Kevin Gallagher Submits Testimony to U.S. Congressional Subcommittee

Pardee Research Fellow Kevin P. Gallagher submitted testimony last month to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s Trade Subcommittee on the extent to which U.S. trade and investment treaties constrain the ability of poorer nations to deploy effective policies for sustainable development.

Testifying on behalf of the Working Group on Development and Environment in the Americas, Prof. Gallagher drew on the Pardee co-sponsored Working Group’s recent report, “Foreign Investment and Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Americas.”  Prof. Gallagher’s May 14 testimony shared the Working Group’s finding that U.S. Bi-lateral Investment Treaties (BITS) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) have fallen far short of stimulating broad-based economic growth and environmental protection in Latin America.

Prof. Gallagher recommended that future BITS, PTAs and other trade agreements allow developing countries the “policy space” for measures that enable foreign investment to stimulate growth and sustainable development.

Gallagher, an economist who specializes in trade and development issues,  is an assistant professor in the International Relations Department at Boston University.