Description
Book SynopsisPresents insights from developments in commercial policy theory to show how the pursuit of social and environmental agendas can be creatively reconciled with the pursuit of free trade. This book argues that free trade, by raising living standards, can serve these agendas far better than can a descent into trade sanctions and restrictions.
Trade Review"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
Table of ContentsPreface 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
