upcoming book by Bhagwati

Jagdish Bhagwati's Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade (Oxford UP) will be released next month.

Excerpt from the blurb: Writing with his customary wit, panache, and elegance, Bhagwati documents the growth of these PTAs, the reasons for their proliferation, and their deplorable consequences, which include the near-destruction of the nondiscrimination that was at the heart of the postwar trade architecture and its replacement by what he has called the spaghetti bowl of a maze of preferences. Bhagwati also documents how PTAs have undermined the prospects for multilateral freeing of trade, serving as stumbling blocks, instead of building blocks, for the objective of reaching multilateral free trade. In short, Bhagwati cogently demonstrates why PTAs are Termites in the Trading System.

Order from OUP at http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Economics/International/?view=usa&ci=9780195331653 or Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Termites-Trading-System-Preferential-Agreements/dp/0195331656