Babson  Professor Calls for Reforms within WTO to Boost Free Trade Worldwide
New Book: THE DOHA BLUES
Institutional Crisis and Reform in the WTO
by Babson Economics Professor Kent Jones

Mark M. Zandi, chief economist and founder of the website Economy.com, gave a speech in November 2008 predicting that the current recession will end on August 3, 2010. While his prediction was greeted with laughs, Zandi admitted that he had no idea when the current crisis will end.

Something has to change. President Obama is using the current economic climate to help push forward reforms—to healthcare, to energy policies, and to military strategy overseas. The United States, however, needs to look beyond itself, to the international community, to enact true reform.

In THE DOHA BLUES: Institutional Crisis and Reform in the WTO (Oxford University Press, Nov. 5, 2009), economist and leading expert on trade policy-- Babson College Professor Kent Jones-- argues that it is past time we institute reforms in one of the most important free trade organizations, the World Trade Organization.

Structural flaws within the WTO have resulted in failed negotiations such as the Doha Conference, ongoing since 2001. Jones proposes specific ways to “fix” the WTO, allowing it to become a more flexible organization. If the members of the Doha Round negotiations can come to an agreement, the results will be of immense benefit to a world that sorely needs good economic news.

BABSON COLLEGE ECONOMICS PROFESSOR KENT JONES, is the Kevern Joyce Term Chair and the author of Who’s Afraid of the WTO? He has worked for the U.S. International Trade Commission and Department of State. His areas of expertise include international economics, law, and diplomacy.

To order and for more about The Doha Blues and Babson Professor Kent Jones, visit:  http://www.thedohablues.com/