Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy

331 Pages·2017·2.58 MB·English

by  Dani Rodrik

Straight Talk on Trade

Straight Talk on
Trade
Ideas for a sane World economy
Dani Rodrik
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2018 by Dani Rodrik
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be
sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978-0-691-17784-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017945414
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Bembo Std
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To my children Deniz, Odile, and Delphine, who replenish
my faith daily that the world will become a better place

C O N T E N T S
Preface ix
chapter 1 A Better Balance 1
chapter 2 How Nations Work 15
chapter 3 Europe’s Struggles 48
chapter 4 Work, Industrialization, and Democracy 79
chapter 5 Economists and Their Models 114
chapter 6 The Perils of Economic Consensus 139
chapter 7 Economists, Politics, and Ideas 159
chapter 8 Economics as Policy Innovation 181
chapter 9 What Will Not Work 202
chapter 10 New Rules for the Global Economy 222
chapter 11 Growth Policies for the Future 239
chapter 12 It’s the Politics, Stupid! 267
Acknowledgments 275
Notes 281
Index 301

P R E FAC E
Are economists responsible for Donald Trump’s shocking victory in
the US presidential election? Economists might only wish they have
the kind of power it takes to determine elections. But even if they
may not have caused (or stopped) Trump, one thing is certain: econo-
mists would have had a greater—and much more positive—impact on
the public debate had they stuck closer to their discipline’s teaching,
instead of siding with globalization’s cheerleaders.
Nearly two decades ago, as my book Has Globalization Gone Too
Far? went to press, I approached a well-known economist to ask him if
he would provide an endorsement for the back cover. I claimed in the
book that, in the absence of a more concerted government response,
too much globalization would deepen societal divisions, exacerbate
distributional problems, and undermine domestic social bargains—
arguments that have become conventional wisdom since.
The economist demurred. He didn’t really disagree with any of the
analysis but worried that my book would provide “ammunition for
the barbarians.” Protectionists would latch on to the book’s arguments
about the downsides of globalization to provide cover for their narrow,
selfish agenda.
It’s a reaction I still get from my fellow economists. One of them
will hesitantly raise his hand following a talk and ask: Don’t you worry
ix