Preface vii LECTURE 1 Confronting Conventional Threats to Free Trade: The Postwar Revolution in the Theory of Commercial Policy 1 LECTURE 2 "Fair Trade," Income Distribution, and Social Agendas: Using Trade Theory to Meet New Challenges 45 LECTURE 3 Getting to Free Trade: Alternative Approaches and Their Theoretical Rationale 91 Index 121
Jagdish Bhagwati combines impressive theoretical skills with a rare talent for clear exposition. He has had a profound influence on trade policy thinking among scholars and practitioners. Once again he brings his formidable analytical gifts to bear in these lectures. They should be read by everybody who wants to understand the case for trade and why it sometimes seems so difficult to make that case. -- Michael Moore, Director General, World Trade Organization Professor Bhagwati is our most powerful and persuasive advocate of free trade. In this book he does two important things: he punctures all the standard false arguments for protection, and he uses the modern theory of commercial policy to suggest how a balanced approach to trade and social policy might look. And all of this comes in a compact, lively, and readable package. -- Robert M. Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Trade liberalization in the second half of the twentieth century brought huge benefits, especially to those less-developed countries which seized the new opportunities. Now these gains are being threatened by 'Seattle-person,' the offspring of an alliance between forces of ignorance and special interests. Jagdish Bhagwati's courageous stand against this threat merits our admiration. His rigorous yet lively restatement of the case for free trade should be required reading for all participants in the public debate on globalization. -- Avinash K. Dixit, Princeton University Bhagwati is the prime warrior for free trade. In this splendid book, he encapsulates all major arguments in favor of free trade and debunks many arguments against it in a lucid and entertaining style. The arguments are up to date, addressing all key issues of the last decade. -- Elhanan Helpman, Harvard University and Tel Aviv University Jagdish Bhagwati is easily the most creative international trade theorist of his generation, whose work has changed fundamentally the way we now think about free trade and protection. He is also our leader in the fight for freer trade: his witty, graceful, and incisive op-eds and reviews in the leading magazines and newspapers worldwide and his public debates deliver unceasingly the coup de grace to the myriad critics of free trade. Free Trade Today, which brings under one rubric the deep insights from modern theory--much of it his own work--to refute these critics, is a tour de force. -- Arvind Panagariya, University of Maryland and Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank With customary wit and insight, Jagdish Bhagwati demonstrates the relevance of the theory of commercial policy, in which he was the leading pioneer, to current trade policy debates. The analysis is sharp and pungent, and the writing a delight--a must read for anyone interested in trade policy! -- Douglas A. Irwin, Dartmouth College, author of "Free Trade Under Fire and Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade"
Jagdish Bhagwati is University Professor at Columbia University, Andre Meyer Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Special Adviser to the UN on globalization, and External Adviser to the Director General, WTO. His many books include Protectionism, The World Trading System at Risk (Princeton), A Stream of Windows, and The Wind of the Hundred Days: How Washington Mismanaged Globalization. Founder of the Journal of International Economics and Economics & Politics, he writes for the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, and reviews for the Times Literary Supplement and the New Republic.
A delight to read; and Bhagwati's irrepressible personality bubbles through on every page... [A] ride that is worth the ticket. -- Robert Lawrence Financial Times Jagdish Bhagwati is a very distinguished writer, with a world reputation as a careful but passionate proponent of free trade. Times Literary Supplement One of the best things about the book is that it confounds stereotypes. Mr. Bhagwati, it emerges clearly, is a liberal in both the old and new senses of the word: he is for free trade, but he is for ambitious social policies too. The Economist The book is breezy and nontechnical in style, yet highly sophisticated in content. [Bhagwati] provides a spirited riposte to all critics, to whom he pays respect by taking them seriously. He then proceeds to demolish their positions, finding them in logical error, empirically unsupported, or reflecting valid concerns that are better addressed directly rather than indirectly by restricting trade, which would impose unnecessary costs. Foreign Affairs Free Trade Today is short and thoroughly readable, summarizing the key argument in an easy, folksy manner. -- Michael Brennan Policy A presentation by a future Nobel Laureate. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Free Trade Today ... is entertaining and scholarly and, of course, authoritative... Bhagwati is magisterial, dealing succinctly with general theory and its application to current debates. -- L. Alan Winters International Finance A pleasure to read--unusually for an economist, Bhagwati writes with wit and verve. -- Vijay Joshi and Robert Skidelsky New York Review of Books
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