IMPURE PUBLIC-GOODS, RELATIVE GAINS, AND INTERNATIONAL-COOPERATION

The characterization of the products of international cooperation as p ublic goods has been severely challenged, undermining a central pillar of theories of international cooperation. I review the criticism of p ublic goods assumptions, identifying the need to account for both excl usion and rival consumption in international cooperative arrangements. Drawing on the recent debate of states as relative versus absolute ga ins maximizers, I offer a characterization of international cooperativ e arrangements as discriminatory clubs. I develop a refined relative g ains model, which focuses on relative net gains, and apply it to a hyp othetical situation to illustrate its usefulness in predicting pattern s of exclusion and distribution in international trade.