Wage-differential argument: the proposition that countries with low wages are able to undercut countries with high wages, and that they therefore enjoy a competitive advantage. Economists have been satisfied for 150 years that this is not the case, and that the difference in wages can be accounted for by a gap in productivity. In trade policy the argument lives on, and it underlies part of the debate on trade and labour standards and the alleged need for a social clause. See also pauper-labour argument and race-to-the-bottom argument.

Waiver: a dispensation granted by WTO members to another member freeing it from the obligation to apply a particular provision to a defined aspect of its international trade. Under WTO rules, waivers must be approved by three-quarters of WTO members. Once granted, they are subject to periodic review. See also Section 22 waiver.

Washington Consensus: a much-misunderstood term coined by John Williamson proposed in 1990. He uses it for a set of eleven principles that he considered embodied the “lowest common denominator” of reforms the Washington-based financial institutions, including the IMF and the World Bank, could agree on in 1989 as suitable for Latin America. The principles were: fiscal discipline, redirection of public expenditure towards high economic returns and better income distribution, tax reform, interest rate liberalization, competitive exchange rate, trade liberalization, liberalization of inward direct investment, privatization, deregulation and secure property rights.