Free Trade is Good for Workers

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at free trade and argues that this phenomenon is actually good for workers inasmuch as it cuts down on the cost of living, compels the learning of new skills, opens up new vistas for employment opportunities and allows for greater mobility across adjoining borders. The paper explains that while free trade has its critics, the reality is that free trade is a means by which workers can become integrated into a flourishing global economy instead of a struggling domestic one. The paper includes a large amount of source material.

From the Paper:

"To begin with, the elimination of tariffs and duties really advances the buying/purchasing power of workers. Additionally, consumers with working-class incomes benefit further insofar as trade liberalization compels domestic producers to create better consumer items at affordable costs. Finally, trade liberalization sparks overseas demand for domestically-produced items insofar as the barriers (or at least some of the barriers) constraining overseas trade are done away with. As one final point, while inefficient domestic producers are eliminated through free trade competition, this dislocation in certain sectors is overwhelmed by the increased employment opportunities and economic activity sparked by trade liberalization (Palley, 384-388)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bhagwati, Jagdish. "Free Trade: Why AFL-CIO, Sierra Club and Congressman Gephardt Should Like It." American Economist, 43.2 (1999): 3-12.
• Boudreaux, Donald J. "Does increased international mobility of factors of production weaken the case for free trade?" The Cato Journal, 23 (2004): 373-379.
• Hufbauer, Gary, and McFayden, Jacqueline. "Judging NAFTA." United States Law Journal, 23 (1997): 11-45.
• James, Daniel. "Benefits of US-Mexico Free Trade." Corporate Board, 12.66 (1991): 20-24.
• Palley, Thomas. "The Free Trade Debate: A Left Keynesian Gaze." Social Research, 61.2 (1994): 379-394.

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