ABSTRACT
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) holds the promise of supporting reforms of trade policies that will not only bring immediate welfare gains for developing and developed countries, but enhance overall growth and contribute to the alleviation of poverty. In an optimistic Doha scenario, Anderson (2004) calculated that every dollar spent on restructuring, retraining and social safety nets, required to facilitate the reduction of trade barriers and subsidies by half in all member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO), would have a benefits-costs ratio of 24.3 for all participating countries and even 37.9 for developing countries. However, these high returns do not guarantee that the necessary steps will be taken to make the promises come true.
