Incorporating Science, Economics, and Sociology in Developing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards in International Trade: Proceedings of a Conference (2000)

Summary: In 1998, the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture asked the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council to organize a conference to address the roles of science, economics, and culture in agricultural trade policy. The conference was to focus on how scientific standards could be applied to international trade agreements in the post-Uruguay Round era but also take into account critical nonscientific factors surrounding SPS standards and related technical barriers to trade. Specifically, the conference was to focus on: (1) the critical roles and binding limitations of science in assessing SPS barriers to trade; (2) the critical roles and binding limitations of economics in assessing SPS barriers to trade; (3) the roles of values, other socioanthropological factors, and associated politics in determining SPS barriers to trade; and (4) an analytical framework for incorporating science, economics, values, and politics in SPS decision making. This book relays the proceedings of that conference.