Re: review of trade theory and policy

["John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>]

            It seems obvious enough that "free trade", alone,
            with standards of living at the bottom of the
            pile of workers and businessmen as disgraceful
            as we find them, is itself a disgrace to human
            thought.

            Free trade may be a good thing for a portion of
            an economy. It must be augmented by managed
            trade to make explicit the goals of civilized nations
            to limit their populations, protect their environment,
            and encourage equity for their workers and elites.

            Since most of us seek private wealth and economic
            security, and hard money is attractive for that desire
            so long as it remains hard and attractive to sellers,
            we must find a way to lend it and spend it to benefit
            those without it, in such a fashion as to keep up with
            increases in economic output and capacity for still
            more output, without the appearance of taking it
            from me and giving it to you.

            It would seem that this is merely a matter of
            computation.  If we amend our political ethic to
            add an "unalienable right to work, income and
            a pension at age 55", to our other inalienable
            rights, then the computation of supplementary
            wages and pensions, to be paid by government
            banks, to people whose purchasing power is
            essential to the success of the whole system,
            would be the basis for making trade a viable
            option for supply of local needs.

            "What nations, what banks, etc., ?", you may ask.

            It really doesn't matter, provided all of them are
            in touch with each other. Any nation offered the
            short end of the trade stick can only hurt the
            system as a whole.

            OK, "greed, cowardice, opportunism, careerism,
            and narcissism" stand in the way of cooperative
            solutions.  But the war on terrorism and next war
            on each other suggest that cooperation is needed
            now to make "free trade" anything but evil.

                John Gelles

            ----- Reply to  Message -----

From: g kohler <kohlerg@xxxxxxxx>
To: <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 6:56 AM
Subject: CJE 2001 critical review of trade theory and policy

...<snip>...

CONCLUSIONS [of subject review]

"the thrust of the theoretical and empirical literature is far from
supportive of ...  ["free trade]"

"it is totally inappropriate to address trade theory and policy
separately from other aspects of industrial policy and
performance and macroeconomic considerations."