading system. T...