Law and economics training networks An EU initiative has helped to create a critical mass of experts in dispute resolution. Society © dolgachov, Thinkstock The significance of international trade law and its associated policies is greater than ever. This highly specialised domain also combines economics. Europe has the know-how, but lacks the collective efforts of lawyers and economists to manage disputes and agreements. To deal with the absence of such a network, the DISSETTLE (Dispute settlement in trade: Training in law and economics) project brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts in economics and law to tackle dispute settlement. Through training and research activities, the consortium worked together on disputes under the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as on regional and bilateral trade agreements and on investment arbitration. WTO arbitrators sometimes struggle to find a coherent method for evaluating the legal and economic aspects of disputes. The team considered interdisciplinary approaches to solving disputes as well as training a cohort of lawyers and economists to work together with an understanding of both disciplines. The partners explored current economic ideas and instruments that can be used as inputs to WTO disputes. These include: examining cross-price elasticities as a way of determining the scope of a market as a supplement to the legal definition of 'like product'; designing broad procedures on how econometric methods may best be used in WTO disputes and outcomes; and understanding whether the use of economics in investment disputes and competition policy offers lessons for the use of economics in WTO disputes. By bringing together the WTO, law firms and consultancies with the research and training network, DISSETTLE has worked to overcome fragmentation and strengthen interdisciplinary expertise in dispute resolution. Keywords Law and economics, dispute resolution, international trade law, DISSETTLE, investment arbitration
