State Enterprises in International Economic Law

This book examines how international economic law manages the uneasy relationship between states and firms in cross-border markets, as well as the externalities generated by that relationship.

It argues that neoliberal international economic law offers no stable test for distinguishing legitimate state involvement from illegitimate market distortion. Trade law does not seek to constitutionalize a preferred model of domestic economic order. Instead, it has repeatedly adopted an effects-based approach. This approach accommodates diversity in ownership, finance, and industrial organization while disciplining the transboundary harms that such arrangements may cause. Tracing the evolution from historical debates over state enterprises to the contemporary vocabulary of “distortion” and the “level playing field”, the book analyzes this effects-based approach across WTO disciplines, unilateral trade measures, emerging foreign-subsidy rules, and bilateral arrangements. It demonstrates both the practical value and the limitations of effects-based regulation, particularly as concerns associated with state enterprises move behind the border and become increasingly intertwined with investment and competition law.

The book will appeal to scholars, postgraduate students, policymakers, and practitioners working in international economic law, competition law, and the study of state capitalism.