into a precise policy outcome, especially if this is presented in binary terms across the entire legal edifice

of the WTO. The GATT/WTO has never been able to agree on a definition of developing countries, so it
is difficult to see how countries would now agree to being graduated. Even countries such as Mexico and
Korea that have joined the OECD are unwilling to change designation, whether or not they are making
use of S&D provisions. That is because of the political overlay associated with country status in the
WTO.

Second, such an approach applies a blunt instrument where subtler differentiation is more suitable. A
well-loved aphorism that has entered S&D discussions in recent times is that "one size does not fit all".
The latter notion is entirely consistent with a more analytical approach to S&D – one that measures
economic need against legal provisions. Graduation specified at the national level, even expressed in
terms of carefully constructed economic thresholds, does not sit well with a more analytical focus.