Trade openness in developing countries and use of the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organisation

Trade openness has long been encouraged as the path to economic development, and many countries have embraced international trade. To deal with the risks of trade conflicts and economic disputes, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) provides a forum for negotiating multilateral trade agreements between nations that aim to remove trade barriers. While most members are developing countries, the benefits of the Dispute Settlement System (DSS) adopted by the WTO to settle trade disputes between members raise concerns about its adequacy for settling disputes involving developing countries. In this work, we look at the effects of trade openness on developing countries' participation as complainants in the WTO DSS. We argue that with more openness of developing countries to external trade, they become less likely to file complaints with the DSS. Using quantitative data, we analyse how trade openness reflects dependence on international trade, dissuading developing countries from using the DSS.