Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Keeping focus after the WTO

[Peter Dorman <dormanp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This confirms my hunch.  What has underpinned the rise of neoliberalism in
intellectual circles is not so much faith in the market, or the belief that
market failure is not significant, but the conviction that political failure
is even more debilitating.  To put it differently, neoliberalism fills up the
vacuum left by the disappearance of political idealism--the belief in the
feasibility and power of democratic collective action.

Peter

Brad De Long wrote:

> But as best as I can tell, only in a relatively few "developmental
> states" have trade restrictions been rational from the standpoint of
> economic development: too much of the rest of the time import
> restrictions are not a way to funnel scarce foreign exchange into
> purchasing technology-transferring capital goods, but a way to funnel
> scarce foreign exchange into the bank account of the brother-in-law
> of the vice-minister of finance.
>
> As Lant Pritchett likes to say, there is nothing worse than state-led
> development carried out by an anti-developmental state. Until you can
> solve the political problem of shaping trade policy shaped into a
> rational form, I think that you are better off making the neoliberal
> bet on free trade...
>
> Brad DeLong