Simon Schropp is an International Trade Policy Analyst for Sidley Austin LLP, a leading law firm in international trade law and WTO litigation. He has previously worked for the WTO Secretariat and as a research fellow investigating legal and economic issues of the WTO.

• 1. Introduction: trade policy flexibility in the WTO - vice or virtue?; Part I. An Introduction to Incomplete Contracting: 2. Complete contracts, and the contracting ideal; 3. Incomplete contracting, and the essence of flexibility; Part II. Theorizing about the WTO as an Incomplete Contract: 4. Adding context: the WTO as an incomplete contract; 5. Analyzing the system of non-performance in the WTO; Part III. Flexibility and Enforcement in the WTO: Towards an Agenda for Reform: 6. Theorizing about the 'WTO' as an efficient 'breach' contract; 7. Towards an efficient 'breach' contract: an agenda for reform.

'Do WTO agreements allow for 'efficient breach?' What purpose is served by WTO instruments regarding flexibility and escape? Are these instruments structured as well as possible? These are the central themes that Schropp examines in this important study. Scholars and policymakers alike will find his analysis valuable and illuminating.' Alan O. Sykes, Stanford University