The TTIP and the Non-market Sector
Coppens, Philippe
The TTIP and the Non-market Sector - 2017.
65
The place of the non-market sector in free-trade treaties is a much discussed topic. The main reason is that goods and services promoted by this sector are strongly related to the notion of public service, that is, to the role of the state in the economy. This paper makes three arguments in order to demonstrate this difficulty. First, a free-trade treaty implies a trade in rules. But a trade in rules is not neutral: it is also a trade in legal cultures. Therefore, legal rules are not a mere instrument in the service of the economy, growth and efficiency. The legal institutions are an important sphere of justice in which a living democracy has to deliberate on the ends of globalization and on the place of the state and public services in the economy. In the end, the very idea of a non-market sector and of public services is all about the problem of redistributive justice which is not, as such, taken into account by the TTIP.
The TTIP and the Non-market Sector - 2017.
65
The place of the non-market sector in free-trade treaties is a much discussed topic. The main reason is that goods and services promoted by this sector are strongly related to the notion of public service, that is, to the role of the state in the economy. This paper makes three arguments in order to demonstrate this difficulty. First, a free-trade treaty implies a trade in rules. But a trade in rules is not neutral: it is also a trade in legal cultures. Therefore, legal rules are not a mere instrument in the service of the economy, growth and efficiency. The legal institutions are an important sphere of justice in which a living democracy has to deliberate on the ends of globalization and on the place of the state and public services in the economy. In the end, the very idea of a non-market sector and of public services is all about the problem of redistributive justice which is not, as such, taken into account by the TTIP.
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