Free Trade Myths, Realities and Alternatives

by Dunkley, Graham

• ISBN13: 9781856498630
• ISBN10: 1856498638
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-04
• Publisher: ZED BOOKS

Summary

This book takes a fresh look at this issue in economic policy. Graham Dunkley provides a critical history of international trade and an alternative analysis to orthodox doctrines about trade policy. He argues that trade, although a natural economic process, has today become much more complex, deregulated and divorced from development than is desirable. He concludes by suggesting elements of a new approach to development and an alternative world trading and economic order.

Author Biography

Graham Dunkley is Senior Lecturer in Economics in the Faculty of Business, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND BOXES	viii
ABBREVIATIONS USED	ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION	xii
PREFACE	xiii
1 INTRODUCTION: TRADE, MYTH AND OBSESSION
Trade: The Making of an Obsession	3	(1)
In-Your-Face Globalisation	4	(1)
Globalism: Three Myths	5	(3)
Free Trade: Five Myths	8	(3)
Challenging TINA - There are Alternatives!	11	(5)
Different Goals for Different Trade and Development	16	(2)
2 THAT'S THE THEORY! DEBATING FREE TRADE DOCTRINE FOREVER	18	(30)
The Smith-Ricardo Revolution	19	(3)
Free Trade Doctrine: Models, Assumptions and Question Marks	22	(2)
Comparative Advantage	24	(2)
Gains from Trade	26	(8)
Assumptions, Assumptions!	34	(7)
Here Come the Corollaries	41	(2)
The Rise of Not-Quite-Free Trade	43	(3)
Conclusion	46	(2)
3 A CONFEDERACY OF HERETICS: TWO CENTURIES OF FREE TRADE DISSENT	48	(15)
Heresy before Orthodoxy	49	(5)
The Keynesian Bombshell	54	(2)
History versus Equilibrium	56	(3)
Heretics in the Temple	59	(3)
Conclusion	62	(1)
4 WHAT ABOUT THE PRACTICE? TRADING AND FREE TRADE IN HISTORY AND REALITY	63	(34)
A Clash of Propensities	64	(2)
Trade and Markets Embedded	66	(4)
Trade's Loss of Innocence	70	(6)
The Necessity of Virtue: The Myth of Free Trade Beneficence	76	(4)
Free Trade, War and Peace	80	(3)
The Legend of the Thirties	83	(3)
Trade and Manifest Destiny	86	(9)
Conclusion	95	(2)
5 DEVELOPMENT, MYTHS AND ALTERNATIVES: A CRITIQUE OF GLOBALISING GROWTH	97	(39)
Inventing Development	98	(2)
There Are Alternatives!	100	(3)
Trading Development	103	(2)
Of Ladders, Lock-in and Scale Economies	105	(1)
Two Steps Backwards: The Terms-of-Trade Problem	106	(2)
Two Cheers for the Poor: Globalisation, Poverty and Inequality	108	(4)
Belaboured Playing Fields	112	(2)
Human Development and they-Curve	114	(3)
Greening Trade or Trading the Green?	117	(2)
Don't Forget the Ladies! Development, Globalisation and Women	119	(2)
A Poor Relation: The Neglect of Agriculture	121	(2)
Small Farms Are Beautiful	123	(1)
Re-greening My Valley: The Organic Agriculture Revolution	124	(1)
The Four Lost Causes: Culture, Community, Values and Tradition	125	(9)
Conclusion	134	(2)
6 THE EXPORT CULT: THE IMPORT-SUBSTITUTION VERSUS EXPORT-ORIENTATION DEBATE	136	(25)
An Elite Consensus	137	(2)
Models, Numbers and Export Cults	139	(3)
Welfare Methods	142	(1)
Modelling Methods	143	(6)
Case Study Methods	149	(6)
Industry Policy Does Work!	155	(3)
Conclusion	158	(3)
7 THE SELF-RELIANCE OPTION: GLOBAL MYTHS AND ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT	161	(27)
Self-Reliance: A Respectable Lineage	162	(1)
Defining Self-Reliance	163	(2)
The Case for Self-Reliance	165	(2)
The Feasibility of Self-Reliance	167	(5)
Ten Reasons Why Self-Reliance Is More Feasible than Globalisers Admit	172	(11)
Alternative Development and Self-Reliance	183	(2)
Conclusion	185	(3)
8 THE FREE TRADE ADVENTURE: THE WTO, GLOBAL MYTHS AND ALTERNATIVES	188	(33)
Foundation Assumptions	189	(2)
The WTO in Principle	191	(3)
The WTO in Practice	194	(19)
Alternatives: Global Free Trade versus Co-operative World	213	(2)
A More Participatory, Cooperative World Order	215	(4)
Conclusion	219	(2)
9 CONCLUSION	221	(9)
REFERENCES	230	(17)
INDEX	247