Re: free trade CORRECTED YET AGAIN

[Rakesh Bhandari <rakeshb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

for the file on trade theory:


Utsa Patnaik in her E.M.S. Namboodiripad Memorial Lecture, which we
publish as the lead article in the current number of Social
Scientist, provides a powerful critique of Ricardo's proposition
along altogether novel lines, namely that Ricardo's example itself
was fraudulent: England was incapable of producing wine while
Portugal was capable of producing both wine and cloth. His theory
built upon a false premise serves as an apologetic for the colonial
pattern of international division of labour which once again is being
sought to be imposed on the Third World today. So pathetic however is
the state of our intellectual life, so steeped in a comprador ethos,
that these imperialist theoretical constructs are uncritically
accepted by us and figure freely in our own discussions.

http://www.macroscan.com/analysis/Costs%20of%20Free%20Trade%20-%20U.%20Patnaik.htm


 Patnaik, once a student of Amartya Sen and now his critic, refers to
some of her own research on Sub Saharan Africa.

Rakesh