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12 Harv. Int'l. L. J. 401 (1971)
Enforcing Export Quota Commodity Agreements: The Case of Coffee

handle is hein.journals/hilj12 and id is 409 raw text is: Enforcing Export Quota Commodity Agreements: The Case of Coffee* BART S. FISHER ** Commodity exports dominate the export economy of the less developed countries (LDC's), accounting for 88 per cent of their total foreign ex- change earnings.' It is, then, not surprising that the LDC's at UN- CTAD I and UNCTAD II demanded a network of commodity agreements to support their primary product exports.2 But would moving from free markets to international regulation of commodity trade significantly speed LDC economic development? Proponents of commodity agreements argue that they can halt price declines by limiting the offerings of the supported product on the world market, ameliorate potentially violent price fluctuations by setting price floors and ceilings, buy time for the LDC's to diversify their economies, and serve as a politically palatable means of transferring resources to the LDC's.3 An implicit assumption in this line of argument is that such agreements can be successfully enforced. On the other hand, opponents * The author wishes to extend his appreciation to Professors Isaiah Frank and Charles Pearson of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Robert Asher and Edward Fried of The Brookings Institution, and Professor Harold J. Berman of the Harvard Law School for their valuable help in the preparation of this article. ** M.A., 1967, Ph.D., 1970, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; J.D. candidate, Harvard, 1972. x. International Monetary Fund, The Problem of Stabilization of Prices of Primary Products s (1968). 2. UNCTAD is an acronym for the United Nations Conference on Trade and De- velopment. The development of UNCTAD - now established as a permanent United Nations organization -was spurred by the dissatisfaction of the developing countries with their share of world income and trade. On UNCTAD as an institution see J. Pincus, Trade, Aid, and Development: the Rich and Poor Nations 76-85 (1967). On UNCTAD I see H. G. Johnson, Economic Policies Toward Less Developed Countries (1967) for an analysis of LDC demands and the response of the developed countries. See also 3 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, U.N. Doc. E/Conf. 46/141 (1964). On UNCTAD II see z United Nations Conference on Trade and De- velopment, U.N. Doc. TD/97 (1968). 3. For an even-handed analysis of these views see Pincus, supra note 2, at 272-284.

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