Export cartels – a century of fumble attitudes?

The present article analyzes, from a historical perspective, the debate concerning the export cartel debate from its birth in 1918 until today. There can be identified four different periods of the debate that revolve around the enactment of the Webb-Pomerene Act, the creation of the Bretton Woods institutions, the creation of the World Trade Organization and the July package decision of 1 July 2004. The article highlights the actors and the ideas that shaped the debate and the results that were obtained. While it is clear that the fairest solution to the issue of export cartels would be the prohibition of this practice, what is not clear is the path that would lead to the ban and the institutional framework that would support it afterwards. This paper thus proposes an approach for identifying the most affordable solution. It argues however that, before launching an institutionalized solution on export cartels, more in depths analysis is needed.