WTO policies

At the MARCUS conference weekend I saw an interesting presentation on WTO/ IMF policies regarding transparencies. The person researched measurements of transparencies as given by the World Bank and others. She then compared them to measures of GDP and quality of life to see if the established maxim for transparency equaling growth was true. She found that there was no correlation whatsoever.

I think this is interesting because it highlights how the WTO, IMF, etc. ideals are often worthless because they are mainly suited to serve western business. Transparency makes business easier for the west because it frees them from having to deal with local regulation or other things such as corruption. It is interesting to see how one more policy of the WTO free trade regime is lacking in proof (others include deregulation, tax policy, and social spending). Good Night.